Building record 939/1/1 - Church of All Saints, off School Lane

Church. C12 to C15. Re-seated 1828 by Charles Squirhill. Restored 1905 by M.H. Holding. Coursed squared ironstone and limestone rubble, lead roofs.

{1} Church. C12 to C15. Re-seated 1828 by Charles Squirhill. Restored 1905 by M.H. Holding. Coursed squared ironstone and limestone rubble, lead roofs. Chancel, vestry, north chancel chapel, nave, north and south aisles, west tower. 2-bay chancel has 3-light Perpendicular east window, 3-light Perpendicular windows to south with straight heads and 1-light low-side window to south-west with straight head and chamfered stone surround. Priest's door to south with stepped round-arched head and shafts with waterleaf capitals. Vestry to north has 1-light east window with straight head. 2 similar windows to north chancel chapel and north door with chamfered stone surround and lintel and hood mould. Nave has 3-bay clerestory with 2-light straight-headed windows. North aisle has 2-light window to north-east with round-arched head and plate tracery with quatrefoil to head, a 3-light straight-headed Perpendicular window to east of north door, a 2-light window to west of door with cinquefoil-headed lights, and small lancet west window. 6-panel north door has stepped pointed arch with inner chamfer, shafts, plain moulded capitals, and hood mould. South aisle has 2-light Perpendicular windows to south with straight heads and small vesica piscis east window. South doorway has stepped round-arched head, shafts and decorated capitals. South porch has hollow-chamfered doorway with hood mould and 2-light Decorated windows. North and south 3-stage tower has blocked west door with plain stone jambs and lintel. 3 blank arches above, with shafts, moulded capitals, hollow-chamfered heads and hood moulds, the central arch framing lancet window. Cast-iron clock face to middle stage south with diamond framing clock face, letters R.S. above, laurel wreath below and dated 1841. Bell-chamber openings of coupled lancets. Plain stone-coped parapet, renewed corner pinnacles, and low pyramidal roof with wind-vane and offset angle buttresses. Plain stone-coped parapets, diagonal offset buttresses to porch, chancel and north-west angle of north aisle, with other buttresses to north. Most windows have hood moulds. Chancel has piscina with cusped head and hood mould, stone mensa on rebuilt base to north of altar and door to vestry with triangular head and chamfer. Wide double hollow-chamfered arch to north chapel with polygonal responds and moulded capitals. Pair of tomb recesses in chapel with many-moulded arches, shafts, leaf capitals and piscina with cusped head. Double-chamfered chancel arch and inner semi-circular piers with scalloped capitals. Hollow-chamfered arch between chancel chapel and aisle resting on carved head corbel to north and outer arch with continuous chamfer. Nave has 4-bay arcades with octagonal columns, polygonal responds, moulded capitals and double-chamfered arches; carved head corbel to north-east. Quadruple-chamfered tower arch with moulded capitals and polygonal responds. Circular Romanesque font on plain pedestal; richly carved bowl with leaf-trails, dragons, Tree of Life and fish-scale ornament. 5-sided panelled pulpit, probably early C19. Two sections of former mid C18 communion rail with turned balusters in tomb recess. Creed and Commandment boards in chapel, probably early C19. 5 C18 charity boards, one signed Samuel Frost Writer, 1748, another 'Wrote by Thomas Litchfield, 1754'. Beams from former roof dated 1638 and 1657; another in vestry dated 1668. 2 lead plates from chancel roof, one inscribed REPAIRED BY/THE REV/MR TYMMS/1769, the other T.L. D'JNOAS L.L.D/1811. Mid and late c19 stained glass windows to aisle and chancel and 2 stained glass windows of 1905. Wall monument to Mary Jane, wife of the Honorable and Reverend T.L. Dundas, d.1827, and her husband, d.1848, signed Whiting, Northampton. 3 small wall monuments by same mason. (Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 1973, p.248; Parish Records).

{4} Description of the font.

{5} Undated photo, also photo dated 12.01.1994;

{6} CROSSHEAD & SAXON FONT.

{8} Notes that the font and the South Nave doorway appear to be products of the same workshop, probably active in the 1140s and 1150s.

{9} (SP 69066097). All Saints' Church (TI)

{12} Sketches, drawings, tracings and engraving of font, drawing of cross, drawings and sketches of parts of church with measurements;

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 9/70 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), F09 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN45262.

<3> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<4> Romilley Allen J., 1889, Sculpture of the Norman and Transitional Periods in Northamptonshire, (checked) (Article). SNN108376.

<5> Photographs of buildings in Harpole (Photographs). SNN112523.

<6> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, Parish Files (checked) (Archive). SNN115.

<7> Glynne S., 1859, Church Notes of Sir Stephen Glynne, (unchecked) (Manuscript). SNN39492.

<8> King's College, London, 2017, A corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, Site 6542 (Website). SNN110894.

<9> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), OS 6" 1958 (Map). SNN112944.

<10> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, DOE(HHR) District of Northampton Rural District, May 1961, p. 42 (Report). SNN112993.

<11> Historic England, Undated, All Saints Church, Harpole, BF107337 (Archive). SNN113203.

<12> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/136/1-15 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Mar 20 2025 4:27PM