Building record 136/1 - Church of All Saints, Liverpool Road West

<1> Department of the Environment, 1971-2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 56495 (Report). SCH1934.

Church. Romanesque door surround of eleventh or twelfth century. Perpendicular tower of before 1555 and neo-classical nave of 1803. Red and yellow sandstone ashlar to tower and porch. Flemish bond brick with a plain tile roof. Western tower, nave and south-western porch. Tower: western face: diagonal buttresses to the corners. Deeply chamfered doorway with pointed arch, hood mould and label stops. Three-light window above probably of nineteenth century date with three pointed lights. Staircase lancets to right of this. Two-light louvred belfry opening above with Y-tracery, hood-mould and figurehead label stops, that at right being a grotesque head. Battlemented parapet with piers to the corners. The north face of the tower has a twentieth century service lean-to attached to its lower stage and a string course between the stages. Similar belfry to that on the western front. The southern face has the initials I B divided by a chalice in relief at right above the string course and a circular clockface to the centre below the belfry opening. Nave: the south face is of four bays of brick with a deep stone plinth with, to the left hand side, a porch built as a war memorial in 1926 of ashlar. This is gabled with a pointed, chamfered arch. Within and to either wall are benches above which are tablets in pointed niches inscribed with the names of the dead. The door to the church has a Romanesque surround, apparently re-positioned here. To either side are pilarettes with a hollow chamfer to their centres. At the level of the capitals is a band of leaf and dart moulding and to the arch and intrados are chevron patterns. To right of the porch are two round-arched windows and to the far right a doorway with stone surround and lunette window above. The north face is similar with two round-headed windows at left and two windows at right with a blocked doorway to right of centre. The western end has a Venetian window and hipped roof and a blocked doorway at right.

Interior: Western gallery with front of raised and fielded panels supported on iron columns of quatrefoil section.

<2> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.129-132 (Book). SCH2309.

Late eleventh century foundation, possibly by Hugh de Mara, who was the Lord of Lawton at the time. Built on a low knoll.

The tower was erected by John Bybber, a priest, and dates from the sixteenth century. His remains were interred beneath it, under a recessed altar tomb, surmounted by a low crowned arch. Above the arch are the initial letters of the founder's name, and sculptured figures of a chalice and breviary; the two latter being also at the head of a long shortheaded cross, carved in relief on the tombstone. On the south side is a twelfth century Norman doorway, with the door-head having typically Norman zig-zag patterns, with carved foliage in between the formation of triangles. The west doorway is badly weathered and has lost any mouldings it may have had.

The greater part of the church was destroyed by fire in 1798. The body of the church was rebuilt in brick, church records suggesting that this took place between 1798 and 1803. The rectory garden contains a mid eighteenth century font, presumably removed from the church.

During the removal of the box pews in 1874, around one hundred thirteenth century tiles were discovered. One tile, a quarter of a geometric pattern, bore the date MCCI (1201).

In 1559 eleven men and boys were killed during a church service when lightning struck the bell tower.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ 85 NW 7 (Index). SCH2487.

<4> Ormerod, G., 1882, The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester, Vol.III, p.17-20 (Book). SCH1389.

Suggests the church is built on an artificial mound.

<5> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, 16/11/2022 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.

<6> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.289 (Book). SCH7059.

The reset southern doorway is Norman, with decorated multi-scalloped capitals and zigzag pattern in the arch. Tower built in two stages. The large 'JB' with a chalice on the upper stage on the south face refers to John Byber, the rector of the church (died 1555). The west window is either Victorian or a restoration of a sixteenth-century window. The nave was damaged by fire in 1789 and rebuilt in 1803. The church contains a tomb-chest under a plain four-centred arch, with John Byber’s initials in the same style as the letters in the tower.

<7> Elizabeth H. Brotherton-Ratcliffe, 1982, Some Recently Discovered Tile Variations at Little Moreton Hall, Cheshire, JCAS Vol 65, p.45-58 (Article in Journal). SCH9674.

Article discussing the medieval tiles found in 1873-4 beneath the floor when the brick nave was replaced with a stone one. Six identical decorated tiles (picture included) were found together with over one hundred plain ones (now lost). The decorated tiles were originally thought to be 13th century, but more recent research suggests a probable late 15th/early 16th date. It seems likely that they may date to improvements within the church when the tower was built.