Church of All Saints

Details

TL 1922 ST PAUL'S WALDEN ST PAULS WALDEN

11/176 Church of All Saints 27.5.68

GV I

Parish church. Probably C12 or C13 walling, tower on different axis to nave; window in S aisle c.1300; early C14 S arcade, N windows to nave, S porch altered, chancel arch, and details in lower part of tower; C15 upper stage to tower, clearstorey windows and embattled parapets; early C16 S chapel (Hoo or Lady Chapel), chancel remodelled 1727 for Edward Gilbert of the Bury, restored 1891-5 by Bodley and Garner (contractor Rattee and Kett of Cambridge) and completed and NE vestry added 1901 (Kelly (1914)231), E window opened 1946, chancel colour scheme 1972 by Raymond Erith, church rooms in churchyard linked to N door 1973-4 by Priestman, Williams & Bennett. Flint rubble with coursed flint facing and stone dressings, E end and S chapel plastered. Steep red tile roof to chancel, slate roof to nave hipped to E, flatter pitched metal roofs behind parapets elsewhere. Pyramid slate roof to church rooms with deep rendered fascia, band of windows and blue brick base buried in ground. Church with chancel and S chapel, higher nave with windows at 2 levels in N side. S aisle, gabled S porch, and heavy buttressed W tower. Small NE vestry with gabled corner buttresses. Chancel has 2 round-headed small N windows which were its only lighting until 1946. A 3-bays plaster-vaulted interior with stone floor with black dots. Barrel vault with panelled central ridge, coffered arches on panelled pilasters with moulded impost. Fielded panels to lower parts of walls with windows in end bays on N with paterae and garlands in spandrels. Elaborate memorial plaster panel and eared surround in middle on S with oval centre, relief urn with putti and 'EG ob 1762' on urn. Painted inscription on back of centrepiece of screen records 'THIS/Chancel was First/Repair'd & Beautifi'd/by EDWARD GILBERT/ESQ of the Bury/in the Year of our Lord 1727.' Central panel on N wall has armorial centre and door to vestry discretely inserted below. Elaborate carved wooden reredos fills E wall with fluted Corinthian pilasters and arched centre in triumphal arch motif. Segmental pediments to 3 parts and finials rising above, with putti supporting the ends of the pediments. Lamb and flag central panel behind altar. Central round- headed panel now a stained glass memorial window of Crucifixion by Hugh Easton 1946. Elegant stone altar 1957 on 2 stone pedestals. Elaborate carved wooden screen under chancel arch altered to profile of chancel vault. Triple arched with higher and wider central opening. 4 slender Corinthian columns with separate pieces of entablature raised on a high panelled plinth with central wrought iron gate. Stepped top above arches has pairs of putti supporting urns with scrolled candelabra and finials. Ogee curved upper feature similar. Tall rectangular nave has 5-bays S arcade c.1320 on octagonal piers with moulded caps and bases, 2-centred arches of 2 chamfered orders, and hoodmould with heads. 3 ogee-pointed Dec windows in N wall also c.1320 each of 2 trefoil lights with tracery and deep reveals. Pointed N door with segmental rear arch contemporary. 3 clearstorey C15 windows in N and S walls of 2 cinquefoil lights. Narrow upper door for roodloft to right of chancel arch. Carved wooden pulpit in early C18 style at SE after 1908. Flat boarded painted ceiling divided by a grid of painted battens, with coved cornice along side walls and 5 corbels on E wall with painted Latin inscription below. Decoration by Bodley and Garner. The tall tower arch of 2 moulded orders with half-octagonal responds, moulded caps and bases. Wooden gallery 1897, high up at W. Fine lettering to black marble armorial slabs along central aisle. S aisle has 5-bays open timber roof and raised plinth 3-steps higher at W end with stone C15 font. Octagonal embattled bowl with band of leaf carving, octagonal panelled shaft and moulded base. Oak cover with openwork ogee finial. Adjoining S window of 3 trefoil lights, Kentish tracery, moulded rear arch and label c.1300. Plain C14 doorway to E and 2 C15 3-lights windows with cinquefoil lights under segmental heads. Blocked window in W wall similar with tracery of head exposed externally. In NW angle a narrow 4-centred doorway to tower stair. Large chest tomb in SW angle with polished black marble panels, recessed baluster corners with reeded band, and inscription at N to Peter Nicol d.1798. Varied stone corbels, one a gargoyle, supporting inner end of trusses with wheel-tracery in spandrels at N. Moulded purlin and wallplates. S chapel has similar painted boarded ceiling to nave, E window of 4 cinquefoil lights under square head, 3 S windows of 3-lights with square heads, and small 4-centred S doorway. 3-bays stone arcade on N has 4-centred arches blocked at mid depth of wall, capitals, hexagonal piers with bases cut in the upper parts into half-octagonal shafts with hollow fillet between. Arch to S aisle of similar detail. Many black marble armorial slabs in floor. Recessed into W wall to left of arch a wall monument to Henry Stapleford d.1631 and his wife d.1620. Kneeling figures facing across a desk, child behind wife. Open triangular pediment on black marble pilasters and inscribed panel below. Discreet white and black marble wall monument to Hon George Bowes d.1806. Simple oak screen at entrance. C15 with panelled lower part and 2-lights on each side of entrance and gilded transom to top. Depressed ogee arch to each light and Perp tracery. Externally the Perp 4-lights E window has carved spandrels and moulded strings rising in a V up the gable with descenders and carved stops. Ferramenta to similar windows on S side of chapel. Clunch dressings repaired in plaster. Angle buttress and 2 buttresses ending below height of window heads. The gabled S porch has an outer arch of 2 continuously chamfered orders, stone seats, and restored medieval roof of one bay. Hollow chamfered stone corbels at corners, knee-braces and wallposts to chamfered cambered tie-beams bearing short king-posts with hollow chamfered brace to hollow-chamfered ridge beam. Chamfered end stopped wallplates and flat rafters. S door of 2 orders continuously moulded. Oak door with moulded battens. W Tower of 2 stages with large angle buttresses. W wall extends to S in a projecting stair turret carried higher than the embattled parapet. Pole and vane on top, C14 W window a single trefoil light, rebated for internal shutter, has early C14 stained glass window of Virgin and child, the Virgin mostly brown and green, the child draped in red. C14 W doorway of 2 continuous hollow chamfered orders. Narrow plain lancets to 3 sides high up in ground stage. 2-light quatrefoil headed bell opening on each side. Openings at 5 levels on W side. Moulded plinth to stair turret and buttresses but not tower. (VCH (1908)409-10: RCHM (1911)196-7: Kelly (1914)231: Pevsner (1977)329-30: Morris (1980)56-8).

Listing NGR: TL1925022284

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

162968

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Doubleday, AH, The Victoria History of the County of Hertford, (1908), 409-10
Pevsner, N, Cherry, B, The Buildings of England: Hertfordshire, (1977), 329-30
Kellys Directory in Hertfordshire, (1914), 231

Other
Morris, (1980)
Inventory of the Historical Monuments of Hertfordshire, (1910)

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