All Saints' Church is the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, England. It is a grade II* listed building.

Background

Built in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

in the 19th century, it has been described as "''one of the largest Church of England parish churches, rivaling many cathedrals in size.''" It is located in the centre of the town, just south of the

River Leam The River Leam (), anciently Leame, etc, is a river in England which rises at Hellidon Hill in Northamptonshire then flows through Warwickshire, including the town of Leamington Spa, named after it. It then flows into the River Avon near Warwi ...

in what was the old core of the town.

History

The

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086 reports that there was a priest present in "Lamintone", (an old name for Leamington) although there is no specific mention of a church. The earliest record of one was from the 12th century when Leamington was still a tiny

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the parish of

Leek Wootton Leek Wootton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Leek Wootton and Guy's Cliffe, in the Warwick district, in the county of Warwickshire, England, approximately 2 miles south of Kenilworth and 2.5 miles north of Warwick. It ...

. A west tower was added in the 14th century whilst a south porch was put added in the 18th. The first

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

(of many that made Leamington famous) was located just outside the main entrance of the church of land owned by the

Earl of Aylesford Earl of Aylesford, in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1714 for the lawyer and politician Heneage Finch, 1st Baron Guernsey. He had already been created Baron Guernsey in the Peerage of England in ...

. It was however in 1843 that the church began to take its current form and shape. By this time the church was no longer in open fields just to the north of a hamlet, but was in the centre of a bustling

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

. (Two of Leamington's town founders,

Benjamin Satchwell Benjamin Satchwell (3 January 1732–1 December 1810Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.) was one of the founding fathers of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, England. Satchwell's cottage was in the old town to the south of the River Leam. He w ...

and

William Abbotts William Abbotts (1736 – 1 March 1805) was one of the founding fathers of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, UK. Although already an important landowner in the then village it was on 14 January 1784 that Abbotts made the discovery that he would be ...

, are buried in the churchyard.) The main construction took place between 1843 and 1869, overseen and largely funded by vicar John Craig. Designs were drawn up by architect J.G. Jackson of Leamington, but Craig is reported to have been largely his own architect. In 1867 the south transept was added by the architect TC Barry. The last major works to take place to the church, after Craig's death, were from 1898 to 1902 by the architect Sir

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

, when two western bays to the nave and a south western bell tower were added. The seating capacity was increased to around 2000. From September 2007 to February 2008 the church precincts were redeveloped and a new

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, entitled 'Spring', was installed on the site of the original Leamington spa spring.

The church today

The church remains in active use as a place of worship, with Sunday and other major services accompanied by the surpliced choir. Despite the fragmentation of its parish during the 19th century, All Saints is still known and used as Leamington's Parish Church. The church hosts and promotes organ recitals and concerts, as well as the annual All Saints' Arts Festival. It also runs a group for LGBTQIA+ Christians called LGBTXians. There is a lively Ukrainian cafe inside the church, which opens every day except Sunday.

Vicars of Leamington from 1823

*Robert Downes 1823 – 1839 * John Craig 1839 – 1877 *The Hon. J.W. Leigh 1877 – 1884 *Walter Furneaux 1884 – 1896 *Cecil Hook 1896 – 1906 *W. Armstrong Buck 1906 – 1916 *Frederick Feist 1916 – 1933 *G.C. Rolfe 1933 – 1943 *R.C. Streatfield 1943 – 1959 *Anthony Rouse 1959 – 1963 *Idwal Jones 1963 – 1980 *Ian Campbell 1980 – 1991 *J. Gareth Miller 1991–1993 *Interregnum 1993 – 1995 *George Warner 1995 – 2002 (Priest-in-Charge of All Saints and of Holy Trinity) *Christopher Wilson 2003 – current (Priest-in-Charge, later Vicar of All Saints and of Holy Trinity)

Directors of Music

*Peter Smith *Simon Tayton *Bea van der Kaaij *Julian Parkin 2008 – 2013 *David Williams, FRCO 2013 – 2014 *Simon Lawford, BA, MA, FRCO 2014 *Richard Cook, BA 2014 *Simon Tayton, BA, MSc, FCMI 2014 – 2017 *Suzanne Green, BA, MA 2018 – 2019 *Suzanne Green & Alex Silverman (Job Share) 2019–2022 *Alex Silverman 2022-present

Organ

The church has a pipe organ by

William Hill & Sons William Hill & Son was one of the main organ builders in England during the 19th century. The founder William Hill was born in Spilsby, Lincolnshire in 1789. He married Mary, the daughter of organ-builder Thomas Elliot, on 30 October 1818 i ...

dating from 1879. There have been subsequent rebuilds by

Hill, Norman and Beard William Hill & Son & Norman & Beard Limited (commonly known as Hill, Norman and Beard) were a major pipe organ manufacturer originally based in Norfolk. History They were founded in 1916 by the merger of Norman and Beard and William Hill & Sons ...

in 1926, and Longstaff & Jones in 1981. The organ is described in the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

.National Pipe Organ Register
/ref>

List of organists

*Henry T Elliston 1820 *Henry Matthews 1864 *Thomas Bladon 1876 *Frank Spinney, FCO 1878 *Walter Spinney 1888 *W H Bellamy 1894 *Lionel Wiggins, Hon RCM FRCO ARCM 1922 *Robert Dickinson, BMus FRCO LRAM 1951 *Hugh Large, FRCO ARCM 1956 *Neil Wade, ARCM, ARCO 1964 *Graham Steed, BMus FRCO 1965 *Alan Jones 1967 *Derrick Stiff 1968 *Keith Sedgebeer, BA 1970 *David M Palmer 1972 *Robert E Munns, FRAM, ARCO, ARCM 1983 *John Wilks, BA BMus FRCO 1987 *Colin Druce, GBSM FRCO ARCM 1988 *Sean Montgomery, ARCO 1998 *Jeremy Meager, ARCO 2007 *Cynthia Hall, MA FRCO 2009 *David Williams, FRCO 2012 *Christopher Beaumont, MA FTCL 2019

References

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