Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

This church at Wighill, standing on the east side of Church Lane, dates from the 12th century with significant 15th-century additions. It was substantially restored in 1912 by the architect W H Brierley. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble and ashlar, with a graduated stone slate roof.

The church comprises a nave of four bays with a south porch at bay two, a north aisle, and a three-stage west tower. The chancel has three bays. The 15th-century tower is a prominent feature, with a plinth and a cusped window in a deeply chamfered surround on the first stage at the south side. Each side of the tower displays a belfry window of two cusped lights in a shallow pointed arch. The parapet is battlemented with finely detailed gargoyles and crocketed pinnacles. A three-light cusped window occupies the west face, with a north stair tower.

The south porch has a two-piece lintel to the chamfered outer arch, and the door is made of wide planks with the date 1721 deeply cut into it. Flanking nave windows are paired cambered-arched lights in recessed chamfered square-headed surrounds. A similar window appears in chancel bay one. The nave bay three and chancel bay three have square-headed windows with trefoil-headed paired lights. A narrow shouldered arch leads to the chancel door between bays one and two, with a tall single-light window to its right. The chancel's east window is decorated with three lights. Stone copings crown the gables. The nave's north doorway has a narrow moulded pointed arch, with similar north windows to the nave and chancel echoing those on the south.

Interior

The porch contains two arch-braced trusses with shield bosses. The 12th-century nave doorway is exceptionally fine, featuring two orders of colonnettes with capitals carved with scenes from the crucifixion and foliage. The round arch displays four orders: zigzag, beakhead, pictorial scenes, and a roll moulding. The pictorial scenes, well preserved, include masks, human and animal figures, some fighting. The left colonnette is carved with dates and initials from the 17th and 18th centuries, with the date 1672 appearing twice.

The nave has a north arcade of four double-chamfered round arches on short quatrefoil piers. The roll mouldings and plain capitals appear to have been retooled. The chancel arch was cut back, probably during the 1912 restoration when the chancel was reroofed and the nave considerably restored, though a few old timbers remain in the arch-braced roof trusses. The chancel south wall contains a section with three ogee arches, a piscina with a restored bowl, and remains of an aumbry.

An octagonal font stands near the north door. The low chancel screen and altar rail incorporate reset late 17th-century balusters. The pulpit dates from the 17th century and features bands of blind arcading on its panels. The nave walls are lined with panelling said to derive from box-pews. The fielded panels on the south wall date from the 18th century, while those on the north wall are 17th-century. Six rows of pews are probably 15th-century, with bench ends crudely carved with poppy-heads, some with punched decoration; the backs are original. Remaining woodwork dates from 1912.

Monuments

In the west end of the north aisle stands a very fine marble chest tomb to Robert Stapylton, died 1634. The effigy depicts him in full armour with his feet resting on a Turk's head, his family crest. The chest features black Ionic colonnettes and six kneeling figures of his children. The tomb is enclosed by thick wrought-iron railings set into the stonework. It was removed from the north side of the chancel (now the vestry) in 1912 and appears to have been altered; the north side of the tomb chest is crudely sealed with rendering, and several pieces of carved stone of varying dates lie within the railed-off area.

On the south wall of the chancel is a marble tablet to Henry Stapylton (1779) by J Fisher of York, featuring an urn with ramshead and a painted coat of arms. Below this, on the chancel floor, is a large 14th-century indent which once contained figures of a knight in armour and his wife with a border inscription and shields. The south wall contains a fragment of a 10th-century cross with interlace carvings. Three painted boards bearing the royal arms of George III and funeral hatchments of the Stapleton family hang on the west and north walls.