Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 17/09/2014

TL 18 NE
2/32

CONINGTON,
CHURCH LANE (South West Side),
Church of All Saints

(Formerly listed as Church of Holy Cross)

28.1.58

I

Parish Church now in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. Circa 1500. Coursed limestone, limestone rubble and fieldstone, and limestone dressings. Roofs concealed by c.1638 embattled and blocked parapets. Plan of west tower, nave and north and south aisles with chapels and chancel. West Tower. Coursed limestone ashlar. Four stages on a splayed plinth with band of quatrefoil ornament carried round clasping half octagonal panelled angle turrets rising to corner turrets with crocketed pinnacles. Embattled parapet with main cornice having central gargoyle and a quatrefoil frieze. West doorway in two centred arch with continuous ogee and hollow mouldings on a high base. West window in four centred arch with embattled transome and five trefoil lights to each stage. Moulded label and return stops. Bell stage openings are of four lights divided by a mullion and a transome with trefoil head to each opening. Four centred arch with label and return stop. In the north and south wall is a round window with raised surround enriched with foliate or round ornament. Nave. Early C15. Fieldstone, rubblestone and limestone dressings. Clerestory has on each side three windows of three trefoil lights in four centred ogee moulded arch. The fourth window of the clerestory on the west end is of five similar lights. South aisle. Three windows of four cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery in four centred arch. At the east end of the south aisle and of the same date is the south chapel, later a family chapel of the Cotton and subsequently the Heathcote families. A window in the east end wall is similar to those of the south wall but of five lights. In the south wall there is a newel stair turret leading to the rood loft. Rubble and fieldstone and brick with upper courses of coursed limestone with stone polygonal roof surmounted by a tiled and foliated finial. The doorway has a four centred outer arch. The south porch is shallow in depth. Gabled and stone tiled roof with parapet. Four centred ogee moulded outer arch. The south door is C16. Oak planks with studding and moulded cover strips and original long strap hinges. The chancel is C15 but of earlier date than the nave. The walls are of rubble and fieldstone with limestone dressings. South wall has one window of three trefoil lights with vertical tracery and dropped pointed arch. The east wall of the chancel has been restored as has the east window. The north wall of the church is similar to the south. Interior: C19 vaulting inserted into ground stage of tower to form a porch. The springers of the vaulting are medieval but are an insertion. Tower arch two centred and of one chamfered order with two chamfered ribs on the soffit, springing from semi octagonal shafts with moulded capitals. The second stage also has a modern vault. The nave arcade is in four bays with the westernmost bay being wider. Two centred arches with outer order of continuous ogee moulding and the inner order on three grouped shafts to the responds. On the north and south sides of the piers an engaged shaft carries the corbels of the roof jackposts. The roof is in four bays and half a bay. The tiebeams, purlins and bracing are all moulded. North and south aisles are similar to the nave. Each has an arched opening, similar to that of the nave arcade, at the entrance to the north and south chapels. The roofs are also similar with jackposts having shafted corbels. The chancel arch has the mouldings of the nave arcade. The roof is C19 but C15 in style. In the south wall there is a three seat sedilia having trefoil two centred arches to each bay in square head. Each bay is vaulted. A piscina of similar period adjoins. The font is C15. Limestone. Octagonal bowl with panelled sides having intersecting arcading. The base is C19. Monuments: South aisle. Wall monument: Thomas Cotton (d.1519) and Joan Paris, his wife, inscription reset in C17 monument. Corinthian columns supporting entablature with shield of arms. Double wall monument: Thomas Cotton d.1517 and Lucy Harvey, his wife; Thomas Cotton, d,1592, and Elizabeth Shirley, his wife. Limestone. Early C17. In two bays with half round arches in square heads, each with shield of arms, and divided by Corinthian columns. The plinth is enriched with heraldic emblems and strapwork ornament and the entablature, similarly enriched, is surmounted by shield of arms. South Chapel: Thomas Cotton: marble wall monument 1662. Bust in relief in roundel with pediment above and garland below with inscription. Robert Cotton, the antiquary, 1631. White marble wall monument. Bust in relief in oval surround with pediment, shield of arms and garland. On the floor. Effigy of Knight in monks habit. Late C13-late C14. Purbeck marble. The remaining monuments are C19 to members of Heathcote family. C15 south aisle screen. Oak. Open upper stage has some original tracery and embattled shafts between the three bays. The closed lower panels are more intact. North chapel monuments: John Cotton, 1702. Pink and white marble wall monument. Bust in relief flanked by palms held by winged cherubs on pink marble gadrooned base. The cherubs support a curtain bearing the inscription. North aisle. Two storey cenotaph. David Prince of Scotland and Earl of Huntingdon. Limestone. Early C17. Two bays divided by Corinthian columns with entablature. The upper stage has one bay with round headed arch flanked by Corinthian columns with supporters and shield of arms. All the bays are vacant. Inscription below bears the words Imperator, Rex Franciae, Anglo-Saxonum, Angliae, Scotiae. Cenotaph: Prince Henry of Scotland, Lord of Conington. Early C17. Corinthian columns flank blind recess, and support entablature with shield of arms. At west end of north aisle, wall monument in white marble, Elizabeth Cotton, 1702. Bust of deceased in relief flanked by palms held by winged cherubs who support the curtain below which bears the inscription. Similar to monument to Sir John Cotton, also 1702, and to the Cotton monument at Conington, near Cambridge, dated 1697 and signed by Grinling Gibbons.

R.C.H.M. Hunts. mon (1)
Pevsner: Buildings of England, p232
V.C.H. Hunts. Vol. III
A Woodger: Conington Church: A dating problem (Records of Hunts and District
Local History Society, 1985)
Norris Museum: S. Inskip Ladds Records

Listing NGR: TL1804085901

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• All Saints Church, Conington at Wikipedia
• All Saints Church, Conington official website
• Wikidata Q4729456

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

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)