History
The oldest parts of our church building date from the 11th century. We would love you to visit All Saints to gain an idea of its beauty and history for yourself. In the church is a leaflet A Walk Around All Saints Church which will give you a short guided tour. This leaflet is also available in French Une visite à l’église « de la Toussaint » à Winterton
A slightly more detailed story is told in a booklet All Saints History Booklet produced in the early 1970s based on work by Arthur Ecclestone and Canon J T Fowler.
The images on this page give a good idea of the very many changes in the relatively recent past. Some of these changes have been very significant.
External views
This was the view of All Saints published in 1836 in
'The History of Winterton and adjoining villages' by W Andrew.
The book has many interesting points about our church and community.
The next photo was taken after the Vicars' vestry was built against the Chancel in 1844 and the iron palisades were placed on the churchyard wall in 1850 but before the roof alterations in 1903.
Compare this with the next photo taken after 1903 which shows the huge alterations which took place in that year: new clerestory above the Nave, raised and steeply pitched Chancel roof and pinnacles on Tower.
Below are two images used for the cover of the Parish Magazine in 1905. They illustrate the views from the south east before and after these alterations.
Church before 1903 alterations [cover of January 1905 parish magazine]
Church after 1903 alterations [cover of February 1905 parish magazine]
The aerial view below shows the church as it is now.
The churchyard appears to have no graves in this aerial view. Most burials ceased in the churchyard in 1875 when the new town cemetery opened. In 1955 the Town Council assumed responsibility for maintaining the churchyard. The gravestones were levelled from 1957 and the Town War Memorial was moved from the top of Earlsgate to the churchyard in 1967.
Internal views
Inside the church there have also been very many changes over the years. The first photo below was taken between 1872 and 1885. We can be certain of these dates since the organ was moved from its first location against the Tower wall to the North Transept in 1872 [see the organ pipes on the extreme left]. But in 1885 it was moved to its present home on the north side of the Chancel. Notice also the Reredos behind the altar. In the centre if the painting of the Nativity by Raphael Mengs which now hangs on the wall of the South Transept. Around it is the screen showing the Ten Commandments [part of which is now stored in the Choir Vestry].
The next photo, probably taken in 1911, shows the raised Chancel roof and taller east windows with a new Reredos [though still with the same painting in the centre]. Records state that this new Reredos was built in 1911.
Below is a more recent view of the Chancel with the current Reredos supplied in 1972 and the Chancel Screen erected in 1905.
Many of the old photos on this page have been supplied from the archive produced by Winterton Local History Society.
