Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This Grade I listed church at Kings Cliffe dates from the early 12th century, with significant additions and modifications through the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The chancel was rebuilt in the 15th century, and a datestone of 1648 marks a phase of work. The building underwent substantial restoration in 1862 by Bryan Browning of Stamford.

The church is constructed of regular coursed and squared coursed limestone with ashlar dressings. The tower and spire are of ashlar, with part of the building rendered. The roofs are covered with lead and Collyweston slate.

The building follows a cruciform plan with a central tower. The chancel's south elevation displays three 3-light Perpendicular windows with shallow triangular heads, separated by 2-stage ashlar buttresses. The roof is gabled with Collyweston slates and an ashlar gable parapet. A datestone of 1648 is set in the apex of the gable. The 5-light Perpendicular east window features a 4-centred arch-head and hollow reveals, with flanking 2-stage clasping buttresses.

The chancel's north elevation comprises two bays with a single 3-light window, similar to those on the south elevation. A priest door with 4-centred arch-head stands to the right of centre, with a central 2-stage ashlar buttress between.

The south transept has a 3-light Perpendicular south window with 4-centred arch-head and flanking 2-stage clasping buttresses, topped by a shallow gabled roof with castellated ashlar parapet. A similar 3-light east window is present, with a priest door to the right. The north transept features a 3-light north window with a square head and cusped lead lights, carved label stops and a relieving arch over; flanking 2-stage clasping buttresses support a shallow gabled roof with plain ashlar parapet. A 4-light east window with 4-centred arch-head is present, with a 2-stage buttress at the abutment with the chancel. A small single-light window appears in the west elevation.

The south aisle comprises three bays with two 3-light windows featuring 4-centred arch-heads, separated by a 2-stage ashlar buttress. The lean-to roof has a castellated ashlar parapet and two gargoyles. A 3-light west window matches the south windows. A gabled porch breaks forward from the left bay, with an outer doorway featuring a double-chamfered 4-centred arch-head with semi-circular responds. Matrices of monumental brass are set in masonry to the left of the doorway. Flanking 2-stage clasping buttresses flank the porch. The inner doorway has a 4-centred arch-head with continuous hollowed and roll mouldings. Two memorial tablets inside the porch commemorate the Carrington family, dated 1798, 1822 and 1829. The porch has ashlar gable parapets and a Collyweston slate roof.

The north aisle is similarly arranged in three bays with two 3-light windows, featuring a castellated ashlar parapet and three gargoyles. A 3-light west window with continuous mullions, cusping and carved label stops is present. The gabled north porch and doorways mirror those of the south porch, with two single-light windows in the return walls. A partially legible 17th-century datestone appears in the apex of the porch. Two memorial tablets to the Attkins family (dated 1781, 1783 and 1802) and tablets to the Wood family (dated 1790, 1796 and early 19th-century dates) are inside the porch.

The nave's west elevation features tall 3-light windows with curvilinear tracery, flanked by 3-stage ashlar angle buttresses at the corners with gabled and crocketed heads. A line marking a former roof pitch is visible in the masonry. The nave clerestory comprises four bays of 2-light windows, restored in the mid-19th century. A shallow gabled roof with castellated ashlar parapet tops the nave.

The central tower is of 12th-century date, comprising two irregular stages. The lower stage has two-light windows with semi-circular heads, plain tympanum and central shaft on the north and west faces. The upper stage features corner pilasters supporting a 13th-century broach spire rising from a corbel table. Three tiers of lucarnes are present, with the lowest tier half-embedded in the second stage of the tower. A 2-light opening with central shaft and nailhead decoration marks this tier.

Interior

The nave arcade comprises four bays with hollowed and moulded arches supported on octagonal piers with castellated abaci. Double-chamfered tower arches at the crossing, remodelled in the late 13th century, have octagonal and semi-circular responds. Hollowed and moulded arches from the aisles to the transepts have plain springing with no responds. A cluster respond in the chancel may have been intended for a north chapel.

The nave roof is Perpendicular in style, with carved bosses and corbels. The aisle and transept roofs retain some original structure, whilst the chancel roof dates to the 19th century. Tall cusped niches flank the altar, alongside a piscina with crude trefoil head to the right of the altar. One other niche and an arched recess are also present.

15th-century square-head bench ends, reset from the Church of St. Mary and All Saints at Fotheringhay, are installed in the church. The pulpit incorporates medieval openwork panels with cusping. An octagonal font with alternate quatrefoil circles is supported on five renewed columns.

Stained glass includes fragments of medieval glass, said to originate from Fotheringhay Church, in two west windows, north aisle windows and two south transept windows. A late 19th-century east window and two windows in the south aisle dating to around 1904 are by Kempe. A shaft from a 12th-century tower window is visible above the nave crossing.

Monuments and Memorials

A 17th-century tablet to Thomas Boughton, featuring a pediment, is positioned in the north transept. A Thorpe family inscribed tablet dating to around 1623, also in the north transept, has a pediment and obelisk above. It records three generations of the Thorpe family, noting that John Thorpe, a master mason, was the son of the third generation. Two brass tablets to Richard Wildbore (died 1688) and Samuel Wymen (died 1700) are in the chancel. An inscribed tablet to Thomas Law (died 1711), with a broken segmental pediment above, is also present, alongside a Latin inscribed tablet dated 1748 to the right. 18th and 19th-century floor tablets stand to left and right of the altar. Tablets to Thomas Von (died 1739) and his wife, featuring segmental pediments, are in the south aisle. Various 19th-century tablets commemorate members of the Law, Bonney, and Carrington families, among others. Several monuments record the trade of the deceased.