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All Saints Church is situated outside
the village, near Manor Farm. It is cruciform in shape, built
of flint and stone, with a central tower. The structure has
several Norman features including a carved south doorway,
a Norman chapel on the east side, and a small, plain priest's
doorway. The nave and transept also date from Norman times.
The south aisle was added during the first half of the fourteenth
century, when the round-headed, transitional doorway was removed
from the nave wall and a new door constructed in the south
aisle
The present
tracery windows were added at the same time, replacing the
original windows in the end walls of the transepts. There
is a fourteenth-century coffin-lid set in the outside south
wall of the south transept, below the window.
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Photo
courtesy of Robs Lamplough
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The
pulpit dates from about 1620, and there is a painting, the
'Tree of Jesse by Westlake', on the nave's east wall.There
is a rare example of a thirteenth-century pillared piscina,
with moulded base and foliated capital, set in the wall of
the Seymour chapel. It is used for washing the vessels after
the Eucharist. The eastern
window, above the Holy table, inserted in 1684, is thought
to be the "culminating point of beauty" in the church.
It shows God with 44 saints. |
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The
Church as was in 1870. The lych gate had yet to be constructed
and the clock face is diamond shaped. The present day circular
faced clock would not be installed for a further nineteen
years...............................................Photo
coutesy of Bll Butler |
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"The
Tree of Jesse"
by Westlake'
on the East wall of the Nave |
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All
Saints' Church in 1938 looking South
Photo coutesy of Janet Pounds |
Photographed in April 2003 looking North |
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church plate consists of a silver cup and cover paten, dated
1576, a silver cup of 1675 with the inscription 'Thornas Garrard
natus I die Septembris 1660", indicating it could well
have been a christening cup. Before the Reformation, All Saints
had ornaments, furniture and vestments, but it was neglected
to the point that it required major restoration in 1876-82. |
During restoration, pieces
of two elaborate lids of ancient stone coffins were discovered
inserted into the south transept and south aisle walls.
A new organ was installed in 1877, a new weathercock erected
in 1886 and the Bishop of Reading, Archdeacon Randall, consecrated
the church on 9th August 1891. In the same year, the churchyard
was enlarged with land given by Sir Francis Burdett. The
new lectern, subscribed for by a few friends and parishioners
(£21), was used for the first time on 4th June 1893.
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The
Seymour Chapel was restored by funds provided by the
Rev. W. 0. Jenkyn and his friends; at the same time
the chancel was rebuilt, the costs defrayed by Christ
Church and Sir Robert Burden. The architect, Ewan
Christian, deplored the damage done by earlier restorative
work, which destroyed several of the buildings' original
features.
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Various
structural embellishments |
The
original round-headed
transitional doorway on the nave wall. |
The
replacement door re-constructed
in the south aisle. |
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churchwardens of All Saints held Marsh Cottages, which used
to be located on the river Lambourn towards Maidencourt. In
Victorian times, they were also in possession of two cottages
and two and a half acres of land in Southfield, although these
were let at four pounds per annum for the cottages and one
pound per annum for the land, the money being used to cover
general church expenses. |
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Charter of Maurice de London granted the church of East Garston
to the priory he founded at Ewenny, but the church remained
in the possession of the lords of the manor, being granted
by Henry Earl of Lancaster to the Priory of Amesbury, where
his sister was prioress from 1337 to 1345. Christ Church Oxford
appropriated the church in 1345 and shortly afterwards the
vicarage was ordained. From then until well into this century,
Christchurch appointed East Garston's vicars. |
| The registers
start with baptisms, marriages and burials from 1554 to the
present day, with gaps from 1563 until the 1660s. There are
several family plaques within the church for the Elsing family,
including Jane Elsing, ( died 1731) married to the son of
Henry Elsing, clerk to the House of Commons and keeper of
his Majesty's records in the Tower of London during the reign
of Charles the 1st, (although the plaque actually reads the
House of lords).Other family plaques are in commemoration
of the Estbury, Gastrell, Batten, Garrard, Gratwick and Seymour
families in the 1700s |
(
Pictured below )
The lych gate and Millenneum Yew Tree |
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The
Plaque Reads |
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YEWS
FOR THE MILLENNIUM
This Yew tree was presented by
The Conservation Foundation
to celebrate the third
Christian Millennium. |
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