All Saints Church is a
redundant Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church in the village of
Conington in the
Huntingdonshire district of
Cambridgeshire, England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I
listed building,
and is under the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust.
The church stands to the east of the village, between the
A1 road
A list of roads designated A1, sorted by alphabetical order of country.
* A01 highway (Afghanistan), a long ring road or beltway connecting Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar
* A1 motorway (Albania), connecting Durrës and Kukës
* A001 highwa ...
and the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
.
[
]
History
A church was mentioned in the Domesday Survey.embattled
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 ...
parapets were restored in 1638 by Sir Thomas Cotton. In 1841 the church was restored
''Restored'' is the fourth
studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings.
Track listing
Standard release
Enhanced edition
Deluxe gold edition
Standard ...
and the pews were replaced. A new east window was added in 1852. The tower was strengthened in 1862, and further repairs were undertaken between 1897 and 1899.[
]
Architecture
Exterior
All Saints is constructed in limestone rubble and fieldstone
Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a construction mate ...
, with limestone dressings.[ Its plan consists of a four-]bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
nave with a clerestory
In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both.
Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...
, north and south aisles with chapels at their east ends, a chancel, north and south porches, and a west tower.[ At the east end of the south aisle is a chapel. The tower is in four stages on a plinth decorated with ]quatrefoil
A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...
ornament. At the corners are half-octagonal turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
s rising to crocketted pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...
s. The parapet is battlemented with a quatrefoil frieze and gargoyles at the centre of each side. In the bottom stage is a west arched doorway, above which is five-light window. The bell openings in the top stage have four lights. The clerestory has three three-light windows and one five-light window on each side. Along the side of the south aisle are three four-light windows. The south chapel has a four-light south window, and a five-light east window. Between the aisle and the chapel is a rood turret with a polygonal roof and a foliated finial
A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature.
In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...
. The south porch is shallow and gabled with a tiled roof. The chancel has three-light windows in the north and south walls and a restored east window.[
]
Interior
Inside the church are four-bay arcades, the westernmost bays being wider than the others. In the south wall of the chancel is a three-seat sedilia and a piscina. The limestone octagonal font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
dates from the 15th century, and stands on a 19th-century base. In the church are monuments to the Cotton and Heathcote families.[ Most of the furnishings date from 1841.][ The organ was built by Miller and Son of Cambridge. There is a ]ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
of six bells, all cast by Thomas Mears II of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, five of them in 1827, and the sixth in 1834.
References
External links
The Churches Conservation Trust: All Saints, ConingtonPage containing various photos of All Saints Church, Conington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conington, All Saints Church
Grade I listed churches in Cambridgeshire
Church of England church buildings in Cambridgeshire
English Gothic architecture in Cambridgeshire
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
Churches in Huntingdonshire