All Saints Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Harthill, Cheshire, 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 II*

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 ...

. As of 2010 the church is being converted into a community facility for the village and locality.

History

A chapel on this site is first mentioned in 1280. It is likely that this earlier church was

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...

. The present church was built in 1609.

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

was carried out in 1862–63, and at this time a

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 ...

was added to the north side and a larger belfry was erected.

Architecture

The church is built in ashlar red and buff

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

with a

Welsh slate The existence of a slate industry in Wales is attested since the Roman period, when slate was used to roof the fort at Segontium, now Caernarfon. The slate industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, then expanded rapidly until the l ...

roof and a stone ridge. The five- bay

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

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 ...

are in one range, and there is a south porch and a north vestry. Inside the church is a hammerbeam roof. The windows are square-headed, those on the sides having four lights, while the east window has six lights with a transom. The porch contains

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

s' inscriptions date 1611 and 1775. Inside the church is the framework of a screen bearing the date 1609. The stained glass includes the east window dating from 1885 to 1887, which was designed by Carl Almquist and made by

Shrigley and Hunt Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles. History The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire. In 1868, control of Shrigley' ...

. A north window in the chancel, dated 1908, is by

Mary Lowndes Mary Lowndes (1857–1929) was a British stained-glass artist who co-founded the stained glass studio and workshop Lowndes and Drury in 1897. She was an influential leader in the Arts and Crafts movement, not only for her stained glass work a ...

External features

In the churchyard to the east of the former church is a mausoleum dated 1885 which is constructed in ashlar buff sandstone with

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

dressings. It is rectangular in plan with a stepped hipped cap surmounted by a slab with a cross upon it. On the long sides are six short

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s and on the short sides four pilasters. The side panels are inscribed with memorials to members of the Barbour family of

Bolesworth Castle Bolesworth Castle is a country house south of the village of Tattenhall, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. History Bolesworth Castle was built for George ...

. Also in the churchyard is a sandstone cross from the 11th or 12th century, and a sundial dated 1778 consisting of a sandstone column on an old millstone. All these structures are listed at Grade II. North of the church are two war graves of soldiers of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

References

External links

Photographs by Craig Thornber
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harthill, All Saints Church Grade II* listed churches in Cheshire Church of England church buildings in Cheshire Former Church of England church buildings Former churches in Cheshire 19th-century Church of England church buildings Churches completed in 1863

History

Architecture

External features

See also

References

External links