Relhan Collection : 243 Lolworth church. View from SW

Relhan, Richard, 1782-1844

Relhan Collection

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>All Saints church is now smaller than it was in C13, with just a chancel, nave, W tower and a rebuilt S porch. It is C14, following devastation of the village and church by fire after a violent storm recorded in 1393 by Thomas of Walsingham. After this the church was rebuilt without aisles and rededicated 1406. A few blocks with dog-tooth decoration and 2 windows re-set in the porch survive from the earlier church. The S wall in Relhan’s drawing is curiously plastered in panels and the roof of the nave can barely be seen, the enlarged buttress on the S wall of the tower is probably an external stair to the belfry. These features have changed: the stair turret has gone and there is a low buttress to SE corner of the tower and nave. The S wall of the nave has been reduced and the masonry exposed showing four bays of the blocked C14 arcade; the former aisle windows were inserted into the blocking. The changes are part of the 1891 restoration by EE Bowden when the roofs to the nave and chancel were rebuilt and tiled with slate; the S porch was rebuilt 1902 and nave N wall restored as a war memorial after WWI. The churchyard contains many memorials and mature trees and now extends beyond the W tower.</p><p>Bradley and Pevsner 2014; Davis EM pers comm; RCHME 1968; VCH 1989 </p></p>