All Saints' Church is an Anglican church in

Hovingham Hovingham is a large village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the edge of the Howardian Hills and about south of Kirkbymoorside. History The name 'Hovingham' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appe ...

, a village in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, in England. The church was built in the 11th century, from which period the tower survives. The remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1860, in a 13th-century style, by Rohde Hawkins. The tower was re-roofed in about 1970. The church has been

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

since 1954. The church is built of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with a

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof, and consists of a

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 ...

, north and south aisles, a south porch, a

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

with a north

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

, and a west tower. The tower has three stages, and contains a round-arched west doorway with free-standing shafts and four orders. Above are

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

s, a 9th-century carved cross, a round-headed window and slit windows in the middle stage, and above are narrow double bell openings, a 10th-century wheel cross, an east clock face, and a

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

table. The south doorway is Norman, with two orders, and in the south wall of the chancel is a re-set round-arched doorway. Inside, the

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

is a stone slab carved in about 800, but very worn from previously having been set in the south wall of the tower. It depicts eight human figures under an arcade, with a plant scroll at the bottom, incorporating carvings of birds. It is described by the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture as one of the "most complex and ambitious" carvings of its period in the area, and possessing an "ease and delicacy". A 10th-century carved cross was stolen in 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovingham, All Saints 11th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in North Yorkshire Grade II* listed churches in North Yorkshire Hovingham

See also

References