All Saints Church, Coleshill
All Saints Church at Coleshill consists of a chancel 23 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft. 6 in. with north vestry, nave 40 ft. by 13 ft. 6 in., north aisle 6 ft. 4 in. wide, south transept 16 ft. 6 in. by 18 ft., south porch 8 ft. 10 in. by 8 ft. 4 in. with chamber over, and west tower 11 ft. by 11 ft. 6 in. All these measurements are internal. The building has been very much altered from time to time, especially in the 18th century, and many of its original features have been lost and others obscured. There was formerly a south aisle 7 ft. wide, part of which remains at the west end, but the remainder has been absorbed into the transept. The arcade, however, still stands, though in a mutilated condition, and is the oldest part of the building, being of late 12th-century date, but whether the aisle was an addition to an earlier 12th-century church cannot now be stated. The north aisle was added c. 1300, the existing arcade, which consists of two full arches and a half arch at the west end, being of that period. The half arch, which abuts against the west wall, may indicate that the nave originally extended further in that direction, but little of a positive nature can be said about the development of the plan. The porch is of 14th-century date, and was added to the south aisle probably not very long after the erection of the north aisle. The south chapel, which is now represented by the transept, was built about 1499 by Thomas Pleydell, and the tower is also of 15th-century date, but may have been erected before the chapel. All the windows, with the exception of those to the tower and porch chamber, are modern, and the chancel was so much altered in the 18th century as to be largely of that date, though the plan is, no doubt, ancient and suggests an early date. The vestry is an 18th-century addition. The transept was repaired in 1750, and the lead roof of the nave bears the dates 1715 and 1784. The chancel was repaired in 1780, and two years later the Earl of Radnor 'repaired and decorated the church, erected a new pulpit, put the pews in regular order, and fitted up an elegant seat for the use of his own family.' The extent of these 'repairs' is not stated, but they appear to have involved little less than the rebuilding of the chancel and transept and the almost complete modernizing of the nave. The porch chamber is now turned into a kind of gallery, its east wall being thrown open to the transept. The east window of the chancel consists of a large quatrefoil set within a semicircular moulded arch, and is filled with foreign glass erected by the Earl of Radnor in 1788. The subject is the Nativity. In the north wall are three pointed recesses with a singlelight window in the middle, and there is a two-light window on the south side. No ancient ritual arrangements remain. The chancel arch is modern. The south arcade consists of two pointed arches of two chamfered orders springing from a mutilated circular pier and east respond, both with carved capitals and moulded bases. The respond has a plain chamfered abacus and some scalloping and early conventional foliage in the capitals. The capital of the pier has flat leaf ornament only and a deeper quirked abacus, and the bases have foot ornaments. At the west end the arch sits on a new square masonry respond, westward of which, opening from the nave, is the doorway to the newel stair of the tower. The transeptal chapel has a modern three-light window in the end wall and a single-light window on the east. The roof is of very flat pitch, crossed by two moulded beams from north to south with ridge piece and purlins forming twelve plastered panels. In its present form the transept is of 18th-century date, and is filled with high straight-backed pews, the entrance to which is by a doorway in the west wall. The arches of the north arcade consist of two orders, the inner with a broad and the outer with a very slight chamfer on the angle, both dying out above the moulded capitals of the piers. At the east end the arch springs from a small corbelled shaft with circular moulded capital, and the piers are circular in plan with moulded bases. On the square face of the east respond below the corbel is a trefoil-headed piscina, the projecting part of the bowl of which has been cut away. The aisle is lighted by two modern windows. The porch has a high-pitched gable standing well above the roof of the transept, which is built against it on the east side. The outer doorway has a pointed arch of two chamfered orders dying out at the springing. The inner doorway has a trefoiled arch of two continuous chamfered orders, and the porch chamber is lighted by an original window consisting of a single trefoil-headed light above the entrance. The windows on the west side are modern. The tower is of three stages, with embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses its full height taken up as angle pinnacles. The belfry windows are of two cinquefoiled lights with 15th-century tracery, and there are intermediate pinnacles and gargoyles on each side. The west doorway has a square lable and traceried spandrels, and the west window is of three cinquefoiled lights and 15th-century tracery. The lower stage on the north and south sides is blank, but there is a single round-headed light to the ringing chamber. The vice is in the south-east angle, and is contained in a semi-octagonal projecting turret, finishing with a plain parapet at the height of the second stage. The tower arch is a lofty one of two orders, the inner hollow chamfered and the outer moulded, both carried down to the ground. The lower stage had originally, or was intended to have, a vaulted ceiling, of which the springers of the groining ribs are still in position high up in the angles. The organ stands below the tower. The font is modern and consists of a circular stone basin. The pulpit is also modern and of wood. On the south side of the chancel is a monument with recumbent figures to Sir Henry Pratt, bart. (d. 1647) and his wife, which was altered and repaired in 1831. There are also mural monuments to Mrs. Rachel Pleydell (d. 1743); the Hon. Harriet Bouverie, Viscountess Folkestone, daughter of Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell (d. 1750), with medallion portrait by Rysbrach; and Mark Stuart Pleydell (d. 1768) and his wife. In the transeptal chapel were buried Thomas Pleydell (d. 1527), his wife Agnes, and his daughter Rose, wife of Ambrose Champneys. At the west end of the north aisle is an oval panel with the arms of one of the Stuart sovereigns. There is a ring of five bells by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester, 1708, but one was recast in 1884 by Mears & Stainbank at the cost of the fourth Earl of Radnor 'in memory of his friend William Eynkn.' The plate consists of two silver-gilt cups and two patens of 1776, all inscribed 'Parish of Coleshill Berkshire,' and a breadholder of 1841 inscribed 'Coleshill Church. Ex dono Edvardi Bouverie, Vicar, 1844.' The registers before 1812 are as follows: (i) mixed entries 1559 to 1580 and separate entries of baptisms and marriages to 1674 and of burials to 1671; (ii) baptisms 1675 to 1752, marriages 1675 to 1730 and 1733 to 1778, and burials 1675 to 1752; (iii) marriages 1755 to 1796; (iv) baptisms and burials 1782 to 1812. There are also entries of births and baptisms on separate sheets from 1696 to 1708, of marriages from 1697 to 1707, and of burials from 1696 to 1738. There is a gap in the baptisms from 1646 to 1665, both inclusive, and in the other entries in the years 1646, 1647, and 1649. Historical information about All Saints Church is provided by 'Parishes: Coleshill', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 517-523. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp517-523 [accessed 28 February 2023]. All Saints Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see Church of All Saints, Coleshill - 1368120 | Historic England. For more information about All Saints Church see Parishes: Coleshill | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |
