Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a church dating from the 12th and 13th centuries. It is constructed of local stone rubble with Ham stone dressings, with the chancel and West walls partially rendered. The roof is covered with plain clay tiles with scalloped bands to the chancel, and stone slates to the nave and porch, featuring gable copings. The building follows a two-cell plan, incorporating a North porch, a two-bay chancel, and a three-bay nave.

The chancel was rebuilt around 1250 in a simple style. The East window is a two-light design with plate tracery, incorporating a quatrefoil circle under a pointed label. A plain lancet window is on the North wall, and two cusped, relatively wide lancets are on the South wall. The nave is the original part of the church, dating back to 1111. It contains a cusped lancet window, a narrow semi-circular headed window, and a round-headed doorway, now blocked and incorporating a simple window. The West gable has two offset buttresses up to the eaves, and a two-light window with probably early 14th century tracery. Above this window are two round-arched niches intended for bells, one of which is thought to date back to around 1250. On the North side, there are two very slim windows, one round-headed and one pointed.

The North porch is simple, with an outer chamfered semi-circular arch of uncertain date, featuring bench seats. The inner arch incorporates roll and dog-tooth orders, and the capitals have apparently been cut away. A plain tympanum contains a later statue bracket and a headless statue, reputedly of French origin. The old plank door has simple ironwork of uncertain date.

Inside the chancel, the ceiling is a plastered barrel vault. Trefoil rere-arches are present around all side windows. There are 13th and 14th century wall paintings to all window reveals and the North wall, depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, which has been touched up in places, as well as on the chancel arch. The chancel arch consists of three orders including dog-tooth and chevron decoration, with scalloped and carved capitals. The nave’s roof is supported by arch-supported collar trusses in four bays, with three purlins on each slope, previously featuring a plastered barrel vault ceiling. The window reveals are plain and chamfered. 13th and 14th century wall paintings on the North wall depict the Death of the Virgin Mary. There is a round tub font with a cable mould on a turned base. There has been very little obvious restoration to the fabric of the building.