Church of All Saints, Houghton Regis facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids The Parish Church of All Saints, Houghton Regis
Houghton Regis – Church of All Saints
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Location	Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
History
Status	Parish church
Relics held	Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Saint Dominic, Saint Edmund the Martyr, Saint Pope Gregory I, Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, Saint Scholastica, Saint Stephen
Architecture
Style	Perpendicular Gothic
Administration
Benefice	Houghton Regis
Deanery	Dunstable
Archdeaconry	Bedford
Episcopal area	Bedford
Diocese	Diocese of St Albans
Province	Canterbury

The Church of All Saints in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, is a very old and important building. It's known as a Grade I listed building, which means it's one of the most important historic buildings in England. The church is mostly made of flint and a special stone called clunch, arranged in a cool checkerboard pattern on the outside. Most of the church was built in the 1200s and 1300s, with more parts added in the 1400s. All Saints' is the main parish church for Houghton Regis and nearby areas like North Dunstable and Sewell.

A Quick Look at History
Church Design and Special Features
Vicars and Patrons of All Saints'
Gallery
See also

A Quick Look at History

People have been worshipping on this spot for over a thousand years, even before the current church was built! Back in Saxon times, around the year 1000, Houghton Regis was a special royal manor (a large estate owned by the king).

The church here was even mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. This famous book was a survey ordered by William the Conqueror to record everything in England. It noted that the church was owned by William the Chamberlain, who also owned St Mary's Church in Luton.

Later, in 1153, King Henry I gave Houghton Regis to Earl Robert of Gloucester. His son then gave the church to the monks of St Albans Abbey. The only part of that very old church that still exists today is the font. The rest of All Saints' was rebuilt over the centuries.

When Henry VIII closed down the monasteries in the 1500s (called the Dissolution of the monasteries), the church's value was recorded.

The church kept important records called registers that show baptisms, marriages, and burials going back to 1538. A famous person, the actor Gary Cooper, was baptised and confirmed here on December 3, 1911! These old records are now kept safely at the Bedfordshire Archives.

The churchyard, where people were buried, was closed for new burials in the 1980s. In 2011, a new town sign for Houghton Regis was put up. It features historic parts of the town, including All Saints Church. In 2019, the church got a big makeover to its outside walls. This was so successful that it was removed from the Heritage at Risk Register, meaning it's now in good shape and protected!

All Saints' Church follows a tradition within the Church of England called Anglo-Catholic. This means their worship style is similar to older Catholic traditions. The main service, called the Parish Mass, happens every Sunday at 10:30 AM.

Church Design and Special Features

Tower and part of the west end

Experts Charles O'Brien and Nikolaus Pevsner, who wrote famous guides about English buildings, called All Saints' a "stately church." This means it's grand and impressive.

The church's style is mostly Perpendicular Gothic, which is a type of Gothic architecture from the late Middle Ages. It has tall, straight lines and big windows. The church has a chancel (the area around the altar), a nave (the main part where people sit) with five sections and a clerestory (a row of windows high up), side aisles, a south porch, and a tall tower.

On the outside, All Saints' is special because of its checkerboard pattern made from flint and Totternhoe Stone. It also has battlements (like on a castle) and stone grotesques (carved figures, sometimes funny or scary) decorating the walls. The stone used for repairs, called clunch, comes from the nearby Chiltern Hills.

The Tower

The western tower, which has battlements at the top and an eight-sided turret, was made taller in the 1400s, reaching 70 feet high! A cross was added later, and then a weathercock (a rooster-shaped weather vane) in 1750. Sadly, it fell off during a storm in the 1800s.

The tower is also home to six bells. It has a large room for bell-ringing and a beautiful Victorian stained glass window.

Old Norman Font

The round Norman font is the oldest part of the church. It's made of Totternhoe Stone and was built long before the current church. This font is part of a group of similar fonts called the 'Aylesbury Group' because a very nice one is in Aylesbury. Its detailed carvings and rope-like patterns are really special. The lid of the font is made from old wood from Houghton Hall.

Sewell Tomb and South Aisle Chapel

In the wall of the south aisle, there's a tomb with a statue of a knight. This is believed to be the tomb of John de Sewell. He was a knight who went with the famous Black Prince to France in 1366! The tomb is decorated with quatrefoils (a shape like a four-leaf clover) and shields showing the Sewell family's coat of arms: a chevron and three butterflies or bees.

Near the tomb, there's a medieval piscina (a basin for washing sacred vessels) and a decorated ceiling. This shows that an altar used to be here, and this area might have been a chantry chapel for John de Sewell and his family. A chantry chapel was a place where priests would pray for the souls of specific people.

Nave Ceiling

The ceiling of the nave dates back to the late 1300s or early 1400s. It's a simple but elegant example of Gothic design. It's held up by stone corbels (supports sticking out from the wall) shaped like animals and mythical creatures. The ceiling is also decorated with carved oak figures of monks holding shields or coats of arms. These figures remind us of the church's connection to St Albans Abbey. The part of the ceiling closer to the altar is more decorated with bosses (carved knobs) and vine leaves. This special decoration created a "canopy of honour" for the Cross and marked where the Rood Screen (a screen separating the nave from the chancel) used to be.

The Chancel

The chancel, which is also in the Rectilinear Gothic style, was partly rebuilt in the 1800s by Somers Clarke. It had been neglected for many years. During this restoration, the arch leading into the chancel was reopened. Many original features, like medieval wall safes, were also saved. The altar rail, made from an old staircase banister from Houghton Hall, divides the chancel into two areas: the choir and the sanctuary.

The floor of the chancel is mostly covered with stone memorials to the Brandreth family. Around the altar, there's a checkered marble floor and two special brass memorials. These brasses show two priests connected to All Saints': William Walley, who was a vicar in the 1400s, and John Walley, who was his relative.

High Altar Triptych

The beautiful high altar triptych (a three-paneled artwork) was given to All Saints' in memory of Fr Colin Gay, a priest who served the church from 2002 to 2015. It was officially dedicated in 2023.

The middle panel is quite large, showing Christ in glory with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist. The side panels show other saints like St George and St John the Baptist on the right, and St Wilfrid and St Theodore on the left. The artwork was painted by a Romanian artist named Nechita Laurentiu, who used gold leaf. This triptych was originally made for another church in 2007 but was later bought by someone from All Saints' and brought here.

Stained Glass

You can find some very nice Victorian stained glass in the church, especially near the Sewell tomb, in the Lady Chapel, and in the tower. These windows were made by Thomas Baillie.

The window at the west end of the church was put in place in 1891 to remember Revd Hugh Blagg Smyth. It shows scenes like the Resurrection of Jesus, the Baptism of the Lord, and the Last Supper. The two windows in the Lady Chapel remember Smyth's daughter Minna and his wife, dating from 1864. Another window above the Sewell tomb remembers George Marshall, who was a churchwarden.

Pipe Organ

The organ in the church is a large musical instrument with two keyboards (manuals) and pedals. It was built around 1880 and 1914. For a long time, people thought it was built by Nicholson and Lord of Walsall. However, during cleaning and repairs in 2021, it was discovered that the organ was actually built by C. M. Walker of London first, and then rebuilt later by Nicholson and Lord. More parts, including a special trumpet stop, were added in 1992.

Vicars and Patrons of All Saints'

The "patronage" or advowson of a church means the right to choose who becomes the vicar (the main priest). When St Albans Abbey was given All Saints' land in 1153, they also got this right. After the monasteries were closed, English kings and queens, the Brandreth family, and the Dukes of Bedford all had this right over the centuries. Today, the right to choose the vicar belongs to the Board of Patronage of the Diocese of St Albans.

Records of the Priests, Chaplains, and Vicars of Houghton Regis go all the way back to 1226. The names of those who served before that time are not known.