Church of All Saints

Details

SU 76 SW
11/22
26.1.67

SWALLOWFIELD
CHURCH ROAD (north-east side)
Church of All Saints

GV
I

Parish Church. C12, altered C13 and C15; transept added by the Russell family in 1836 which covers their vault; a general restoration in 1871. Flint with Bath stone dressings, tiled gabled roof and timber framed bellcote with brick infill. Continuous nave and chancel, north transept, south porch, and bellcote.

Bellcote: at west end of nave. C19 built from old timber supported from the floor of the nave with large scissor bracing; surmounted by a shingle octagonal spire.

Nave; north side: two C19 traceried windows, between them a C12 doorway with jambs of three orders, the inner and middle are slightly chamfered; detached shafts with moulded braces and scalloped capitals within the angles. The two orders of the round arch are moulded and the outer is enriched with zigzag.

West front: three trefoiled lights with C19 heads.

South side: three windows, the easternmost is late C14 with three ogee trefoiled lights with semi-quatrefoils above in square head and moulded label. The second is C15 with three cinquefoiled lights under a square head and C19 label. The third window is C19; To the west of it, high up, is the head of a small C13 lancet window. Between the second and third windows is a late C13 doorway of a single order with three-quarter edge rolls, and with moulded bases and mutilated bell capitals. The arch is round and probably C15.

Chancel; east front: three C19 windows with some old stonework, and bulls eye over. North front: a window with two cinquefoil lights under a traceried, pointed head with the foils of the tracery converted into soffite cusps. South front: Two C19 windows with a two-stage buttress to the left of the westernmost.

Transept; north side: a window of three lights under a traceried head of C15 style.

Interior: five bays of arched braced collar trusses to nave,with butt purlins, windbraces, and heavy tie beams with curved braces. The chancel roof is similar, but without tie beams. The transept has a plastered four-centred ceiling, with moulded wooden ribs. A piscina to the east of the northern most window of the north wall of the nave has a pointed head and a round basin; a C19 piscina has been formed from the east jambs of the south window in the chancel. Fittings include an old chest thought to be late C17, with a round lid and bound with plain strap ironwork, near the north door of the nave. At the west end there is a C19 arched recess containing a stone coffin with a raised cross on its lid, said to contain the bones of John le Despenser who died in 1275. The octagonal font is C19.

Monuments include: two C15 brasses in the floor of the chancel; the smaller to the north of the altar, with an inscription to Margery, wife of Thomas Letterford, and above a figure of a lady in C15 costume. The larger brass on the south side in a Purbeck marble slab with four shields at its corners, has the figures of a man in C16 armour, and a woman in a long gown, head-dress and veil. The inscription is to 'Crystofer Lytkoft Esquyer' died 1554. In the Russell transept are two large C17 mural monuments of classic design, one to John Backhouse of Swallowfield, who died in 1649, and the other to various members of the same family. There are also later monuments to the Russell family. At the west end of the nave are other C18, and later monuments. On the south wall of the nave outside, is a small stone with an inscription to Edward Swayhe, died February 1650, and next to this is a stone sundial.

Stained glass: a three-light window in the nave by Hardman, and a window in the north transept by Holiday 1884. It stands in the south part of Swallowfield Park, on a sloping site, falling to the River Blackwater on the west and is surrounded by trees.

Listing NGR: SU7317564796

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

41589

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Berkshire, (1966), 238
Ditchfield, P H, Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Berkshire, (1923), 272

Websites
British Geological Survey, Strategic Stone Study, accessed 04/02/2020 from https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsuk/buildingStones/StrategicStoneStudy/EH_atlases.html

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