Kenton: All Saints
Overview
Grid reference: TM 191 659
The nave, tower, porches and chancel are constructed of flint, stone and brick rubble set in lime mortar. The roofs are tiled (save for the tower which has a lead roof) and the south chapel is of brick with a roof of zinc sheets.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
west tower, nave with south porch and aisle, north porch; chancel.
Footprint of Church buildings: 246 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The oldest surviving feature is the south doorway, which is late twelfth-century; the west tower, nave and chancel date from the fourteenth century. The south aisle dates from soon after 1524. A restoration in 1872 by Preedy provided new roofs, a new chancel arch and east window and the north porch; considerable repairs were also carried out to the walls of every part of the church most especially the chancel.
Exterior Description
The nave, tower, porches and chancel are constructed of flint, stone and brick rubble set in lime mortar. The roofs are tiled (save for the tower which has a lead roof) and the south chapel is of brick with a roof of zinc sheets.
The west tower is of familiar Suffolk type, faced with flint, quite slender with buttresses only at the west corners and without decoration save for the flushwork round the parapet. There are three stages, with the upper separated externally from the rest by a stringcourse.
On the south side of the church the west bay of the nave is free of additions and has a two-light nineteenth-century window with a trefoil fitted neatly between the heads of the lights. From the next bay projects the porch, with two-light ogee-headed windows in the west wall under a square dripstone and a two-centred arched doorway in the south face with rectangular leaves and florets decorating the outer order of the arch and crowns on the inner order.
Abutting the porch on the east is a two-bay aisle built as a chapel by order of the will of John Garneys (d. 1524) and therefore dating from c. 1530. It is entirely of brick with diapered patterns on the wall surface and brick tracery to the Tudor two-light windows. The east window is of similar form, with three lights. The aisle has its own entrance from the south porch and is separated from the nave of the church by stout brick piers which have been whitewashed.
The south wall of the chancel is almost entirely mediaeval, with a two-light cinquefoil-headed window set very low in the corner by the aisle which still has its original stanchions and saddlebars.
The east wall, again mostly mediaeval, has two massive brick buttresses which appear to be eighteenth-century, while the three lancets which form the east window together with the roundel above are undoubtedly nineteenth-century.
The chancel north wall has two big lancets like that on the south but without hood-mouldings, and the north nave wall has two three-light windows with geometrical tracery, both wide and a little perverse.
The south porch has a high roof with moulded cornices to the side walls (that on the east further decorated with a spiral pattern). The door into the church is within a round-headed arch with a triple roll moulding upon nook-shafts with moulded bases and foliated capitals.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1870s
The stained glass is all by Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, of 1871 (the side windows) and 1877 (the east window).
Interior
Interior Description
The roof structure, which is all nineteenth-century, retains a prominent mediaeval tie-beam supporting a contemporary king-post carved as a column with a rudimentary moulded capital. Crosswise struts spread from the top of the king post.
The floor also is nineteenth-century, with alternating red and black quarries, and in the idiom of the same period, the windows have greenish sub-aqueous glass. By the south door is an Elizabethan bench with a prayer desk supported on elegantly turned balusters.
A tall arch, in front of which the font is prominently placed on three steps, opens into the tower. The beams of the roof to the tower space have nineteenth-century bosses at the intersection.
The nave is seated with oak pews with vigorous poppy-heads which must have been carved locally, and the central alley has four large black marble ledger slabs.
The south aisle, entered either through its own west doorway or the two-bay arcade from the nave, is well-lit and bright. The wide chancel arch is of three moulded orders, carried on three detached columns surrounding a central column at each respond. It is outlined in brick, and a low stone wall serves as a screen to divide the nave from the chancel the lectern is awkwardly on the chancel side of this while the pulpit is on the nave side. The chancel has a boarded roof and a disconcerting floor of myriads of tiny tiles.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
The altar table is Stuart, with turned legs. It has been widened to accomodato a new top.
Lectern
The stem with attached buttresses may be mediaeval or a good nineteenth-century copy. The reading desk fixed to the top is nineteenth century Jacobean.
Font (object)
The font is thirteenth-century, octagonal with shallow lancets carved on each face. It is supported on a plain nineteenth-century drum and colonettes which purport to represent the original arrangement. The late medieval base is now in the south chapel, and a nearby engraving shows it in place under the font.
Brass
The brass to John Garneys and his wife, formerly in the south chapel, is now also in the vestry in an oak frame. The brass is damaged at the top.
Chest
A very large fourteenth-century chest stands in the vestry.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TM 191 659
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Quinquennial Inspections
Submit a change
If you notice something incorrect or missing, please explain it in the form below and submit it to our team for review.