Description

WEYMOUTH

SY6677NW PORTLAND ROAD, Wyke Regis
873-1/29/634 (West side)
12/12/53 Church of All Saints

GV I

Anglican parish church. Rebuilt and rededicated 1455. Portland
stone ashlar, lead roofs, stone slate to porch.
PLAN: very regular plan with 5-bay nave continuous with
chancel and sanctuary, N and S aisles, W tower, S porch, and
NE vestry.
EXTERIOR: the tower is in 4 stages with string courses, set
back buttresses with diagonal top stage, not carried through
to pinnacles, crenellated parapet, and NE octagonal stair
turret carried above the parapet.
The W front has a blocked doorway to 4-centred arch and
moulded jambs, below a lofty 3-light window, and a 2-light
with stone louvres to the bell stage to each face; that to the
N face has a Ham stone head. The label is carried round as a
continuous string, including the head of the buttresses.
The S front has a small light at the second stage, and a
multangular clock-face, and the E face has a small door with
pointed head opening to the roof; this is now of very low
pitch, but was originally steep, and the door opened to the
inner roof space.
The nave, chancel, and aisles have a continuous moulded
plinth, and a plain parapet above a string with prominent
gargoyles, and with saddle-back coping; the N nave parapet is
rendered. There are no clerestorey windows. All windows are
3-light Perpendicular, except 5-light to the chancel, under
drip courses, and divided by 2-stage weathered buttresses, set
back at the corners. Tracery is uncusped in the aisles.
A small priests' door to the chancel, and one 3-light window,
but the N side is covered by the vestry, in 2 storeys, with a
small square light at each level, in chamfered surround. A N
doorway opposite the porch entry. The gabled S porch has a
plain pointed doorway in 3 chamfered orders under a small
statue niche to an ogee-cusped head. The inner doorway is
4-centred, under a niche with cinquefoil head. The walls are
plain, with an eaves mould. A stone terminal cross here and to
the chancel E end.
On the W wall of the N aisle is a large stone memorial tablet,
in Greek Revival style, and signed 'J Hamilton Archt',
commemorating the loss of the ship Alexander on 26 March 1815.
On a voyage from Bombay to London she was totally lost in West
Bay, when '... 140 souls Mishappily perished with the

exception of 5 lascars whose bodies were found and buried near
this spot.....'
INTERIOR: a very consistent design, on a Portland stone floor,
with piers of 4 shafts and 4 hollows to high bases and small
capitals, with arcade in 3 orders. A continuous moulded
cornice to the nave, with alternate round and square floral
embellishments. The low-pitched panelled roof is carried on
short shafts to stone corbels, mainly with carved angels. The
tower arch has a broad wave mould with shafts and small caps,
small door to tower vice, and concrete flooring; it is
enclosed with a C19 screen.
The chancel has plain walls, with many monuments. On the N
side is a wide plank door to straps, and a narrow squint;
there is a piscina or aumbry (no outlet) in the S wall. The S
aisle has an ogee-headed stoup to the E of the door and a
piscina at the E end; above the door a painted stone Royal
Arms in high relief. The N aisle has a plain W wall, with the
Royal Arms of George III, and N doorway on 4 steps with
nosings, under a flat 4-centred rere-arch, and a plank door
with slight ogee head, inscribed 1598. On this side the
windows are not centred to the arcade bays. At the E end is
the organ. The aisle ceilings are in compartments, with a deep
longitudinal moulded beam and drops to corbels each side.
FITTINGS: the pews are all C19 with trilobed poppyhead, font
is a tall flared stone octagon, with Art Nouveau decoration at
the heads of panels and cover 'In loving memory of Oliver
Warner and his 4 sons' (undated). Plain octagonal pulpit,
brass eagle lectern, Communion rail with turned balusters. No
early glass; the E window, with the Evangelists and Paschal
Lamb is dedicated to Joseph Swaffield, who died in 1841, aged
84, and the adjacent S window is of similar date. There are
many wall and floor tablets (see RCHME); one in the chancel is
dated 1623.
Apart from refurnishing, and replacement of the roofs (in the
C18, and in 1936), this is a remarkably consistent and
unchanged C15 design; nothing has been added structurally.
(RCHME: Dorset, South-East: London: 1970-: 370).

Listing NGR: SY6621177788

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of All Saints at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17533566

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)