Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A parish church dating from the 14th century, with significant additions and alterations made over subsequent centuries. The church was substantially restored in 1869, when Edward Sandford of Nynehead Court added an organ chamber, vestry and north chapel. Further restoration occurred in the 1970s.

The church is constructed of red sandstone, squared and uncoursed, with the south aisle and chapel rendered and roughcast. Ham stone and red sandstone provide the dressings, and the building is roofed with slate with coped verges. The plan comprises a west tower, three-bay nave, three-bay south aisle with chapel, south porch, west chapel with adjoining Sandford Chapel, north-east organ chamber and vestry, and chancel.

The west tower is crenellated with two stages and diagonal buttresses. It features two-light bell-openings with Somerset tracery and a three-light west window with moulded pointed arch west door. An external stair addition occupies the south-east corner adjacent to a disused stair turret.

The south aisle has a diagonally buttressed two-light west window, one three-light window to the left and two to the right of a single-storey gabled porch with moulded arch opening. Remains of a wagon roof and moulded arch inner doorway survive within the porch, which has a 19th-century door. The south chapel has a four-light window at its east end. The chancel has a two-light window on its south face and a single diagonal buttress. The east window is three-light with a lancet above. The vestry gable features a rose window with two-light below, a cinquefoil-headed lancet on the return, and a two-light on the north face. The Sandford chapel has a two-light window at its east end and a rose window in the north gable, with a two-light on the west front beside a pointed arch opening. A blocked four-centred arch head marks the former doorway of the original north chapel. The nave has two three-light windows.

The interior is rendered, with exposed quoins in the chancel and exposed rubble in the tower. The chancel arch is a moulded pointed arch, partly cut where a rood stair was inserted. Moulded Perpendicular arches open to the south chapel. A 19th-century three-bay arcade with a larger central arch to the organ bay features chamfered four-centred arch openings; the original north chapel is reached through a chamfered pointed tower arch. A three-bay standard Perpendicular arcade serves the main vessel. The rood stair was rebuilt in the mid-19th century. A hagioscope and piscina are present in the chancel. The chancel, nave and aisle are ceiled with a 19th-century barrel vault roof, surmounted by a renewed ribbed wagon roof with bosses and wallplate. A Perpendicular font survives.

The church contains a notable collection of stained glass. The east window and rose window are by Heaton, Butler and Pain. The Sandford chapel displays 17th and 19th-century armorial glass, and a window bearing the royal coat of arms dated 1851 by Mr Toms of Wellington, who was responsible for other windows, some executed by Mr Drake of Exeter. The west window is by Butler. Enamelled glass in the chancel derives from designs by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The organ, originally by Charles Bailey, was rebuilt by Mr Toms of Wellington. A reredos by Seymour of Taunton features opus sectile work by Powells of London.

A three-bay screen with adjoining half bays dates to circa 1480 and bears the arms of the Wyke family. It was restored with additions of coeval material from Hillfarrance church incorporated on the chancel side and beside the organ.

The church holds a rich collection of memorials. The south chapel contains an aedicule with kneeling figures of Edward and Elizabeth Clarke, who died in 1679 and 1667 respectively; this was made locally in Filverton for £25. A tablet in a moulded surround, cut by the jambs of the east window, bears a poem by John Locke, the philosopher, who visited the Clarkes at Chipley Park. The Sandford chapel contains many family memorials, including a portrait bust of Reverend John Sandford by Costoli dated 1835, a kneeling angel by the same sculptor, and a particularly fine cartouche tablet with draped cloth carved with an inscription to William Sandford, who died in 1718. A 16th-century tablet in the chancel, now illegible, is attributed to the Wyke family, who lived at Nynehead Court. A plaque with Madonna and child by the workshop of Della Robbia is positioned opposite a statue of Elijah by Mr Giles of Wellington in the former rood stair. Another Della Robbia workshop piece survives in the south aisle.

The church was the recipient of a celebrated Mino da Fiesole base-relief, given by Reverend John Sandford, vicar of Nynehead and resident of Florence, whose notable art collection descended through his daughter to the Methua collection at Corsha Court. This piece was sold in 1970 to the Cardiff Museum and Art Gallery. The church retains a rich collection of fittings throughout.