'All Saints' church in Conington sadly is a closed Church which is now cared for by the Redundant Churches Fund who have kindly allowed their information booklet to be included here. |
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INTRODUCTION |
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Conington church with its fine tower stands sentinel over the
landscape —a sentry seen both by the traveller in the train from
King’s Cross to Edinburgh and by the driver on the nearby Great North
Road.  It stands away from the village and adjacent to the “big house”,
now sadly diminished to a surviving stable block. A royal connection is
immortalised in the place-name: Conington means the king’s manor, the
“ton” of the King. For many centuries the property was held by the
Royal House of Scotland who were also Earls of Huntingdon. The later
holders, the Cotton family, one of whom was the eminent antiquary Sir
Robert Cotton, sought to capitalize on this connection and at the same
time affirm their loyalty to Queen Elizabeth’s Scots successor James 1,
by erecting elaborate cenotaphs to previous royal personages. In 1752 the
manor passed to the Heathcotes. |
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 By the mid 1970s the parishioners of Conington found the cost
of maintaining this large church beyond their means. Accordingly, in June
1976, Conington was united with Holme and the church at Holme became the
church of the new parish. Conington church was declared redundant and in
October 1977 it passed into the care of the Redundant Churches Fund. |
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| A substantial programme of repairs was put in hand by the Fund involving consolidating the upper stages of the tower and pinnacles and extensive work to the roof timbers and coverings. The work was carried out by Rattee and Kett Ltd. under the supervision of the late Cecil J. Bourne, FRIBA. | |
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| Domesday book records the presence of a church close to here in 1086, but the present building dates almost certainly from the late 15th century. Arguments for a later date, perhaps in the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, have been suggested but no conclusion has been reached. Whatever the date, the quality of design and execution of detail in the main fabric strongly suggests the hand of a single architect. | |
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| The older church was dedicated originally to Our Lady, the new one to All Saints. The building consists of a western tower with an elaborate porch entrance, nave with north and south aisles, porches also in the northern and southern walls, and a chancel with chapels on either side. | |
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EXTERIOR |
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The tower is built of Oolitic limestone from the quarries at
Ketton, Rutland, the rest of the church being of stone rubble and cobble
with dressings of Ketton and Barnack stone.  The tower has four stages with
a base-course that has a quatrefoil motif; below the battlements is a
frieze of trefoil-headed panels. The corners have panelled polygonal
buttresses, both those on the east side contain staircases whilst above
the parapet level the buttresses become octagonal turrets, finished with
lofty pinnacles and pierced crockets. The pinnacles are known to date from
1638 and it is possible that the whole tower was rebuilt from the ground
about that date.  The tower has a typical Perpendicular west doorway. with
a large five-light window above, the tracery renewed in the 19th century.
At a higher level are large circular windows, probably innovations of Sir
Thomas Cotton in 1638. The tower was strengthened and fitted with iron
girders in 1862. |
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The north and south porches contain original  doors and
doorways. Their modest size reflects the fact that the west doorway had
become the principal entrance, and these were probably for ceremonial use
in processions |
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| The clock is by Vulliamy of London (No. 385 of 1801) — three bells were sold in order to buy it. There were four bells in 1709; so the present 2nd bell is probably the old bell retained in 1802 and recast in 1827 as part of the ring of six bells of that date by Thomas Mears II of London, hanging in a fine early 17th century oak frame. | |
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| The nave and chancel have embattled parapets, both the aisles having grotesque gargoyles, originally to throw rainwater clear of the walls. There is a mediaeval gable-cross at the east end of the chancel above the five-light east window, much renewed in 1982. There are three-light windows in the north and south walls of the chancel, and five-light east windows to the chapels. The chapels and aisles have four-light north and south windows, the south window of the south chapel being blocked to accommodate Heathcote monuments inside. The clerestory above the nave has four windows in each side, three being three-light and the westernmost five-light. | |
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| An unusual exterior feature is the presence of octagonal stair turrets between the chapels and the aisles. These enabled the sexton to reach the rood loft across the chancel arch inside and that on the north side gave access to the aisle roof. The north turret has access inside the church; the one on the south side has had the interior door blocked and replaced by an external doorway. | |
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  In the churchyard the ‘Stone American” memorial on the
north side of the church is of interest, commemorating the air crew of the
457th Bomb Group of the United States Army Air Force who were stationed at
Glatton Airfield nearby during the Second World War. |
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INTERIOR |
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| The church is usually entered through the tower doorway. Originally the tower opened to the nave by a high arch; at the Victorian restoration an east wall was erected and a low stone vault inserted on the ground floor. The original high stone vault was replaced by a plaster vault on the first floor. This forms the ringing gallery. The arch in the tower wall has faces flanking it on the east side, one human, one animal. When the old lead was removed from the tower roof in the course of repairs, some 17th century graffiti were cut out and these have been fixed in the west gallery. | |
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Nave |
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 The arcades are of four bays, the three easternmost with
two-centred arches and the wider westernmost one with a four-centred arch.
The east and west sides of the piers have a rather complex Perpendicular
section; the north and south faces have attached shafts which support the
roof principals. The nave roof, which has moulded tie-beams, is original,
the aisle roofs being much restored. The pews with their tall poppyheads
date from 1841. |
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| At the east end of the nave is the oak pulpit, given in memory of the Reverend George Heathcote in 1890. Three corbels over the chancel arch probably supported the Rood sculptures. The blocked openings afforded access to the rood loft above the screen, which was removed in 1838. | |
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North Aisle |
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 Near the west end of the north aisle is a monument to
Elizabeth, second wife of Sir John Cotton, 1702, with a bust probably
carved by Grinling Gibbons. The church has a number of ledger slabs in the
floor, many almost illegible.
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There are two memorials in Ketton stone near the east end of
the aisle, erected after 1603. One is to David, King of Scotland and Earl
of  Huntingdon, having a panel flanked by two Corinthian columns and topped
by a shield with the arms of Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon Kings Waltheof
and Aeldred. On the base are several shields  including those of Henry the
Fowler, Emperor of Germany, France, the Anglo-Saxon kings, William the
Conqueror, and Scotland. The monument seems to have been designed to
publicise the descent of Earl David. It is inscribed “Imperator Rex
Franciae Anglo-Saxonum Angliae Scotiae”. The other is to Prince Henry of
Scotland which is in a similar style, and has a shield of the arms of
Scotland impaling Warenne. |
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| Between the north aisle and the chapel is an early 16th century screen, with moulded posts and rail with carved and twisted foliage and carved spandrels. | |
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South Aisle |
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  On the north side at the entrance to the chapel is a tablet
to John Cotton, 1731, with graffiti on the base (FS17 1785) and traces of
mediaeval wall paintings underneath.
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 On the south wall are two large memorials in Ketton stone,
probably erected c. 1600.  One commemorates Thomas Cotton, 1547 and Lucy
Harvey his wife; and Thomas Cotton 1592 and his first wife Elizabeth
Shirley; the other Thomas Cotton 1519 and his wife Joan Paris — their
arms are in the cornice above. |
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| In front is the Heathcote family pew. Further west, towards the end of the aisle, is a tablet in memory of Frances Catherine Rooper, 1892. Near the south door are the fragmentary remains of a mediaeval wall-painting of St. George and the Dragon conserved in 1990. | |
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| The font, at the west end of the aisle, has a mid 13th century octagonal bowl with intersecting pointed arches forming an arcade round it. The arches stand on shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The stem and base are modern. Beside is a ledger to William, 1734 and Rebecca Sibley, 1737, infant children of Joseph and Anne Sibley. Nearby is a chest, probably 17th century, with iron-bound sides and ends for security; it has been fitted with a collecting box at one end. | |
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Chancel |
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 The choir stalls, tiled sanctuary floor, altar rails and
panelling with the Creed, Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments painted on
canvas are 19th century. The communion table with baluster legs and plain
stretchers dates from c. 1650. In the south wall is the piscina. with a
cinquefoiled head surrounded by cresting, and an eight-sided drain which
is supported by a grotesque creature.  Next are the contemporary sedilia.
The cresting is similar; the canopied head is divided into three sections
with miniature interstellar vaulting supported by human heads. At the
bottom is a frieze with a quatrefoil motif. The sill of the north window
opposite is also lowered for seats. |
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| In the front of the altar rails are two ledger slabs, one to John Cotton, 1635, and the other with a Latin inscription to the Reverend Henry Harris, 1698, 30 years “Fidelis Pastor” of the parish. The small brass tablet to Henry Williamson, 1614. an earlier rector, has had a more chequered history having been ploughed up on Conington Fen in 1900 and restored to the church in 1919; it is now on the south wall. The only stained glass is some of Victorian date around the east window. | |
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| The embroidered altar frontal, incorporating parts of four stoles or maniples (c. 1650) made from vestments bought at a fair in Rome, was presented to the church by Evelyn Heathcote at Easter 1907. It is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. | |
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North Chapel |
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| Much of the chapel is taken up by the two-manual organ by Miller and Sons of Cambridge. The doorway to the stair turret is in the north-west corner; next to this is a brass tablet to the memory of the Reverend George Heathcote, rector 1834-84. The principal memorial is that to Sir John Cotton, 1702, in the south-east corner, which has a lengthy Latin text, topped by a shelf of pink marble and his portrait in relief flanked by cherubs and palm fronds. It is also probably the work of Grinling Gibbons who signed the very similar Cotton monument of 1697 at the other Conington. near St. Ives. A black ledger slab set in the floor partly under the organ, marks the burial place of John Cotton. | |
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| A mediaeval corbel in the north-east corner was for a statue of a saint in whose honour the chapel was dedicated. In the south-east corner is a piscina with a flower over the drain and a credence shelf for the wine and water vessels above. | |
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South Chapel |
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| This is separated from the aisle by a screen, doubtless contemporary with that in the north aisle. There is a 16th century piscina with shelf in the south wall. | |
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 The earliest memorial is an effigy of Purbeck marble of a
member of the Third Order of St. Francis, carved c. 1330. The figure is
vested in a long cowled habit with knotted cord at the waist, worn over a
tunic of mail, the head being supported by two cushions. It is probably
that of Bernard de Brus, the lord of the manor and patron of the church,
who died 1332-3 in his early twenties. |
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  The south window has been filled to take a group of seven
19th century memorials to the Heathcotes of Conington Castle, whilst in
the north-east and north-west corners are two more to the Hon. Emily
Frances Heathcote, 1846 and to John Myer Heathcote, 1892.
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| Two fine memorials with magnificent portrait busts in the south-east and south-west corners commemorate Sir Thomas Cotton, 1662, and Sir Robert Cotton, 1631. The latter was the celebrated antiquary whose assembled manuscripts formed the basis of the British Library. Knighted in 1603, he is said to have suggested the creation of baronets as a way for James 1 to raise money. He was M.P. for Huntingdon in 1604-11 but eventually fell into disgrace, being accused of writing seditious pamplets. Both these monuments were erected c. 1675 by Sir John Cotton who died in 1702. His great-granddaughter Catherine, who died on 30th April 1714 aged 9 weeks and 2 days, is commemorated by a white marble slab at the foot of the effigy of Bernard de Brus. | |
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CREDITS |
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| These notes are based on the research of Dr. Simon Cotton (not a member of the family associated with the church). | |
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THE REDUNDANT CHURCHES FUND |
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This church is now in the care of the Fund. This body was set up in 1969 to preserve churches of the Church of England no longer needed for regular worship but which are of historic, architectural or archaeological interest. The Fund’s main income is provided by Church and State but the constantly increasing number of churches entrusted to it (270 in June 1991) means that its resources are severely stretched. Contributions from members of the public are therefore gratefully received. Please send any contributions you would like to make to the Fund at the address shown. |
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Published by:
June 1991 |
The Redundant Churches Fund, Reg. Charity No. 258612 |
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| Black and white photographs printed in the booklet were taken by Christopher Dalton. Colour photographs included on this web page were taken locally in 1999. | |
