All Saints, King's Cliffe, Northamptonshire

I Location

Site Location: King's Cliffe
National Grid Reference: TL 007 971
County: traditional: Northamptonshire;Soke of Peterborough, i.e. Northants to 1965 ; Huntingdonshire 1965-74
now: Northamptonshire
Diocese: medieval: Lincoln
now: Peterborough from 1539
Dedication: medieval: All Saints 1510
now (or name of monument): All Saints
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

: Exterior from NW.

: Exterior from SW.

: Interior to E.

All Saints' is a cruciform church with a 12thc. crossing tower. The tower arches have been replaced; those to east and west in the 13thc., those to north and south in the 15thc. Nave and transepts are 14th-15thc., the nave aisled with four-bay arcades and clerestoreys, all Perpendicular. Both nave doorways are under porches, the north with a datestone of the 1660s. The tower was heightened in the late 13thc., and a broach spire added, with new bell-openings straddling tower and spire. Romanesque sculpture is found in the original bell-openings, the west opening now inside the nave.

III Exterior Features

2. Windows

(i) Tower, S bell-opening

: Crossing tower, S window from SW.

: Crossing tower, S window from SE.

Twin round-headed arches under a single, continuous enclosing arch. The twin arches are carried on plain square embrasures with chamfered imposts, and a central, cylindrical en-delit shaft with a heavy volute capital with square necking and a plain chamfered impost block.

(ii) Tower, N bell-opening

: Crossing tower, N window from NW.

As S bell-opening.

(iii) Tower, W bell-opening

: Crossing tower, W window.

: Crossing tower, W window capitals from W.

: Crossing tower, W window capitals from NW.

Now high inside the church on the east wall of the nave, and basically as the S bell-opening. The central support, however, is a pair of shafts. The west shaft, facing the inside of the nave, carries a replacement volute capital: the east is a plain block capital with a roll necking. The two capitals share a long chamfered impost block.

VII History

The villa was held by the king in 1086, but it had belonged to Earl Algar before the Conquest, rather than to King Edward. King's Cliffe became a royal residence after the Conquest. The church was given to Bernard the Scribe by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester between 1107 and 1123. RCHME's uncatalogued report suggests that Giffard obtained it from Henry I. Bernard was a benefactor of Merton Priory, and Merton held the advowson thereafter, and throughout the Middle Ages.

Benefice of Isham with Pytchley.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The tower and its original bell-openings must date from c.1100.

IX Bibliography

J. Bridges, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire. (Compiled from the manuscript collections of the late learned antiquary J.Bridges, Esq., by the Rev. Peter Whalley). Oxford 1791, II, 430-32.
N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire. Harmondsworth 1961, rev. B. Cherry 1973, 276-77.
RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northampton, VI. Architectural monuments in North Northamptonshire, London 1986, 91-96.
RCHME Report, uncatalogued.
Victoria County History: Northamptonshire. II (1906)