Church of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is a medieval church with largely 19th-century Gothic detailing. It comprises a nave with a narrower chancel under a single roof, a north transept, a south vestry, and a west tower. The south wall of the nave has two pairs of pointed windows; to the left of these is a blocked former segmental-headed doorway, and set within the wall is a fragment of Early Christian memorial stone. The lower part of the south vestry has a pointed window below a corbelled stack, with an ashlar upper part, and a small generator house (added in 1928) to the west. The chancel has a single pointed south window and a three-light east window without tracery above the main lights. A vertical joint and brick haunches mark the position of a former arched opening on the north side of the chancel. The lower north transept has two pointed windows under a single relieving arch. The nave has only one pointed north window.

The main entrance is through the three-stage west tower, which is battered at its base and has larger quoins to the lower stage. A pointed doorway with a continuous chamfer and double-boarded doors with strap hinges provides access. A lintelled opening on the south side gives access to a staircase set at a high level. Above this level are narrow west and south openings, and a similar higher opening in the north face. The simple belfry openings have louvres, and the embattled parapet sits on a corbel table.

Inside, the tower has a pointed tunnel vault. Double-boarded doors with strap hinges lead into the nave, which has a four-bay arched-brace roof installed in 1862. The simple, double-chamfered chancel arch blends into the imposts, as does the arch to the north transept. The chancel roof has closely spaced scissor braces. A recess is set into the chancel’s south wall, its date and purpose uncertain, and the pointed vestry doorway has a boarded door and strap hinges. Decorative tiles were laid in the sanctuary in 1934. The octagonal font has a stem of four clustered shafts and sunk quatrefoils to alternate facets around the bowl. There are plain panelled pews and an octagonal pulpit. Flanking the east window are painted metal panels depicting the Ten Commandments. The 1862 east window glass depicts the Crucifixion, Baptism, and Last Supper, and may be the work of Charles Gibbs of London, who also produced the decorative stained glass in the north transept window. The north window of the nave contains glass dated 1988, depicting a meditation on the theme of Resurrection through the life of a butterfly, by Nikki Thorpe.