All Saints Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

church of 15th-century origin in Wyke Regis, Weymouth,

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Built largely of

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

, the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England have described the church as a "remarkably consistent and unchanged 15th-century design". It has been a Grade I listed building since 1953. Facing Wyke Road from the modern cemetery opposite the church is the

Wyke Regis War Memorial The Wyke Regis War Memorial is a World War I war memorial located in Wyke Regis, Weymouth, Dorset, England. Facing Wyke Road from the edge of Wyke Regis Cemetery, the memorial has been Grade II listed since December 2016. The memorial was unveil ...

, erected in 1919.

History

The present All Saints Church dates to the mid-15th-century, however a church has been recorded on the same site as early as 1172. The present building was completed in 1455 and re-consecrated on 19 October that year. All Saints was the original parish church of Weymouth until the 19th-century, when other churches were built to meet the growing population, including

Holy Trinity Church Holy Trinity Church may refer to: Albania * Holy Trinity Church (Berat), Berat County * Holy Trinity Church, Lavdar, Opar, Korçë County Armenia * Holy Trinity Church, Yerevan Australia * Garrison Church, Sydney, South Wales, also known as ''H ...

, overlooking

Weymouth Town Bridge Weymouth Town Bridge is a lifting bascule bridge in Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, Dorset, England, connecting the formerly separate boroughs of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. The bridge can be lifted to allow boats access to the inner backwater of We ...

, St Paul's Church in Westham and St Edmund's Church in Lanehouse. Overlooking the

Isle of Portland An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

and

Chesil Beach Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associat ...

, the tower of the church was a prominent landmark for vessels during the age of sail. Within the cemetery are the unmarked graves of around eighty who died on board the ''

Earl of Abergavenny Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

'', including the captain John Wordsworth, brother of the poet

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

. The ship sank in Weymouth Bay in 1805 after striking the Shambles Sandbank off of the Isle of Portland. Bodies recovered from the merchant vessel '' Alexander'', wrecked in 1815, are also buried in the churchyard. The church was reseated with new pews in 1859. Other improvements included the installation of a new pulpit and reading desk, and the removal of the church's gallery, which involved moving the organ to a platform under the tower. The work cost an estimated £500, £460 of which had already been raised by March 1859, when the plans were approved by the Weymouth vestry. The church reopened on 11 December 1859, with the morning sermon being preached by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev. Walter Kerr Hamilton, and the afternoon sermon preached by the rector, Rev. H. C. Pigon. A lych gate was added to the churchyard in 1896. It was erected by the builder Mr. J. Bishop to the designs of George Fellowes Prynne.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, All Saints, Wyke Regis
The Parish of Wyke Regis website
Buildings and structures in Weymouth, Dorset Churches in Dorset Church of England church buildings in Dorset Grade I listed churches in Dorset 1455 establishments in England