All Saints' Church is the parish church in Wraxall,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, England. It has been dedicated "to all the Saints". The building is surrounded by an extensive

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The present building was raised in the 14th century, with

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

clock A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest Invention, human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, a ...

and

bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

s being added in later centuries. The church has been designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a Grade I

listed building 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, Hi ...

. Parish registers survive from 1562, and include examples of the

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

of enslaved black people. There are painted stone figures of Sir Edmond Gorges and his wife in the

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 ...

. The nearby

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

was built in the 17th century. The West Tower, is high, and contains eight bells, three of which date from 1705. The clock face was added in 1730. The large

churchyard In Christian countries, a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church (building), church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster S ...

contains several monuments to the Gibbs family which owned the nearby Tyntesfield Estate, which has recently been purchased by the

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following the death of Baron Wraxall.

History

The southern doorway of the present building was part of a previous building of Norman date. It appears that portions of the chancel, north aisle and south porch were rebuilt at that time. The tower, roofs and windows were apparently rebuilt and enlarged in the fifteenth century. Members of the Gorges family, who were lords of this manor for some 400 years, are buried under the building's floors, although most of their headstones have been moved or destroyed. In 2006 parish leaders began a project to convert an abandoned school building on the grounds (the Old Georgian School, which opened in 1809) into a new meeting room and parish office, with restrooms, handicapped facilities and a kitchen. The project was estimated to cost £200,000 and was slated to begin in 2009.http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/wraxall/Fundraising-auction-Saints-Church-Wraxall/article-430737-detail/article.html This Is Bristol (website) accessed 21 August 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wraxall, All Saints 14th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in North Somerset Grade I listed churches in Somerset Grade I listed buildings in North Somerset

History

See also

References