All Saints, Rampton, Cambridgeshire

I Location

Site Location: Rampton
National Grid Reference: TL 428 681
County: traditional: Cambridgeshire
now: Cambridgeshire
Diocese: medieval: not confirmed
now: Ely
Dedication: medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): All Saints
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

: Exterior, view from SE.

All Saints has a nave of four bays with S aisle and S porch and a vestry on the N side, a broad, aisleless chancel, and a W tower with a low pyramid roof. The chancel arch is 12thc. in its lower parts but was rebuilt, along with the chancel, c.1330. The S nave aisle dates from the late 13thc., and the tower arch is Perpendicular, although the tower itself must be earlier in its lower stages. The porch is 18thc. and of brick, while the remainder of the church is in a rubble mixture of pebble, rough stone and conglomerate. The upper storeys of the tower are rendered and the nave roof is thatched. Romanesque features described are the chancel arch and stones reset in the exterior E wall of the chancel.

III Exterior Features

3. Exterior Decoration

d. Miscellaneous

(i) Four stones reset in the chancel E wall gable.

: Exterior, E facade with reset stones.

: E facade, reset stone 1, chevron voussoir.

: E facade, reset stone 2, chevron voussoir.

: E facade, reset stone 3, chevron voussoir.

: E facade, reset stone 4, human head corbel.

L stone:

Centrifugal, single roll chevron voussoir with cogwheel edge.

C stone, above shaft.

Chevron voussoir as L stone.

R stone.

Chevron voussoir as L stone.

Below central shaft.

Human head corbel with almond-shaped eyes with projecting pupils, deep brows, bulbous nose and a long moustache.

(ii) Reset in the chancel N wall.

: Chancel, N wall, reset stone 5, inscribed quatrefoil.

Square stone

Square stone with chamfered corners bearing an inscribed, compass-drawn quatrefoil.

IV Interior Features

1. Arches

a. Chancel arch/Apse arches

(i) Chancel arch

: Interior, view to E.

: Chancel arch, L side, capitals from SW.

: Chancel arch, R side, capitals from NW.

: Chancel arch, R side, capitals from NE.

Of two orders to E and W. Only the jambs are 12thc., the two-order, double-chamfered, four-centred arch is 14thc.

First order (shared): coursed half-columns on hollow-chamfered bases with simple, multi-scallop capitals with plain neckings and hollow-chamfered imposts.

Second order W: en-delit nook shafts on hollow-chamfered bases. On the N side a plain triple scallop capital, on the S a sheathed double scallop capital, both with plain neckings and imposts continuous from the 1st order.

Second order E: as second order W, but both capitals are sheathed double scallops.

VII History

In 1086, the manor was held by Roger from Picot of Cambridge. No church was mentioned then, but Rampton church was among those given by Picot to Barnwell Priory when he founded it in 1092.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Presumably the chancel arch was widened in the 14thc., the jambs moved further apart and the present four-centred arch installed.

IX Bibliography

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Cambridgeshire, Harmondsworth 1954 (2nd ed. 1970), 451.