All Saints - Leamington Hastings, Warwickshire
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member SMacB
N 52° 18.288 W 001° 20.979
30U E 612521 N 5796222
All Saints' church, Leamington Hastings, built during the Medieval period, with later alterations and additions through to the Imperial period.
Waymark Code: WM12771
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/18/2020
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member pmaupin
Views: 0

"The church of ALL SAINTS is situated on the south of the village, and stands to the west of the churchyard. It consists of a chancel, nave, north and south aisles and porches, and west tower. Built about the middle of the 13th century it then consisted of a chancel, nave, and south aisle, and soon afterwards a north chapel was added. At the beginning of the 14th century the nave and south aisle were extended by the addition of two bays, and a small south porch was erected. About the end of that century the north chapel was extended to form the north aisle, and the tower and north porch were built. In 1677 the chancel was entirely rebuilt, a clearstory added to the nave, the windows in the south aisle replaced and the aisles re-roofed. In 1703 much of the south side of the church was rebuilt and the south porch was extended. In 1875 extensive repairs were carried out, the chancel re-roofed, reusing some of the old timbers, the stonework of the three large windows in the north aisle replaced, and the open timber roof of the nave concealed by a flat matchboarded ceiling.

The chancel is built of roughly squared rubble, with a plinth of one splay and a low-pitched roof covered with slates. The east end has angle buttresses with crocketed finials, the finials being renewed as part of a modern rebuilding of the upper part of the gable in red sandstone ashlar. The window is of three cinquefoil lights, a flat head and a hood-moulding with mask stops, and above a tablet with the date 1677. The north side has two similar square-headed windows, but of two lights, and between them a narrow doorway, slightly projected, with a gable, in the form of a porch. The doorway has a pointed arch, its mouldings continued down the jambs without capitals, and is probably the north door from the destroyed 13th-century chancel. The south side has been considerably rebuilt and has no plinth; a note in the church registers for 1704 states: 'The south side of the church was rebuilt including the arches from the foundations.' It has two two-light windows similar to those on the north.

The north aisle, divided into four bays by three buttresses with gabled crocketed heads, is built of red sandstone ashlar, except the west bay, which is of small limestone rubble. The parapet to the low-pitched roof is plain, but supported on a hollow corbel-course with human heads in its hollow. On the east it is lighted by a pointed window of three trefoil lights and tracery, all modern with the exception of the jambs and hood-moulding. It has an angle buttress similar to the others, and in the angle against the chancel there is a grotesque gargoyle. In the east bay on the north side is a single narrow trefoil light of one splay with an ogee head, which has probably been lowered, as its rear-arch is considerably higher. The next bay has a three-light window similar to that in the east wall, and the next contains the north doorway, a fine example of late-14th-century work. It projects 3 ft. 6 in. from the wall face to form a small porch with a gable, roofed with slates. Its ogee arch is richly moulded and in the wide hollow of the moulding a vine stalk, issuing from the mouths of the head-stops and a head in the apex, fills the hollow with its leaves and fruit; the ogee label is finished by a head terminal, and the round mouldings of the jambs are provided with capitals, now badly defaced. The three-light tracery window in the west wall is modern. The use of rubble for this bay is obviously contemporary with the rest of the aisle, it also applies to the west wall and the west bay of the north arcade. The clearstory on this side has no parapet, but an eaves-gutter, to the low-pitched nave roof, and it is lighted by four two-light square-headed windows. The south aisle has a low parapet with a string-course at its base, which is raised over the aisle windows to form hood-mouldings. It is built of sandstone ashlar, with a moulded plinth and buttresses with gabled heads. There are three windows of two trefoil lights, with flat heads, in the south wall and one in each of the east and west walls, all dating from 1677 except that in the east wall, which is a modern replica. The clearstory has a low plain parapet with a string-course at its base raised as a hood-moulding to the four flat-headed windows, each of two round-headed lights. The south door has a pointed arch; the porch is divided by a rough, pointed arch, and beyond this is the 18th-century addition with a pointed arch entrance of two chamfers, perhaps re-used. It is flanked by buttresses and has a tiled roof. In the apex of the gable there is a tablet with the date 1703 and the names of two churchwardens.

The tower, built of red sandstone ashlar and dating from the end of the 14th century, is in three stages with angle buttresses at each corner rising in six weathered stages to the string-course at the base of the embattled parapet, which has shields in the merlons, crocketed finials at the angles, and gargoyles in the centre of each face. The west door has a segmental-pointed arch with a moulded splay continuous down the jambs, flanked by small pilasters with crocketed finials and surmounted by an ogee crocketed label with a foliated finial; above this there is a three-light plain tracery window in a deep splay with a four-centred arch and hood-mouldings with grotesque head-stops; the tracery is modern but the head and jambs are original. Over this window there is an empty niche with the remains of a canopy. The north side is plain, but the south has three loop lights to the tower staircase, and a large sundial painted on the wall of the second stage; the east side has a clock dial in the second stage with a small square window below. On all faces of the belfry there are two windows close together, each of two trefoil lights with four-centred heads set in deep splays, the lower part of each light is panelled in stone with louvres above.

The chancel (51 ft. by 17 ft.), entirely rebuilt in 1677, is probably much longer than its 13th-century predecessor, of which no trace remains. The walls are plastered and the floor paved with red and yellow brick, the choir portion with modern tiles surrounding memorial slabs of the 17th and 18th centuries; there are two steps to the choir and two to the altar, which is of modern oak with a carved panel representing the Lord's Supper. The roof, which is of the king-post type, is modern, but some of the 17th-century timbers have been re-used. Opposite the north door there is a pointed arch recess which may have been intended for a south door and not completed. On the south wall there is a large mural monument of black and white marble with the busts of a knight and his wife on a shelf on which there are also two skulls; this is to Sir Thomas Trevor, bart., died 1676, and Mary his wife, died 1695; by the side hang a helmet and gauntlet. On the north side there is another large marble mural monument, with the bust of a knight, to Sir Thomas Trevor, 'One of the Barons of ye King's Exchequer and Lord of this Mannour', died St. Thomas's Day, 1654; by the side are hung a helmet, sword, and gauntlet. In the recess on the south side there is a white marble monument to John Allington, the vicar who was responsible for the complete restoration of the church, died 1682. On each side of the chancel are marble tablets to members of the Wheler family who died during the 17th century.

The nave (56 ft. by 24 ft.) has a modern red tiled floor, with wood blocks under the seating, the walls unplastered, and its old timber roof concealed by a modern matchboarded ceiling. The west bay of the north arcade is screened off with a 17th-century oak screen with carved panels. The south arcade, of five bays, has pointed arches of two splayed orders supported on octagonal pillars with moulded capitals and bases, the latter resting on low square plinths with chamfered corners; the moulded capital to the east respond, which has a row of nail-heads in a hollow moulding, has been restored. The first three bays are contemporary with the nave, the two other bays were added early in the 14th century. The north arcade has four bays of similar detail to those on the south side, the east bay opened into a chapel built late in the 13th century and embodied in the arcade when the north aisle was erected late in the 14th century. The chancel arch and its responds have been replaced by a modern segmental arch, concealed by a modern oak panelled and traceried screen resting on carved stone corbels. The tower arch is pointed, with two splayed orders to the nave and three to the tower, the inner order supported on responds with moulded caps and the outer continued down to splayed bases and on the tower side the third splay dies out on the walls.

The north aisle (57 ft. 5 in. by 11 ft. 5 in.) is paved with modern tiles and has a low-pitched roof dating from the 17th century, the beams supported by carved brackets resting on stone corbels. Against the east respond of the arcade there is a narrow doorway, with a four-centred head, to a blocked staircase which gave access to the rood loft; it still retains its iron hinge-pins. In the east bay there is an altar table, with turned legs, dating from the 18th century. The pointed rear-arch of the north door and its label with head-stops are formed with plaster.

The south aisle (57 ft. by 11 ft. 6 in.) has a floor and roof similar to the north. The east bay forms the organ chamber and the west bay is screened off as an additional vestry. The south door has a plaster rear-arch similar to the north, but above it, a little to the west, is a blocked semicircular arch, probably the rear-arch of the 13th-century doorway.

The tower (12 ft. by 11 ft. 9 in.) is paved with modern tiles and the walls are unplastered. The southwest corner is splayed for the doorway to the tower stair, which has a four-centred head of one splay. In the belfry there are corbels for an octagonal spire which either was never built or has been destroyed. In the west window there are a number of coats of arms of Trevor and Wheler and their alliances.

The hexagonal sandstone font stands at the west end of the nave and beneath the rim moulding, on each face, there is an angel with outstretched wings holding a plain shield; the stem is also hexagonal, each face having two trefoiled panels; the base and step are modern. The pulpit on the north side of the chancel arch is octagonal with alternate long and short sides. It is of oak with carved trefoils, quatrefoils and similar work of varying detail, with linenfold panels in later framing. The carving dates from the end of the 16th century. The seating throughout is modern.

The church plate includes: a large silver chalice and two patens engraved with the Trevor crest and an inscription recording their gift by Sir Thomas Trevor, bart., in 1633; a large silver flagon, and another of pewter, both given in 1699 by William Binckes, vicar.

Of the five bells, nos. 1 and 2 are by G. &. G. Mears, 1821; the other three by Hugh Watts, 1620, 1631, and 1615 respectively.

The registers begin in 1559."

SOURCE - (visit link)
Building Materials: Stone

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