All Saints, Didcot, Berkshire
Description
The church of All Saints is a small but interesting edifice of stone, in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, picturesquely situated on high ground north of the village, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a low western tower with short octagonal broach spire, both covered with shingles and containing 3 bells: the nave is of three bays and has arcades of wide Pointed Early English arches on low clustered piers, the central pier, against which the font is placed, being octagonal and the other two cylindrical, with caps formed by a succession of projecting flat fillets; the south aisle is Decorated, and has segmental-headed windows, with reticulated tracery; on the south side of the nave, slightly raised above the floor, on a stone base, is the recumbent effigy, in stone, life-size, of a bishop or mitred abbot of the 13th century, under a mutilated canopy, and holding a crosier, of which portions remain; it was recovered in 1875 from the churchyard on the relaying of the path, having been reversed, and used to form part of the pathway; the identity of the effigy is supposed to be that of Ralf de Dudcote, abbot of Abingdon abbey; at the south-east corner of the south aisle is a piscina, and a little bracket for the figure of a saint; the chancel has four Decorated windows, all of which, as well as the east window, are stained; the Perpendicular west window is a memorial to the Rev. John Ashworth Ashworth M.A. 39 years rector of this parish (185I-90), Catherine his wife, and to John Ashworth Ashworth, lieut, R.N. their son, and retains some fragments of old stained glass in the top lights: the reredos is of stone simply arcaded, and on the south side of the chancel is a square piscina; the pulpit is also of stone, with traceried panels; the stairs to the rood-loft remain, as also the upper doorway, over which is a curious two-light window; the north aisle is modern; there are floor stones to Francis Dandridge, gent, 1759; Robert Lydell de Dydcott, generosus, 1677; Richard Blake of Dudcott, 1709; Benjamin Banner A.M. fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford, and 24 years rector here, and rector also of Whittington, Lancs. 1817; and to Thomas Collins, and Mary, his wife, 1800; in the churchyard, west of the porch, is a fine old yew, and on its east side a restored cross raised on two steps; on the exterior walls are memorials to the families of Sayer, 1721-36, with arms and mantling; and Hayward, 1759-82; to Muriel, wife of Edward Sawyer, of Didcot, 1641, and her husband, with the arms of Sawyer and Backerton; to the family of Taylor, 1719-63, and to Catherine Loder, widow, 1698; the church was restored in 1876, at the cost of Rev. J. A. Ashworth M.A. rector, 1851-90, and a friend, at a cost of £750, and in 1904 the vestry and organ chamber were restored at a cost of £840: the church affords about 200 sittings.
Church Records
The early register of this parish, which had been missing for some years, appeared for sale in September, 1891, in the catalogue of a Birmingham bookseller, and was recovered and restored to the parish by Mr. G. F. Tudor Sherwood; it contains baptisms 1575-1678, marriages 1571-1674, and burials 1568-1679, comprised in 20 pages of vellum.