All Saints Church is an Anglican Church in the Diocese of Derby. The church is located adjacent to Sudbury Hall ancestral home of the Vernon family now owned by the National Trust.
All Saints Church is a Grade II* listed building. A detailed description by British Listed Buildings can be seen at the following link: (
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There has been a church at Sudbury since before the Domesday survey, although the church as it stands now was rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries. The church was later enlarged and restored in the 19th century. The Norman south doorway and a small window in the chapel remain.
The Church was extensively restored by the 6th Lord Vernon's architect, George Devey, in 1873-83. The tower was raised, windows replaced and pews installed. There are fine family monuments in the church, some dating from as early as the 1600s. A church has existed on this site since the Early Middle Ages.
The church contains numerous memorials and monuments of the Vernon family. One particularly touching one is an oval plaque showing two children who died in 1862- they are shown sleeping, with a few trails of blossom surrounding them.
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British Listed Buildings describes the windows in All Saints Church as follows;
"Stained glass in the east window given in 1849 by
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, bright colours, flat and pictorial, figure scenes in architectural setting. It was later toned down by a semi-opaque coating on the outside. Said to be by a German artist. Seven other late C19 stained glass windows.
Some of the south aisle windows may be by Burlison and Grylls." Source: (
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There are a number of commemorative windows in the church and the east window was a gift from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as Queen Adelaide had lived at Sudbury Hall.
The Chancel. The east window was presented to the Church by Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort in 1850, to the memory of George Edward Anson, (brother of the then Rector) who had been private secretary to Prince Albert and Keeper of Her Majesty's Privy Purse. The glass is the work of a German artist. (
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In the Chancel is the Evacuee window, which was designed and made by Michael Stokes as a Millennium window. It was commissioned by a small group of evacuees from Manchester, children who came to Sudbury during the last War.
This window was dedicated on 3 June 2001 and was a gift - almost 60 years after the event - from former World War II child evacuees from inner-city Manchester to the community of Sudbury who looked after them.
"The memorial’s design and history The ‘Manchester Evacuees’ memorial is a stained glass window in All Saints Church, Sudbury. The image depicted in the four panels of the window consists of two children, recognisable as evacuees by their luggage, labels and gas masks, standing in front of a large house in a rural setting – an image consistent with the experiences many former evacuees and hosts have recounted. Above the scene, in a blue sky is a dove and running along the base of the image is the poignant inscription ‘I was a stranger and you took me in.’
The window was donated to the church by a former evacuee from Manchester to Sudbury and is dedicated to evacuees from St Thomas’ School in Ardwick, Manchester who stayed in Sudbury during the war. The window was dedicated by the Bishop of Derby in June 2001.
The Manchester evacuees memorial.
The windows show a rural setting with a dove, symbolising peace, above the images of two children. Their evacuee labels, minimal luggage and gas masks can be clearly seen. Below the children is the inscription ' I was a stranger and you took me in' dedicating the memorial to the local people who cared for evacuees." (
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Details given by Imperial War Museum website are as follows;
"A two light stained glass window, each split vertically to form four panels, with four glazed mouchettes in the tracery at the head of the flat arch. The two upper panels contain abstract scenes of the landscape and sky, with a white dove of peace at the top left. The two lower panels contain an image of evacuee children during the Second World War, a girl at the left, a boy to the right. The inscription is in upright capital lettering within a frieze across the foot of the lights." SOURCE: (
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