All Saints Church is a historic Anglican church in the village of Aldwincle,

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is under the care of The

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

History

The church originated in the 13th century. During the next century the north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

, the

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

and the clerestory were added. In the 15th century the tower, porch and chapel were built. The chapel was a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area i ...

chapel founded by the Chambre family and dates from 1488 to 1489. In 1863 the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

was restored, followed by the rest of the church in 1893. By this time the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of All Saints had been united with that of St Peter's, Aldwincle, and All Saints subsequently became disused. It was declared redundant in 1976, and has been made into an architectural museum. The poet

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

was born in the nearby rectory in 1631, and was

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

in the church. Another poet, Mary Rolls, wife of All Saints' rector Henry Rolls, lived at the rectory from 1820 until her death in 1835.

Architecture

Exterior

All Saints is constructed in

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and its roofs are covered partly in lead and partly in

Collyweston stone slate The Collyweston Slater pub in Collyweston with a Collyweston slate roof Collyweston stone slate is a traditional roofing material found in central England. It is not a proper slate but a limestone found in narrow beds. It is considerably h ...

. Its plan consists of a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a south porch, a chancel with a chapel to the south and a vestry to the north, and a west tower. The tower is in four stages with

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es at the corners. The stages are divided by string courses carved with a variety of images. In the lowest stage is a west doorway. Above this, in the second stage and extending into the third stage, is a three-light window. Over this, in the third stage, is a small

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

. The top stage is the largest, and is almost completely filled by bell openings on each side. These are square-headed and double, each side containing two lights. Above them is a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

containing quatrefoils, a

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

, and a tall

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

ted pinnacle at each corner. The sides of both aisles each contain a doorway and three-light windows, and the clerestory has two square-headed two-light windows on each side. There is a two-light window on the east and west sides of the north aisle, and at the west end of the south aisle. The east window has four lights, and there are two-light windows in the north and south walls of the chancel. The chapel has a four-light east window and two three-light windows in the south wall; all these contain

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. There also is a doorway in the south wall of the chapel.

Interior

The arcades are each of three bays with the arches carried on circular piers. There is a

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

in the south wall of the chancel, and brackets for statues on each side of the east window. At the southeast corner of the north aisle is another piscina, this one dating from the 14th century, but it is damaged. There is a third piscina in the chapel. The font is octagonal and dates from the 13th century. The communion rail is Jacobean in style. In the nave there are fragments of a wall painting depicting Saint Christopher. Above the chancel arch is a royal hatchment flanked by the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

. In the chancel is a hatchment to the Spinacre family. In the chancel floor is a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other wit ...

to the memory of William Aldwyncle who died in 1463. On the north wall of the north aisle is a brass commemorating John Pykering, a physician who died in 1659, incorporating an inscription composed by himself. Some of the windows in the church contain

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

stained glass. The church plate includes a cup and

paten A paten or diskos is a small plate, used during the Mass. It is generally used during the liturgy itself, while the reserved sacrament are stored in the tabernacle in a ciborium. Western usage In many Western liturgical denominations, the p ...

from about 1570, and two patens from 1861.

External features

In the churchyard are two items designated as Grade II listed buildings. These are a headstone dated 1696, and a chest tomb from the 17th century. At the entrance to the churchyard is a

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

to the memory of Fanny Satterfield Hodgson who died in 1917.

References