Description

TF 40 NE ELM MAIN ROAD
11/10

23.6.52 Church of All Saints

I

Fine parish church, early and late C13 with a C15 hammer beam roof. Only minor C19
restorations and additions. West tower, early C13 of coursed Barnack ashlar.
Embattled and of four stages on splayed plinth. Three stage buttressing with main
newel staircase in south west corner. At each corner of bell stage is an octagonal
turret, embattled. Moulded main cornice with corbel table of mask ornament. West
doorway has round-headed arch of three hollow and roll moulded orders on three
recessed shafts. The north and south walls of the ground stage have blind arcading in
four bays. Two centred, hollow and roll moulded orders and a continuous roll moulded
label. West window of three chamfered lancets above a band of nail head ornament, and
the north and south walls have arcading of three bays and two half bays each.
Chamfered two-centred arches with continuous label, moulded and the bays divided and
flanked by banded shafts. Each wall of the second stage has similar blind arcading of
four bays, one pierced, and one half bay. Bell stage, also early C13, with two
similar lancet openings with shafted angles in a round-headed arch. Nave of
rubblestone with Barnack dressings to windows. Low pitched roof, C15, leaded with C13
corbel table to eaves. Later C13 clerestorey of ten windows to each side.
Two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with roll moulded label and mask stops.
South aisle, also late C13. Four windows. Two centred arches of two cinquefoil
lights with foiled heads. Two C15 windows of three cinquefoil lights with vertical
tracery in four-centred arches. South doorway of four hollow and roll moulded orders
in two-centred arch. Chancel, C13 with C14 fenestration. Steeply pitched roof. In
south wall, two trefoil lights with foiled head in two-centred arch. East window,
restored of five trefoil lights with a foiled head. C14 north aisle and C19 north
porch. North doorway, particularly fine, early C13. Of seven hollow and roll moulded
orders, on attached shafts. Interior. The rear arches to the windows in the west
tower are two-centred and double chamfered, on grouped shafts, keeled with moulded
capitals and bases. C13 main newel staircase entry in south west corner with gallery
at first floor leading to second newel staircase in north west corner. On the ground
floor in the north west corner is a small chamber with a ribbed domical roof carried
on corbels carved with masks. The arcading to the east wall of the tower is visible
in the gable end of the later C13 roof. Tower arch two-centred and of two chamfered
orders, the inner on responds of half round, keeled columns. Nave, north and south
arcades of six bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders with continuous
moulded label, on alternating round and octagonal columns with round and octagonal
capitals with holdwater bases. Rear arches of later C13 clerestory also chamfered
with angle shafts. The roof was raised in C15. Double hammer beam and of ten bays.
The jackposts are carved on bullnose corbels of stone and the posts, braces and
spandrels are moulded and carved. There are angels with outspread wings at the
termination of the hammer beams. North aisle also has C15 roof. East of the north
and south doorways is a demi-pier, C13, and probably for a screen. The rear arches of
the windows in the south aisle also have angle shafts to the chamfered arches.
Chancel arch two-centred and of two chamfered orders, inner on responds of half
octagonal shafts. Above the chancel arch and partly obscured by the hammer beam is a
C13 two-centred arch, roll moulded on attached shafts. In the chancel and at sill
height is a string course, C13, roll moulded. Slabs. In the nave. Eight late C17 or
early C18 with inscriptions. Glass. Late C19. One in chancel and one in south aisle
by Thomas Curtis, Ward and Hugh, 1898. Monuments. In south aisle wall monument, 1766
to David Waite and Ann, his wife. Wall monuments, 1787 to John Goddard and Sarah, his
wife.
Pevsner (Buildings of England), p.335.
VCH (Cambs) Vol.IVB, p.183.

Listing NGR: TF4698706880

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527771

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  London 1: The City of London: City of London v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)