All Saints, Evesham, Worcestershire

Description

The church of All Saints, standing together in the parochial churchyard with that of St. Lawrence, was erected by the inmates of the monastery for the inhabitants of the town. All Saints is a building of stone in the Early English and later styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, two lateral chapels, forming a quasi-transept, western porch and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles and octagonal spire, containing one bell: projecting from the south aisle is the chapel in which were interred the remains of Abbot Lichfield (1514-46); it is a simple parallelogram, in the Late Perpendicular style, with rich fan-traceried roof, and opens to the aisle by a depressed arch, with panelled soffit; the stone placed over the grave of the great abbot once inclosed an effigy and inscription in brass, now lost, but extant in the reign of Charles I.; a modern brass bearing the original inscription has been placed on the south wall of the Lichfield chapel: the church still retains one brass inscription to Robert Wyllys and Agnes his wife (c. 1520), and a scroll of the same date: the mural monuments were at the restoration shifted into new positions, a considerable number being placed in the tower: the church was thoroughly restored in 1876, at a cost of £6,000; under the directions of Mr. Frederick Preedy, architect, of London, when the foundations were excavated and the north wall taken down and rebuilt, a new chancel and vestry erected, the Lichfield chapel cleansed and the tracery restored throughout, and the floor of the church covered with concrete and cement, under which the inscribed ledgers, formerly on the floor, are now buried: the reredos, of alabaster, executed by Mr. Bolton, of Cheltenham, exhibits in the centre a carving of "The Descent from the Cross," the panels on either side being filled in with angels in the attitude of adoration: the pulpit, the gift of Mrs. Marshall, of Worcester, wife of a former vicar of Evesham, is of white alabaster, and contains figures of the four evangelists: the canopy of carved oak was the gift of the the Rev. James Manders Walker, M.A., the vicar: the carved oak rood screen, designed in the Gothic style of the 14th century, was given by the Rev. James Manders Walker, M.A., in 1906: there is also a parclose screen and a canopied stall for the vicar: choir stalls were added in 1911: the church was refloored with wood blocks in 1906: the organ, the gift of a former vicar, was enlarged in 1903 by the addition of a third manual, at a cost of £350: all the windows are stained and include three in the Lichfield chapel, added in 1883, one to Henry William Smith, a townsman, inserted in Sept. 1884, and one to commemorate the 1,200th anniversary of the dedication of the first church: the church affords 830 sittings, 500 being free.

Church Records

The All Saints' register of baptisms and marriages dates from the year 1539; burials, 1538. In the register occurs the following entry: "Anno Domini Clement Lechfielde, Abbot of Evesham, buryed the ix. of Oct. 1546."