All Saints' Church, Hertford

The parish dates back to before the 10th century, and a church was present on the site at the time of the Domesday Survey. This church was replaced during the 15th century by a church with a cruciform plan and a west tower. The parish of All Saints was merged with that of St John in the 17th century. On 22 December 1891 the church was destroyed by fire. A competition was held to design a new church, which was won by the Lancaster firm of architects, Paley, Austin and Paley. The foundation stone was laid on 25 March 1893 and the new church was consecrated by the Bishop of St Albans on 20 February 1895.{{sfn|Brandwood|Austin|Hughes|Price|2012|pp=150–152, 208, 240}} The insurance for the old church paid only £2.800 ({{Inflation|UK|2800|1891|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}),{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} toward the cost, and a further £12,500 ({{Inflation|UK|12500|1895|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) was raised by public subscription. In 1904–05 the church was completed at the west end and by adding the tower. This was done by the Lancaster practice, now known as Austin and Paley, and cost £10,366 ({{Inflation|UK|10366|1905|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).{{sfn|Brandwood|Austin|Hughes|Price|2012|p=245}} In 1934 the Memorial Chapel was completed to the memory of those who died in the First World War. New glass doors were added at the west end of the church in 2003.

The church is constructed in red Runcorn sandstone,{{efn|The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner remarked that the church, because it is built of Runcorn stone (from Cheshire), and designed by an architectural practice from Lancashire, "is completely alien" in Hertfordshire.{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|1977|pp=185–186}}}} with lead and tiled roofs. Its architectural style is Gothic Revival (Perpendicular). The plan consists of a nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a northwest porch, a north transept, a chancel with a north vestry, a south chapel, and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, with a half-octagonal stair turret on the north side, and buttresses at the angles. It has a west door above which is a five-light window. In the middle stage are two-light windows and clock faces on all sides. The top stage contains two-light louvred bell openings, one on the north side, and two on the others. The parapet is castellated and traceried, with gargoyles at the corners, and crocketed pinnacles rising from the corners and the centre of each side. The summit of the stair turret is also castellated, and is surmounted by a spirelet. The aisles are divided into bays by buttresses, each bay containing a three-light window. The clerestory has two two-light flat-headed windows in each bay. At the northwest corner of the church is a two-storey hexagonal porch, with angle buttresses, and two-light windows. On each side of the church, at the junction of the nave and chancel, are octagonal turrets with castellated parapets and low domes. In the north transept is a five-light window, and the vestry has two- and three-light windows. The south chapel has three bays, two-light windows on the south side, and a four-light window on the east side. The east window of the chancel has seven lights. On the side walls of the chancel are panels carved with texts; on the north side the text is from Psalm 103, and on the south side it is from the Te Deum.

The tower is supported by large octagonal piers. The six-bay arcades are carried on octagonal columns. At the entrance to the south chapel is an oak screen inserted in 1961. Two steps lead up from the nave to the chancel. The alabaster reredos, presented to the church in 1914, contains a carved panel depicting the Last Supper and four saints. In the south wall of the chancel is a small piscina and a twin sedilia. The half-octagonal sandstone pulpit is attached to the pier between the nave and the chancel. The font is of polished fossil limestone, and consists of a carved octagonal bowl carried on a column. The stained glass in the east window, dated 1900, is by Kempe. The stained glass in the east window of the Memorial Chapel was designed by J .N. C. Bewsey, and depicts four martyrs. The glass on the north side of the church is by Shrigley and Hunt. The memorials include fragments of brasses surviving from the earlier church dating from the 15th century. The chapel contains a marble memorial to the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment, designed in 1921 by Reginald Blomfield. The three-manual organ dates from 1899 to 1900, and was made by Henry Willis & Sons. Additions were made to it by the same firm in 1910.{{Citation | url = http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N14556| title = Hertfordshire, Hertford, All Saints (N14556)| access-date = 10 December 2011| publisher = British Institute of Organ Studies}} It was rebuilt in 1971 by Cedric Arnold, Williamson & Hyatt following fire damage.{{Citation | url = http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N13066| title = Hertfordshire, Hertford, All Saints (N13066)| access-date = 10 December 2011| publisher = British Institute of Organ Studies}} It was rebuilt again with some additions in 2001 by the Village Workshop.{{Citation | url = http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=R00207| title = Hertfordshire, Hertford, All Saints (R00207)| access-date = 10 December 2011| publisher = British Institute of Organ Studies}} There is a ring of ten bells, all cast in 1907 by Mears and Stainbank at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.{{Citation | url = http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=hertford&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=HERTFD++AS| title = Hertford, All Saints| access-date = 10 December 2011| publisher = Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers}}

The organ was installed in 1898 by Henry Willis. The casework was installed, along with a new pedal stop, in 1913. The organ was hand-blown until 1923 when an electric blower was installed. The original specification, including 'prepared for' stops such as the Pedal Ophicleide (added 1971) and Great Clarion (added 2001) can be found in the National Pipe Organ Register at N14556.{{cite web|url=http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N14556|title=The National Pipe Organ Register - NPOR|publisher=npor.org.uk|access-date=6 June 2014}} In 1971 the firm of Cedric Arnold, Williamson & Hyatt of Thaxted, overhauled the organ. A total of sixteen new stops were added, mostly in line with proposals Willis made, completing the choruses of Great and Swell, adding mutations to the Choir and enhancing the Pedal. The 1971 specification is stored at N13066 {{cite web|url=http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N13066|title=The National Pipe Organ Register - NPOR|publisher=npor.org.uk|access-date=6 June 2014}}

Between November 2000 and April 2001 the Village Workshop restored the organ. The work was in three parts: the complete overhaul of all the leatherwork (most dated from 1899); enhancements to the action and piston control systems; the addition of new stops: a Fanfare Trumpet, Great Clarion (as Willis intended) and 32' Reed (installed in October 2001). All the new pipe-work was specially made to match the Willis originals.{{cite web|url=http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=R00207|title=The National Pipe Organ Register - NPOR|publisher=npor.org.uk|access-date=6 June 2014}}

Among the memorials in the churchyard are five that have been designated as Grade II listed buildings. They are: a chest tomb in white Portland stone dated 1774,{{NHLE |num= 1268784|desc= Chest tomb approximately 31 meters north of vestry door of Church of All Saints, Hertford |access-date= 10 December 2011 |mode=cs2|fewer-links=x}} a chest tomb in stuccoed brick dating from the 18th century,{{NHLE |num= 1268785|desc= Chest tomb approximately 50 metres southeast of Church of All Saints, Hertford |access-date= 10 December 2011|mode=cs2|fewer-links=x}} two stone gravestones from the 18th century,{{NHLE |num= 1268786|desc= 2 gravestones 8 metres west of north porch of Church of All Saints, Hertford |access-date= 10 December 2011|mode=cs2|fewer-links=x}} a headstone in carved Portland stone dated 1711,{{NHLE |num= 1268787|desc= Headstone approximately 10 metres southeast of south aisle of Church of All Saints, Hertford |access-date= 10 December 2011|mode=cs2|fewer-links=x}} and a group of six headstones dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.{{NHLE |num= 1268788|desc= Group of 6 headstones approximately 41 metres southeast of church tower of Church of All Saints, Hertford |access-date= 10 December 2011|mode=cs2|fewer-links=x}}

• William Tutty

{{Portal|England}}

• Grade II* listed buildings in East Hertfordshire
• List of works by Paley, Austin and Paley
• List of ecclesiastical works by Austin and Paley (1895–1914)

Notes

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Citations

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Bibliography

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• {{Citation | last = Brandwood| first = Geoff| last2 = Austin| first2 = Tim| last3 = Hughes| first3 = John| last4 = Price| first4 = James| year = 2012| title = The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin| publication-place = Swindon| publisher = English Heritage| isbn = 978-1-84802-049-8}}
• {{Citation | last = Cherry| first = Bridget| last2 = Pevsner| first2 = Nikolaus| author2-link = Nikolaus Pevsner| year = 1977| title = Hertfordshire| series = The Buildings of England| publication-place = Harmondsworth| publisher = Penguin Books| pages = 185–186| isbn = 0-14-071007-8}}

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• {{Citation | last = Lovejoy| first = James Allen| year = 1948| title = The story of All Saints' Hertford| publisher = British Publishing Company}}

{{Listed buildings in Hertfordshire|G2*}}

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Category:Church of England church buildings in Hertfordshire

Category:Grade II* listed churches in Hertfordshire

Category:Paley, Austin and Paley buildings

Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in England

Category:Gothic Revival architecture in Hertfordshire