Details
KINGS LANGLEY CHURCH LANE
TL 0702 (South side)
13/125 Church of All Saints
26.1.67 GV II* Parish church. Chancel C13, nave earlier but largely altered by building
of C14 N aisle and its subsequent early C15 alteration to arcade when S
aisle and S chapel rebuilt. Later C15 N chapel and tower. 1878 NE chapel
built for C14 tomb of Edmund of Langley. 1894 choir vestry and N porch.
Partly restored 1899 (clerestory and top of tower). Large polygonal
church room, etc. linked on S 1976. Flint with dressings of Tottenhoe
stone. Steep red tile roofs. Largely Perp. church much restored,
consisting of stocky W tower with diagonal buttresses battlements and
spike, 3-bay nave with aisles and clerestory, lower chancel flanked by
chapels with NE chapel and SE vestry in line with E end of chancel. The
Chancel has a C13 double piscina with shelves, W window of 1877 in C15
style, 2-bay C15 4-centred arcade on N with engaged shafts opening to N
chapel, a 2-bay early C15 S arcade with octagonal piers, jamb of C13
lancet window to E, a late C19 chancel arch, and an elatorate carved
alabaster reredos of 1878 designed by Joseph Clarke. The N chapel has 2
late C15 square headed N windows each of 4 cinquefoil lights and one
small window, a carved wooden screen to N aisle, in a C19 raised part at
E the late C14 altar tomb of Edmund of Langley, son of Edward III, moved
from the dissolved Friary church c.1539 to the chancel of this church
and in 1878 to this specially built chapel, Queen Victoria presenting
the armorial E window. This tomb has alabaster sides on a Purbeck marble
plinth with carved shields on 3 sides (painted heraldically on W face).
The present top slab is part of an altar with 3 of its 5 crosses; what
may be the original slab is set in the floor of the N chapel with an
indent of a woman's figure, near some medieval encaustic floor tiles. In
the same chapel the chest tomb of Sir Ralph Verney d.1528 and wife with
effigies, brass of John Carter d.1588 with 2 wives, 9 sons and 9
daughters. Queen Victoria Memorial Window 1901 by Clayton & Bell, and
some fragments of old heraldic glass from former E window of N chapel.
The S chapel is largely occupied by the organ which hides a piscina. C19
W window but C15 S window of 4 lights. Large stone memorial on N wall to
Mary Elizabeth Crawford d.1793 signed 'Bonomi inv Westmacott sculp' with
small medallion, weeping putto and garlands. 3-bays nave with early C15
arcades and clerestory of 6 2-light windows rebuilt in late C19.
Hexagonal early C17 panelled and carved oak pulpit with tester and
elaborately carved back. Tower arch late C15. The N aisle has a 2-light
Dec W window c.1340 and the N wall may be of similar date. 2 square
headed N windows with renewed tracery of 3 trefoil-headed lights. N
doorway with continuous moulding. The S aisle has a C13 piscina, a S
window of 3 cinquefoil-headed lights and a C15 S doorway with continuous
moulding. Stained glass of Mary and Martha by Ward & Hughes 1876. Late
C19 W window. 3-stage W tower with renewed W door, 3-light C15 W window
within blocked arch of a larger window. 2-light trefoil-headed N and S
windows. 4 C15 bell chamber openings similar. Buttresses much repaired
with tiles in SPAB technique. Stained glass W window by Powell 1908.
(RCHM(1911)133-4: Kelly(1914) 170: VCH(1908)242-3: Pevsner(1977) 217-8).
Listing NGR: TL0733502493
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
157653
Legacy System:
LBS
Sources
Books and journals Doubleday, AH, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1908), 242-3 Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 217-8 'Kellys Directory' in Hertfordshire, (1914), 170Other Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
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