Parish Church of All Saints

Details

TL 17 NW BUCKWORTH

3/94 Parish Church 28.1.58 of All Saints (Formerly listed as Church of GV II* All Saints)

Parish Church noted for its very fine early C14 tower and broach spire. Earliest remains are in C12 eastern angles of the nave with a slender attached shaft with incised spiral fluting at north east quoin and volute-capital. South arcade and south aisle late C13; the tower and spire c.1300; north aisle and arcade c.1310. South aisle and north wall of north aisle rebuilt c.1490 and clerestorey and porch added. Church restored in 1862, the spire in 1884 and 1925; tower repaired in 1908. Walls of limestone rubble with limestone dressings and ashlar tower. Roofs of nave and aisles leaded, chancel plain tiled. South facing elevation. Tower of four stages with angle buttresses to cornice, lancet window in stage two, very fine circular window with moulded label and geometric tracery in third stage, the belfrey stage has a wall arcade of three, two- centred arches resting on engaged jamb-shafts at each end and grouped triple-shafts between the bays; centre bay has a two- light window with plain spandrels; the heads of the flanking arches are cusped with carved heads at the cuspings. Octagonal spire has large broaches with bases of pinnacles at each corner. Three tiers of spire lights, the first similar to the belfrey light but taller. Clerestorey of three bays and windows of two-lights in four centred arches, plain parapet to low- pitched roof. Similar parapet to aisle of four buttressed bays, three, three-light windows in four-centred arches. Porch with angle buttresses has a two-centred moulded arch with moulded jambs and jamb-shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The chancel has a three-light window with intersecting tracery in a two-centred head, there is a blocked area for a similar window. The doorway has a two-centred arch resting on shafts with moulded capitals and bases; steeply pitched plain tile roof. Interior. The chancel arch, jambs partly rebuilt, is of two chamfered orders resting on modern responds. Nave arcades of three bays, have two-centred arches of two chamfered orders, the columns of the north arcade are octagonal. The modern nave roof is dated 1862 on a carved boss. Four large carved bosses are possibly from the C15 roof and include a green man, the modern bosses are carved with arms and crests of the Duncombe Shafto family, the See of Ely etc. The tower arch of four orders has a two-centred arch. The piscena is reset, has a quatrefoil basin and two-centred arch. A small carved stone of a figure holding a book, found in the foundations of the chancel in 1907, has been set in south wall of chancel. The south door, possibly late C13 or early C14 was rehung in late C15 to open outwards, composed of five v-edged boards with rear frame of horizontal rails. Wall monument with skull and cross-bows to William Stevenson 1711. A barrel organ used in the church in 1845 was converted to a vestment cupboard in 1905 and stands in the tower. Replaced by organ in chancel in 1895. VCH (Hunts) p24-26. RCHM (Hunts) p41-43. Pevsner: Buildings of England, p217. Hewett, Church Carpentry, Phillimire, 1974, p104 (for an example).

Listing NGR: TL1480976786

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

54563

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Huntingdonshire, (1926), 41-43
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire, (1954), 217
Page, W, Proby, G, The Victoria History of the County of Huntingdon, (1936), 24-26
Hewett, C A, Church Carpentry, (1974), 104

End of official list entry

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