The
Church dedicated to All Saints, is an ancient stone structure,
consisting of nave, with north and south aisles, a south porch, a
chancel, vestry and west tower.
The oldest parts of the building are from the middle of the twelfth
century.
They are:-
Aisles
were constructed at the latter half of the twelfth century. The arcades
separating them from the nave are each of four arches: the pillars on
the North side are monoliths and they were probably brought from the
neighbouring Roman fort.
The south door is also of the twelfth century. Some of the ironwork may
be original but much was made by a local blacksmith at the end of the
nineteeth century.
Early in the thirteenth century the chancel was rebuilt. The only
window from this period which remain are three lancets in the east wall
and three blocked lancets in the north wall.
In
1284 alterations to the church were made as the result of the creation
by Bishop Bek of a deanery and college of canons in the church which
had previously been a rectory. The western end of the chancel was
widened to make room for stalls for the canons. The vestry and the
piscina in the south wall are from this period.
The door way from the vestry to the chancel has a cinquefoil arch. On
the tympanum is a carving (below) showing a seated figure, now headless
and mutilated, but said to represent Christ, with two angels kneeling
at the sides.
Early in the fourteenth century a window was inserted in the east end
of the south wall of the chancel and the south aisle and porch rebuilt.
The three south windows of the south aisle, the battlemented paraphets
all date from the sixteenth century.
The present tower was built shortly before 1430, though the topmost
stage may be later.
The present clock, dial and chimes were installed in 1902, replacing an
earlier one, which had a black face.
The most recent addition to the church is the new Chapter house on the north side which was completed in 1993
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Photographs Copyright © 1999, Lynn Hedley
Please do not use any information or Photographs from this site without permission of the author.