All Saints Church

About All Saints Church

We welcome all ages to our services at All Saints.  All the services in our Benefice are joint services: we host the service on the 3rd Sunday which is a service of Family Communion.

The church is used for weddings, baptisms and funerals and our churchyard is still open for burials.

Although there is no mention of the church in historical records until 1254, there can be little doubt that for 200 years before this date services were held approximately where the present church stands.  Its foundation goes back, as the chancel arch shows, to Saxon or early-Norman times.  It’s probable also that the side pillars of the north doorway belong to the Norman period.  The tower was originally built at the beginning of the

12th century and to this period also belongs the font made of Barnack stone supported by Transitional pillars – a fine example of its kind.  Prior to the year 1852 the tower was probably a little higher than at present and had stone battlements, the top being surmounted by a cone-shaped steeple in the same fashion as several others in the neighbourhood.

The chancel – dated on the outside 1777 – is at least the third since the church was built.  The glass in the south-facing window and the lower part of the East window belong to a date circa 1430 and were taken from the old East window when the chancel was rebuilt in 1771.

The present walls of the nave are relatively modern, being built in 1872, when a thorough overhaul became necessary.  The interior of the nave roof is rich in finely carved beams, some bearing the names of workmen and dated 1633.  As can be seen in the photo, the nave roof was completely re-slated about 15 years ago as part of the ongoing care of the building, which successive PCCs have undertaken & raised funds for.

The majority of primary age children in the village go to Barrington C of E Primary School.  We’ve welcomed each year-group when they have visited the church.  Our organist devised a ‘treasure hunt’ type quiz, which got the children asking all sorts of questions of the adults in attendance.  It was particularly touching when a child knelt down beside ‘my granny’s grave’ and proceeded to draw the headstone.