Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints

A parish church dating largely from the late 13th to 15th centuries, with substantial restoration work carried out in 1862-3, 1890, and the early 20th century. The building is constructed of red sandstone and blue lias random rubble with Ham stone dressings, quoins and coped slate roofs, and a rendered vestry.

The church comprises a west tower, a three-bay nave, a three-bay north aisle, an organ chamber, a vestry, a three-bay south aisle with a south chapel, a chancel, and north and south porches.

The west tower dates to the late 13th century and is of two stages with crenellations and pinnacles. It features a string course, two-light louvred bell openings, and a lancet on the south face (now obscured by a clock). The tower has a chamfered string course, a 20th-century three-light west window, a chamfered plinth, and a south door. A single-stage crenellated stair turret with a pyramidal roof occupies the south east corner.

The south aisle, dating to the 15th century, is crenellated across four bays with three-light windows and stepped buttresses. Between the first and second bays stands a single-storey crenellated porch with a flattened gable. The porch features a plinth, a trefoil-headed lancet on the left return, and a blue lias tablet on the right return commemorating Elizabeth Cordwent, died 1812. Inside, the porch has a 20th-century compartment ceiling, a moulded arched inner doorframe, and a 19th-century double door.

The south wall of the chancel features a three-light cinquefoil-headed mullioned window and diagonal buttresses, with a three-light east window above. An arched doorway to the vestry appears on the east front. Between the third and fourth bays of the south aisle is a shallow, lead-roofed gabled single-storey porch with kneelers, a chamfered arched opening, and inset seats; a three-light west-end window lights the aisle beyond.

The north aisle, dating to the 14th century, is uncrenellated and features four three-light windows. The north front includes a three-light window above an arched doorway to the vestry.

The interior is rendered throughout. The nave and chancel have perpendicular three-bay arcades with smaller perpendicular crossing arches. There is no chancel arch, but a cambered rood beam instead. The tower arch is pointed with triple chamfered moulding dying into imposts. A 20th-century wooden gallery crosses the nave at the first stage. The nave and chancel feature ribbed wagon roofs with bosses, with enriched decoration over the sanctuary. The aisles have moulded compartment ceilings.

The north wall of the chancel contains a three-light cinquefoil-headed mullioned window fronting the vestry and a trefoil-headed piscina on the south wall. A two-light chamfered mullioned window appears in the clerestorey on the south wall of the nave. A blocked four-centred arch doorway to the stair turret occupies the west wall of the south aisle. A rood loft opening appears in the north arcade.

The church contains notable furnishings and fittings. A richly carved cornice adorns a fan-vaulted five-bay rood screen of the late 15th century, painted in grey and blue on the chancel side and partly renewed. Four-bay parclose screens flank the chancel; the left retains remains of painted decoration, the right bears an inscription, and both have been partly renewed.

Fine early 16th-century benches and bench ends feature an unusual collection of figures comprising a religious procession. Linen-fold panelling decorates the west ends of the aisles, with a date of 1560. A remarkable carved pulpit dating to circa 1500 survives with undamaged figures of saints in canopied niches.

Monuments include a marble aedicule with broken pediment and armorial achievement to Robert Lucas, died 1722, and a painted alabaster tablet to John Baker, died 1677, set in the angle of the south chapel wall, featuring a segmental pediment, armorial achievement, and faces terminating in acanthus leaves flanking a cloth-covered table. Numerous late 18th- and early 19th-century marble and slate tablets are also present.

An important collection of 15th-century stained glass survives in the chancel and north aisle, particularly notable in the south window of the chancel depicting saints slaying dragons. The west window of the north aisle was designed by Kemp and dates to 1899.