Welcome to All Hallows

Wellingborough's Parish Church, Northamptonshire U.K.
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North Aisle     Nave     South Aisle     Chapel of the Holy Name     St. Katherines Chapel     Lady Chapel     Chancel     Churchyard & Outside      
Outside

Tower & Spire

The spire, which is 165 feet high, is flanked by four pinnacles and has a tower. The lower part of the tower is built of native iron-stone with bands of limestone and is Early English (c.1200 AD). It has a fine west doorway of three orders.



The Belfry stage is built of Ketton stone and is finished with a corbel table from which rises the broached spire with pinnacles at the angles and four spire lights at the bottom and smaller ones near the top. The spire has been struck by lightning and the upper part has been re-built, most recently in 1988. The 18th century clock was replaced in 1971 and the carillon renewed.

There is a peal of eight bells, the tenor, weighing 28 cwts., dates from 1639. The oldest bell is the fourth dated 1604. The rose window is 13th century.


The South Porch

The architectural style is Decorated 14th century, and remarks here also apply to the North Porch.

Church porches were used for a variety of purposes not all of them religious. Apart from being useful as an entrance to the Church, it was also a meeting place in inclement weather. It is interesting to note the stone vaulting in the porch (the only example in All Hallows) and also the Norman Doorway with its traditional semi-spherical shape and marking.

Decorations

The decorations on the outside of the East window of the church are worth noting. A continuous wreath of flowers, leaves and faces runs round the moulding. At each corner are the four emblems of the evangelists.



This piper can be seen, lurking in the surround of the East window.



The North Side

View of the North Side from the churchyard, near the old Vicarage.



This view of the North Wall (below) shows the amount of refurbishment that it requires. Northamptonshire Ironstone is a sandstone. Being often quite soft, this can sometimes suffer weathering badly.



The Churchyard

The Churchyard has some fine old trees and a Calvary to commemorate the 1914-18 War.



It has been a public garden since 1952, when the decipherable tomb-stones were ranged round the walls, the graves being un-disturbed. A Saxon graveyard was known on this site as early as 948 A.D.



Church Hall

The present Church Hall was originally the town grammar school from which the modern public and grammar schools have sprung. It is an Elizabethan building with gables and transomed windows and was restored at a cost of £10,000 in 1967. It has a stone sundial over the door with two inscriptions. One records the fact that Edward Pickering gave the school £130, adding in Latin, 'Look, consider and do likewise', now recorded on the town coat of arms. The other states that one Richard Fisher gave £15 a year to the schoolmaster in 1711, the year Freeman's Endowed School began. Below these inscriptions is another in both Latin and Greek which reads 'I owe much to the lover of learning, but to the uneducated nothing.'
Two cottages adjoining the hall bear the date 1608. They are probably the oldest continuously inhabited dwellings in Wellingborough.

 


Behind the Church Hall in this picture is a much newer place of learning, Tresham College.