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Summary

Church of All Saints has 11th-12th century origins and is a Grade II* listed building.

Monument Types

• ANGLICAN CHURCH (MED:C11,C12,C13,C14/PM:C19, Early Medieval/Dark Age to Post Medieval - 1000 AD to 1899 AD)

Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1103684: CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS

Associated Finds - None

Associated Events - None

Full description

All Saints church, Anglo-Saxon, Norman 13th cent., 19th cent. restoration (Pevsner 1964, 232). [1]

ELSHAM CHURCH STREET TA 01 SW (north side) Church of All Saints 5/19 6/11/67 GV II * Parish church. Cll - C12 origins to tower, nave and chancel, with C13 - C14 north transept and alterations to tower, including west door. Restorations of 1873/4 by W Scott Champion included extensive rebuilding of nave, chancel and transept. Limestone and ironstone rubble and ashlar with limestone ashlar dressings. Slate roof. West tower with west entrance, 3-bay nave with single-bay north transept (now vestry) and 2-bay chancel. 2-stage tower: large diagonal off-set buttresses, chamfered plinth. Very fine door has pointed arch of 4 orders with fillet mouldings on 5 orders of filleted shafts with naturalistic foliate capitals, hood-mould and headstops; string course above. Buttresses flanking door each have recessed C13 carved relief panels, that to right with angel and 5 naked figures, that to left also with figures but much weathered. North and south lancets to first-stage. String course cut by pointed 2-light west window with C19 geometrical tracery, original hood-mould and headstops. 1896 clockface above. Square-headed 2- light belfry openings containing C19 pierced ashlar tablets. Moulded string-course, coped parapet. Low pyramidal spire with wrought-iron finial. Nave: south side has restored lancet and C19 pointed 2-light windows with curvilinear tracery, hood-moulds and mainly original headstops. Pointed 2- light north window with C19 geometrical tracery, original hood-mould and headstops. Transept: C19 pointed chamfered north door with square-headed traceried single-light window and pedimented coped gable above; C14 square- headed 2-light trefoiled east and west windows; re-used Romanesque moulded stone in north wall. Chancel: round-arched chamfered north door with plain hood-mould and carved stops; restored pointed 2-light windows with C19 tracery, hood-moulds and headstops, some of the latter original. String course and coped parapet throughout. Interior. Small round-headed tower arch with roll moulding and restored imposts; small blocked basket-arched opening above with chamfered jambs. Former opening to transept has double- chamfered segmental arch, chamfered jambs and plain imposts. Pointed piscina to south side of chancel. C19 fittings. Former medieval font in tower with plain octagonal bowl and cylindrical shaft. N Pevsner and J Harris, The Buildings of England : Lincolnshire, 1978, p 232-3; drawing by C Nattes, 1796, Banks Collection, Lincoln City Library.
Listing NGR: TA0365112550 [2]

The church contains a wooden plaque that commemorates the former pupils of the village school who were on active service during the 1914-1918 war. There are about 75 names of those who served and returned, and 12 for those who died. The plaque was moved to the church when the school closed. [3]

Although substantially rebuilt, the tower at All Saints is an example of a ‘Lincolnshire Tower’, a distinct class of bell tower constructed during the 40 years after the Norman conquest. Some churches with these towers were built in public spaces at the instigation of local 'sokemen', and others were within or near manorial enclosures, associated with the tenants in-chief of the new Norman lords.

The location of All Saints church was defined as ‘Group 2', established on a green or other public space, but with a Group 1 association, i.e. governed by association with a pre-existing natural feature. An analysis of the settlement plan did not reveal any close association with the known medieval manors, but rather a location on a village green between the roads that led to upland grazing areas. The siting may also have been influenced by the natural springs in this area. [4]
NB this reference contains much detail on the architecture of the church, its location within the village, and its relation to similar Lincolnshire Tower churches in the historic county.

John Wood, 1986, A Gazetteer of Norman Architecture (GAZETTEER). SLS5102.

<1> Loughlin, N and Miller, KR, 1979, A Survey of Archaeological Sites in Humberside, 197 (BOOK). SLS523.

<2> English Heritage/NMR, 2005, Listed building system data in MIDAS XML format, 165922 (COMPUTER DISK/TAPE). SLS2963.

<3> UK National Inventory of War Memorials, 53535, 53536 (WEBSITE). SLS4370.

<4> Stocker, D and Everson, P, 2006, Summoning St Michael: Early Romanesque Towers in Lincolnshire, 148-149, fig 4.57 (BOOK). SLS6553.

Sources and further reading

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