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All Saints, Milton, Cambridgeshire

Location
(52°14′39″N, 0°9′58″E)
Milton
TL 480 629
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Cambridgeshire
now Cambridgeshire
medieval not confirmed
now Ely
  • Ron Baxter

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Description

A church, which has seen some unusual changes over the years. Originally nave, chancel and W tower, and the chancel arch implies that nave and chancel may have been 11thc., although the chancel was rebuilt, except for its S wall, in 1847. There is a S aisle of the early 14thc. and a 19thc. N aisle, both of these extending for only three bays of a five-bay nave. The S wall has a clerestorey, the N wall does not. The bay to the W of the aisle on the S side has a 17thc. S porch, and projecting from that porch is a 19thc. porch. The outer opening of the 17thc. porch is thus the inner doorway of the 19thc. one, and Pevsner suspects that it may have been recut from a 12thc. doorway. The church is mortar rendered apart from the W tower, which is of stone rubble. There was a restoration in 1847, and more recently (c.1990) a church hall and office complex has been erected on the N side, extending from the chancel to midway along the nave aisle, with access to the church through the N nave doorway. Liturgically, the S aisle floor level has been raised with staging and an altar set up at the E end of it, facing diagonally across the nave with seating arranged in a quarter-circle around it. The chancel is redundant in this arrangement, and indeed it has been partially obscured by an impressive public address system. Fortunately all of this can easily be reversed. The S doorway is briefly described below, although it is substantially a post-medieval piece. Of more interest is the chancel arch.

History

Features

Exterior Features

Doorways

Interior Features

Arches

Chancel arch/Apse arches
Comments/Opinions

The chancel arch is of two dates. The imposts of the inner order must be 12thc., by which date capitals like those of the outer order would be unthinkable. The treatment of the outer order suggests a date of c.1050, and the irregularity of the inner arch implies that this belongs with it. The likeliest explanation is that the inner order jambs were rebuilt in the 12thc. and imposts added at that time.

Bibliography
N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Cambridgeshire, Harmondsworth 1954 (2nd ed. 1970), 442.