All Saints Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of

Holdenby Holdenby is an English village and civil parish about north-west of Northampton in West Northamptonshire. The parish population measured by the 2011 census was 170. The village name means "Halfdan's/Haldan's farm/settlement". Prominent building ...

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 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 ...

, 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 present church was largely built between 1330 and 1340 by Richard Holdenby, the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

. It is not the first church on the site, because the presence of a

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

is recorded in 1220, but there are no remains of an earlier church. The

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 ...

, the

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 ...

s, and the lower part of the tower date from the 14th century. During the 15th century the upper part of the tower was added, and the north aisle was altered and its roof was raised. In the 1570s Sir Christopher Hatton,

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, built a new mansion and moved the dwellings of the village away from the vicinity of the church, leaving it isolated. In 1843–44 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 rebuilt to a design by Sir Henry Dryden of

Canons Ashby House Canons Ashby House is a Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house located in the village of Canons Ashby, about south of the town of Daventry in the county of Northamptonshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1981 when the h ...

. The church was restored in 1867–68 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. This included adding new high-pitched roofs to the nave and the south aisle, renewal of the window

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 ...

, the stained glass and the doors, and the addition of the south porch. An organ chamber was added to the chancel in 1874. In 1972, when 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 ...

was united with that of

East Haddon East Haddon is a small village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire in England. The village is located eight miles from Northampton and is surrounded by the villages of Holdenby, Ravensthorpe and Long Buckby. The location between Nor ...

, All Saints was declared redundant, and it came under the care of the Redundant Churches Fund (now the Church Conservation Trust).

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in

lias Lias may refer to: Geology * Lias Formation, a geologic formation in France *Lias Group, a lithostratigraphic unit in western Europe * Early Jurassic, an epoch People * Godfrey Lias, British author * Mohd Shamsudin Lias (born 1953), Malaysian ...

ashlar stone with roofs tiled in a fish-scale pattern. Its plan consists of a nave with north and south aisles, a chancel, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, with a clasping

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 ( ...

on the west and an angle buttress at its junction with the nave. In the lowest stage is a two-light west window. The top stage contains two-light bell openings on each side and it has a

crenellated 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 interva ...

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'). ...

. On both the north and south sides of the chancel are lancet windows with

es between them, and the east window consists of a triple lancet with a lozenge-shaped window above it. In the south wall of the south aisle there are two three-light windows, and similar windows are in the east and west ends. The porch, which is

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d, stands between the windows on the south side. Along the north side of the north aisle are three two-light windows and a doorway.

Interior

The nave arcades are in three bays supported by octagonal piers. At the top of each pier is a corbel carved with a human head. In the northeast corner of the south aisle is a tomb recess and 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 ...

. The

rood A rood or rood cross, sometimes known as a triumphal cross, is a cross or crucifix, especially the large crucifix set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church. Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion ...

screen was originally in nearby

Holdenby House Holdenby House is a historic country house in Northamptonshire, traditionally pronounced, and sometimes spelt, Holmby. The house is situated in the parish of Holdenby, six miles (10 km) northwest of Northampton and close to Althorp. It is a ...

, and was moved into the church in about 1700. It is elaborately carved with images including lions, exotic plants, and gilded heads and suns. The cross was added to the screen in 1867. The wooden reredos behind the altar was also originally in Holdenby House. The oak pulpit originated in the 18th century but was altered in the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. The octagonal font originated in the

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 ...

period and was also altered in Victorian times. The church also contains a Victorian wheeled coffin

bier A bier is a stand on which a corpse, coffin, or casket containing a corpse is placed to lie in state or to be carried to the grave.''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., New York, ...

, and a wooden alms box. Above the south door hang the Royal arms of George I. The choir stalls in the chancel date from the 15th century and were originally in Lincoln Cathedral. There include

misericord A misericord (sometimes named mercy seat, like the biblical object) is a small wooden structure formed on the underside of a folding seat in a church which, when the seat is folded up, is intended to act as a shelf to support a person in a par ...

s carved with a variety of images. On the walls of the nave and aisles are seven painted panels with

strapwork In the history of art and design, strapwork is the use of stylised representations in ornament of ribbon-like forms. These may loosely imitate leather straps, parchment or metal cut into elaborate shapes, with piercings, and often interwoven in ...

borders. They contain text taken from the

Bishops' Bible The Bishops' Bible is an English translation of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and the 1602 edition was prescribed as the base text for the King ...

of 1568, and so are thought to date from the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

. Also on the walls are zinc panels from the Victorian period inscribed with the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

, 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 ...

and the Creed. The walls of the chancel are decorated with patterns and the images of two angels. In one of the windows in the south aisle are fragments of 14th-century stained glass. The rest of the stained glass is Victorian. At the east end of the south aisle is an

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

floor memorial to William Holdenby, who died in 1490, and his wife. Also in the church are memorials to other residents of Holdenby House, including

Henry Agar-Ellis, 3rd Viscount Clifden Henry Agar-Ellis, 3rd Viscount Clifden (25 February 1825 – 20 February 1866), styled the Lord Dover from 1833 to 1836, was an Irish courtier and race horse owner. Viscount Clifden was the eldest son of George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover, and his ...

, and to members of the White family. The two- manual organ was built in about 1890 by Wordsworth and Maskell of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

References

External links

Holdenby House