All Saints Church, Leicester facts for kids
Quick facts for kids All Saints' Church, Leicester |
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All Saints' Church, Leicester
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| 52°38′17″N 1°08′25″W / 52.6381°N 1.1404°W | |
| OS grid reference | SK 582 048 |
| Location | Leicester |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | Churches Conservation Trust |
| History | |
| Dedication | All Saints |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Redundant |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 5 January 1950 |
| Architect(s) | Henry Goddard, Joseph Goddard and Alfred Paget, William Basset-Smith |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Norman, Gothic |
| Closed | 1986 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Stone and brick, slate roofs |
All Saints' Church is a very old church located in Leicester, England. It's not used for regular church services anymore, but it's a special building that is protected because of its history and beautiful design. It's looked after by a group called the Churches Conservation Trust, which helps save important churches across the country. This church is so important that it's listed as a Grade I building, which means it's considered to be of exceptional interest.
Contents
History
A Church Through the Ages
Imagine a time when this church was right in the middle of a busy city! Even though it's not in the city centre today, when it was first built, it was a very important place. The Domesday Book, a famous survey from 1086, mentions that Leicester had six churches, and it's believed All Saints' was one of them.
In 1143, the church was given to Leicester Abbey. Around the year 1300, the church was made bigger by adding side sections called aisles. In the next century, the main part of the church, called the nave, and its tower were made taller. New roofs were also built over the aisles.
More Than Just a Church
All Saints' Church wasn't only used for religious services. It also served as a place for important community events. For example, in 1418, a woman named Margery Kempe was questioned here. She was a follower of John Wycliffe's ideas, which were different from the main church teachings at the time.
Later, in 1583, when the plague was spreading, important court hearings called assizes were held inside the church. This shows how central the church was to daily life. Over time, people and businesses moved to other parts of Leicester. Because of this, All Saints' parish (its local church area) joined with other nearby parishes.
Changes and Challenges
By the early 1800s, the church building was starting to show its age. In 1829, the chancel (the part of the church near the altar) was taken down and rebuilt. Later, in 1843, a local architect named Henry Goddard added new seats and made the gallery bigger. He also fixed the roofs between 1855 and 1856.
More changes happened from 1874 to 1876, when Joseph Goddard and Alfred Paget added new windows and built a new roof for the nave. They also removed the gallery. The tower was repaired by William Basset-Smith in 1894–95.
In the 1960s, new roads were built in Leicester, which made the church feel cut off from the rest of the city. The chancel was separated to create a meeting room, but fewer and fewer people attended services. The church eventually closed in 1982 and was used for storage. Sadly, in 2020, the church had a fire.
All Saints' Church was officially declared "redundant" (meaning it was no longer needed for regular services) on January 1, 1983. It was then handed over to the Churches Conservation Trust on July 8, 1986, to be preserved.
Architecture
Outside the Church
The chancel of All Saints' Church is made of brick, while the rest of the building is stone. All the roofs are covered with slate. The church has a long main section called a nave, with six parts (bays). It also has a raised section with windows called a clerestory and side aisles to the north and south. The chancel has four bays and a lower roof.
The church has three roofs that run side-by-side, with the nave's roof being the tallest. The main entrance on the west side has a Norman style doorway, which means it's very old and has a round arch. The rest of the church shows styles from the Gothic period, with beautiful patterns.
The west side of the church has a round-arched doorway decorated with zigzag patterns. Above it, there's a large window with five sections at the end of the nave, and windows with four sections at the ends of the aisles. Along the walls of the aisles, you'll see strong supports called buttresses, and flat tops called parapets. The aisles and clerestories have windows with three sections.
On the west side of both the south and north aisles, there are doorways. Above the south doorway, there's a clock and a wooden structure from the early 1600s called a bellcote. It has two moving figures and a 19th-century image of Father Time with the Latin words “Tempus edax rerum,” which means "Time, devourer of all things." Above the north doorway, there's a round window with a four-leaf pattern. The east window has three sections and is in the Perpendicular style.
The church tower has three levels. The lowest level has unique 12th-century corner supports called pilasters that are half-round. It also has a pointed arch doorway from the 13th century on the west side. The upper levels have diagonal buttresses. The very top level has bell openings with two sections and horizontal bars called transoms, which have slanted wooden slats called louvres. The top of the tower has a decorative, castle-like top called an embattled parapet.
Inside the Church
Inside the nave, there are six-bay arcades (rows of arches) supported by eight-sided columns called piers. The arch leading to the chancel is now blocked off. The floor of the nave is a mix of old medieval tiles, grave slabs, wooden block flooring under the pews, and concrete from the 20th century in other areas.
In the south aisle, there's a special space for a tomb and two small basins called piscinae, which were used for washing sacred vessels. The font, used for baptisms, is from the 13th century and is beautifully carved. The pulpit, where sermons were given, is five-sided and dates back to the 15th century, standing on a 19th-century base.
The clock above the south doorway is from around 1620 and has faces both inside and outside the church. All around the church, you'll find monuments on the walls. The west window of the tower has stained glass from the medieval period. Other stained glass windows are from the late 1800s and early 1900s, including works by famous artists like Heaton, Butler and Bayne, Clayton and Bell, and a war memorial window by Morris & Co..
Exterior features
In the churchyard, outside the church, you can find the table tomb of Gabriel Newton. He was a local leader and started the Bluecoat School in Leicester. He passed away in 1762.
See also
