Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints, Merriott

This is an Anglican parish church of 13th-century origin, substantially modified in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and undergoing major restoration and extension in 1860 under architect Benjamin Ferrey. The church is built of ham stone ashlar, though the 19th-century work is cut and squared with dressings. The roofs are of plain clay tiles with bands of scallop tiles between high coped gables topped with cross finials.

The church follows a six-cell plan comprising a 2-bay chancel and side aisles, a 4-bay nave with side aisles, a west tower, and a south porch. The chancel and side chapels have plinths, offset corner and bay buttresses. The chancel's east window is a 3-light opening with Geometric tracery, a plain label, and a quatrefoil vent above. The aisle east windows are 2-light openings with satch and headstop labels. The south wall of the south chancel aisle contains a trefoil-arched doorway with label and imposts in its east bay, and a 2-light plate tracery window to the west. The north chancel aisle has two matching plate tracery windows.

The nave is not separately visible externally apart from its roof. The north aisle has a plinth, string course with gargoyles, and a battlemented parapet with bay and offset corner buttresses. Its windows are 3-light Perpendicular tracery set in hollowed pointed arched recesses without labels; there is no west window. The south aisle is similar but features a projecting porch at bay 3, with a shaft and hollow-moulded pointed outer arch beneath a canopied statue niche. The inner arch is simply moulded with a cinquefoil cusped statue niche and a square stone panel above.

The tower is possibly 13th-century in origin but was modified in the 15th century. It has a plinth and string course running to the top with corner gargoyles and a low plain parapet. The sides taper, and pairs of corner buttresses rise to half-height. The west doorway is deeply moulded with a pointed arch and carved spandrels under a square label. Immediately above is a 3-light Perpendicular-traceried window in a deep hollowed recess with a plain, almost semi-circular label. Above this are a single and a pair of rectangular slit windows, with matching pairs on the north and east sides. On the south side, centrally placed, stands an octagonal plain stair turret with a battlemented top, taller than the rest of the tower. This turret has an outer door and houses a clockface. To its right at high level is a plain lancet window with perforated stone baffles.

The interior is essentially 15th-century and 19th-century in character. The chancel has a timber rib-and-panel ceiling with quatrefoil banding at all levels on the east wall. The side chapels feature finely detailed 13th-century style arcades with four detached shafts to each column. A trefoil-arched and gabled piscina and a small stoup are located in the south chapel. The north chapel serves as the organ chamber and vestry. The chancel arch, probably 19th-century but executed in 13th-century style, has plain side arches. The nave roof comprises 19th-century traceried panelled queenpost trusses with rib and panels between them, with matching treatment in the aisle roofs. The nave arcading is 15th-century hollow-and-shaft work. A wide tower arch, executed in 13th-century style, opens into the nave. The aisles contain no particular architectural features.

A mid-20th-century gallery and screen were inserted beneath the tower space. Around 1980, the church underwent liturgical reordering, with the chancel cleared of its 19th-century fittings. The altar now stands in the nave. The 19th-century pulpit is now positioned in the north aisle, and a 19th-century font stands in the south aisle. The nave contains 19th-century pews and choir stalls. At the back of the nave is the base of an older font. A carved stone cross fragment is mounted on the sill of the chancel's east window.

The church contains several memorials. These include a cartouche commemorating Patrick Roche, died 1712, by Parfore de Tetbury of Gloucestershire, and pedimented and bracketed plaques to Reverend Edward Whitley, died 1775, and John Whitley, died 1750, all in the north aisle. The south aisle contains bracketed and pedimented plaques to Robert England, died 1742, Mary Rodbard, died 1733, and another Mary Rodbard, died 1745.

The first recorded rector dates to 1297. The tower served as the model for the church at Queen's Cross, Glasgow, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.