Church of All Saints Edmonton Parish Church

Details

ENFIELD

790/13/105 CHURCH STREET N9 790/14/105 EDMONTON 10-APR-54 (South side) EDMONTON PARISH CHURCH CHURCH STREET N9 EDMONTON (South side) CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS (Formerly listed as: CHURCH STREET N9 EDMONTON CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS)

GV II* DATES OF MAIN PHASES/ NAMES OF ARCHITECTS: C12 in origin, largely rebuilt in the C15 and early C16 (chancel, nave, tower, N aisle, N chapel, N vestry), with some C17 roofs. Exterior clad in brick in 1772, when all the window tracery was removed and replaced in timber. Restored in 1855 by Ewan Christian. Windows redone in stone in 1868. S aisle and SE organ chamber added 1885 by W G Scott. Further refurnishing in the late C19 and C20.

MATERIALS: Kentish ragstone rubble, brick faced to E and N with some areas of tile and random flint and stone chequerboard. Some stone dressings. Tiled and slated roofs, with some aluminium replacing lead.

PLAN: Chancel with N and S chapels and N vestry, nave with N and S aisles, W tower and S porch

EXTERIOR: Externally the church is generally Perpendicular in style, with two distinct aspects: the N and E sides are faced in stock brick of 1772, while the S and W sides are stone. Externally only the C15, 4 stage W tower is medieval. It has angle buttresses and an embattled, polygonal SE stair turret raising above the embattled parapet. Small, very renewed C15 W door with a hood mould, 3-light C19 W window and 2-light trefoiled bell-openings in square frames. The S aisle and S chapel were added in 1889, and with the S nave parapet, are faced in roughly dressed, snecked rubble masonry. Perpendicular style windows and sharply dressed, embattled parapet to the aisle. The S nave parapet is similar to that on the aisle and suggests a clerestory, although none exists. S chapel roofed at right angles to the chancel, with two Perpendicular style windows and a plain parapet. The lower part of the chancel is faced in C18 brick, the upper part of the E gable has irregular flint and stone chequerboard, probably of 1858. C19 Perpendicular-style E window. N vestry at right angles to the chancel is also faced in brick and has a C19 Perpendicular-style E door. The N chapel and N aisle are also faced in C18 stock brick and have a plain parapet concealing two separate roofs and Perpendicular style windows of 1868. Very shallow S porch.

INTERIOR: The interior is fully plastered and painted, white in the body of the church and with fine C19 figural paintings in the chancel. Except for the N arcade, tower arch and some of the roofs, the inside, like the outside, is largely C19. C15 tower arch with hollow chamfered outer orders and an inner order on round, attached shafts with polygonal capitals. C15 N arcade of 4 bays, with chamfered arches of two orders on polygonal piers with moulded capitals and bases; the E and W arches die into the wall without a respond. There is no structural division between the N chapel and N aisle except in the roofs. C19 S arcade is similar to N arcade but has larger capitals and a carved inscription recording its construction in 1889. C19 arch to S chapel with dying mouldings. The chancel arch was rebuilt in 1889 and has a continuously chamfered outer order and an inner order on polygonal responds with Early English-style foliate capitals. The 2-bay to the N and S chancel chapels have a polygonal central pier with a moulded capital and base and moulded corbels for the E and W responds. The N side may be partly late C15 or early C16, the S is wholly C19.

C12 fragments, discovered during the construction of the S aisle in the C19, are built into the W wall of the S aisle. They are from two separate features, one a door head with incised chevron, the other part of a larger arch, probably a chancel arch. The larger arch has two, excellently carved orders, the inner with chevron, the outer with grotesque faces clasping a spiral moulding and a band of stylised flowers. A piece from the outer order of the larger arch has a fragmentary inscription 'IT DE WALDEN'. It is displayed on a pair of round jamb shafts with cushion capitals. Loose fragments nearby include two C12 shafts, one with spiral carving, the other with chevron, and several C15 pieces, probably from a door or an arch.

The roofs are a distinctive feature of the interior. Nave roof is C15, low-pitched with short curved braces on defaced stone angel corbels, moulded tie beams and closely spaced rafters. N chapel roof is C16, flat and domestic in character with moulded wall plates and closely spaced rafters. The N aisle roof is dated 1626 on the posts at its E end. It is divided into square panels by moulded beams and slender ribs, the rafters plastered in. The western five bays have ribs forming alternately crosses of St George and St Andrew; the eastern bays are plain. The low-pitched N vestry roof is late C15 or C16 and has chamfered tie beams. The S aisle roof is a C19 copy of that in the nave, and the chancel has a steeply pitched, C19 arch braced roof .

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The church was wholly refurnished in the later C19 with some additional refurnishing in the C20. Large C19, octagonal timber pulpit with blind tracery panelling. Font, dated 1872, in Perpendicular style with quatrefoils on the bowl and a traceried stem. Timber panelling behind chancel altar with riddle posts with angels, early C20. Very good late C19 wall painting in the chancel with figures of angels and saints and stencilled motifs. A small amount of C19 and early C20 glass, the best the fragments in the upper tracery of the S aisle windows.

Plain, pointed medieval piscina in N vestry. C15 or early C16 door to N vestry, leather covered and studded on chancel side, retaining traces of red colouring on the vestry side.

Large paintings of Moses and Aaron, from a former reredos probably installed during the 1770s refurbishment, hang at the W end of the nave, signed W. Turner; Aaron is particularly well painted. Two benefaction boards of c.1778 with ogee heads, and two similar boards with round heads of c.1929 done in a matching script, hang under the tower. Two C18 hatchments. Organ of 1772, enlarged and rebuilt in the C19 and early C20. Possibly late C18 cupboards with L hinges in vestry.

Very good monuments, notably that to George Huxley of Wyre Hall, d. 1627, a two-stage wall monument in the Artisan Mannerist style, surmounted by Time flanked by skulls, similar to the work of the Christmas brothers. Also that to John Kirton, d.1529, a small altar tomb of the Easter Sepulchre type with a panelled arch within a square frame under a lavish cornice, reset in the S aisle wall. Several C16 and early C17 brasses, and a number of good wall tablets. Many C17 and C18 ledger slabs in the nave and chancel floors, most with armourial carving.

HISTORY: The church is first mentioned in a document of 1136-42, when it was given Walden Abbey by Geoffey de Mandeville. The earliest surviving fabric, the fragments at the W end of the S aisle, are also of this date. These probably relate to a door and the chancel arch. Nothing of known of the construction history of the church between the mid C12 and the C15, when the church was wholly rebuilt. Some further work, including reroofing the N aisle, took place in the C17. In 1772 the church, except for tower, was clad in stock brick and the stone window tracery replaced with simpler, timber windows. The parapets were also taken down. Galleries were also installed around that date, and the church was refurnished, with the Moses and Aaron pictures from the former reredos being the principal survivals of this date. The chancel was restored in 1855 by Ewan Christian (1814-1895) a prolific architect whose speciality was church work. The church was refurnished in 1871-2 and the galleries and box pews removed. The S aisle and S chapel, formerly the organ chamber, were added in 1889 to designs by W G Scott (1857-1930), a former assistant to Ewan Christian; Scott also replaced the S aisle windows in a Perpendicular style. The chancel wall paintings are late C19. There was further refurnishing and reordering in the C20. The stained glass was largely lost during WWII. The writer Charles Lamb (d.1834) is buried in the churchyard.

SOURCES: VCH Middlesex V (1976), 181-7 RCHME Middlesex (1937), 17-19 Buildings of England: London 4 North (1999), 422-3 anon. Edmonton: The Parish Church of All Saints. nd.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The church of All Saints, Edmonton is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * Parish church with C15 W tower and N arcade, preserving some reset C12 fragments. * Very good C15 and C17 roofs. * N aisle and chancel clad externally in brick of 1772. * Chancel restored 1855 by Ewan Christian, with good late C19 wall paintings internally. * S aisle and S chapel added in 1889 by W G Scott. * Interesting monuments.

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