All Saints Church, Conington

All Saints Church, Conington
All Saints Church, Conington, from the southeast All Saints Church, Conington, from the southeast
All Saints Church, Conington is located in Cambridgeshire All Saints Church, Conington Location in Cambridgeshire
OS grid reference	TL 179 858
Location	Conington, Cambridgeshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Churches Conservation Trust
Architecture
Functional status	Redundant
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	28 January 1958
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic
Specifications
Materials	Limestone and fieldstone

All Saints Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Conington in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands to the east of the village, between the A1 road and the East Coast Main Line.

History

A church was mentioned in the Domesday Survey. It was rebuilt in about 1500. The embattled parapets were restored in 1638 by Sir Thomas Cotton. In 1841 the church was restored and the pews were replaced. A new east window was added in 1852. The tower was strengthened in 1862, and further repairs were undertaken between 1897 and 1899.

Architecture

Exterior

All Saints is constructed in limestone rubble and fieldstone, with limestone dressings. Its plan consists of a four-bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles with chapels at their east ends, a chancel, north and south porches, and a west tower. At the east end of the south aisle is a chapel. The tower is in four stages on a plinth decorated with quatrefoil ornament. At the corners are half-octagonal turrets rising to crocketted pinnacles. The parapet is battlemented with a quatrefoil frieze and gargoyles at the centre of each side. In the bottom stage is a west arched doorway, above which is five-light window. The bell openings in the top stage have four lights. The clerestory has three three-light windows and one five-light window on each side. Along the side of the south aisle are three four-light windows. The south chapel has a four-light south window, and a five-light east window. Between the aisle and the chapel is a rood turret with a polygonal roof and a foliated finial. The south porch is shallow and gabled with a tiled roof. The chancel has three-light windows in the north and south walls and a restored east window.

Interior

Inside the church are four-bay arcades, the westernmost bays being wider than the others. In the south wall of the chancel is a three-seat sedilia and a piscina. The limestone octagonal font dates from the 15th century, and stands on a 19th-century base. In the church are monuments to the Cotton and Heathcote families. Most of the furnishings date from 1841. The organ was built by Miller and Son of Cambridge. There is a ring of six bells, all cast by Thomas Mears II of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, five of them in 1827, and the sixth in 1834.

See also

• List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the East of England

External links

• Page containing various photos of All Saints Church, Conington