All Saints' - History

The Nave and Chancel

The nave, which is capable of seating 300, is used for Sunday worship, weddings, funerals and other large services. The nave altar stands on a dais in front of the chancel arch. There is a fine triptych behind the altar, by the local artist Hammersley Ball, which was given to the church in 1939. A lectern in the form of a brass eagle was given in memory of Mary Stockwood, who died in 1886 aged 16. The chancel is occasionally used for smaller services; set into the wooden panelling in the chancel are various memorials, several of which commemorate members of the Windley family.

The Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel, restored in 1986-88, includes an aumbry on the north wall. The impressive stained glass window depicts the life of one of the former vicars, Reverend Thomas Windley, who was a missionary in Myanmar (then Burma). Illustrations of the Asian Church may be seen in the window. The chapel is used for the 10.00 am service of Holy Communion on Tuesday mornings.

The Organ

The organ, a medium-sized three manual pipe organ built by Norman and Beard in 1906, is in moderately good condition. It was part-modernised in 1979 by a local firm, and a number of improvements have been made in recent years including new pipe-work, a new pedal-board and piston system.

The Bells

During the construction of the church, an order for six bells was placed with John Taylor of Loughborough, and a six-bell oak bell frame was constructed for the church. At its installation in 1864 this was extended to accommodate two extra bells and a ring of eight was installed. Cast in the key of E, the heaviest of these weighed 17cwt (about ¾ tonne). In 1999, through the efforts of the Nottingham University Society of Change Ringers, the bells were tuned and re-hung in a new steel bell frame for ten bells. At the same time the redundant All Saints’ Church School bell was hung as a Sanctus bell. By 2004 enough money had been raised to cast two new treble bells and complete the ring of ten. Members of the Nottingham University Society ring the bells for the church.

The Vicarage

The original vicarage of 1864 was a substantial building with eleven bedrooms and servant quarters. This was too large for a modern vicarage and in 1980 it was divided into two. The present vicarage forms the eastern half of the building. The other half of the building, for some time named John Perkins House, after a vicar of All Saints’, has been used as a community house. Now called All Saints’ House, it is currently rented to refugees and asylum seekers, in partnership with the Nottingham Arimathea Trust.

The Parish and Today’s Church Community

The parish of All Saints was created in 1864 on an area previously known as the Sandfield. Following the 1832 cholera epidemic in Nottingham, expansion outside the old urban boundaries began along the Alfreton Road and expanded into the Sandfield area. In recent decades much social and economic change has taken place in the parish, including several new building developments and an increasing element of student housing.

All Saints’ Church, Nottingham, and its Parish
150 years 1864-1914

The Reverend Paul Watts (who sadly passed away in August 2019) produced a history of All Saints’ Church in 2014, which can be found below.

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