All Saints Church, East Lockinge

Ambrosden church

All Saints Church at Lockinge consists of a chancel 28 ft. by 14 ft. 9 in., nave 34 ft. 6 in. by 16 ft. 6 in., and a west tower 11 ft. 3 in. by 12 ft. 3 in., all part of the old church. To these have been added a new chancel and nave to the south of the old with a south aisle and transept and north and south porches.

The nave was apparently built about the middle of the 12th century, but of this the north doorway is the only remaining detail. The chancel was rebuilt in the 13th century, probably with a south chapel, and a south aisle was added to the nave in the same century. The chancel arch was rebuilt in the 14th century and the west tower was added or rebuilt in 1564. In the 19th century the north nave wall was rebuilt and the south chapel and aisle were pulled down and a new church built on to the south, the old church forming a north aisle and chapel.

The chancel has a two-light east window, uncusped and probably of late 13th-century date. In the north wall are two square-headed 14th-century windows of two lights with chamfered rear arches. At the east end of the south wall is a square-headed piscina with a locker above it and further west a double sedile with pointed and chamfered arches; the western arch also forms a squint into the modern chancel. The arch to the former south chapel is pointed and of two chamfered orders, apparently of 13th-century date; the inner order rests on carved head corbels. Further west is a four-centred arch of the 15th century, perhaps erected for a monument. The 14th-century chancel arch is deeply moulded and has moulded responds with a continuous moulded capital carried round each. Flanking the arch on the east face are two cinquefoil-headed niches at the floor level with ogee labels; both impinge on the line of the side walls, which are cut away and corbelled back to admit them. The roof has three old tie-beams, but the boarding is modern.

On either side of the chancel arch towards the nave is a moulded corbel to support the rood beam. The north nave wall has been rebuilt, but incorporates at the east end an old window opening with modern mullions and tracery. The north doorway, of about 1150, is of two semicircular orders, the inner plain and the outer with deeply-cut embattled ornament and a moulded label enriched with billets; each jamb has a shaft with carved capitals and moulded abaci continued round the jamb. Further west is a twolight 15th-century window cut into by the later tower wall. The south arcade, opening into the modern nave, is of three bays with pointed arches and octagonal piers. It is almost entirely modern and was originally of 13th or early 14th-century date.

The west tower is three stages high, faced with ashlar and having three-stage diagonal buttresses at the western angles. On the north face, about half-way up, is a medallion dated ANNO 1564. The tower arch is four-centred and of two chamfered orders, the inner springing from modern corbels. The west window is of three square-headed lights under a four-centred head. The bell-chamber is lighted by windows of two square-headed lights with moulded labels, and the tower is finished with an embattled parapet.

The modern church is built in the style of the 14th century and has a south transept and aisle of four bays, the arcade being formed with five oak posts carrying a deep moulded beam. On the south of the sacrarium is a small round-headed window, of which the external stone-work is largely 12th-century work refixed.

The fittings include a massive cylindrical font, probably of the 12th century, slightly tapering towards the base and finished square, an old parish chest with a later lid dated 1756, and a Jacobean pulpit of semi-octagonal form with good carved arcaded panels and carved consoles to the cornice. The three fine brass candelabra in the new nave are foreign work of the 17th or 18th century. The north and south doorways are fitted with old oak doors and some much worn old tiles remain in the chancel. On the north wall of the old chancel is a Jacobean tablet to James Gerard, M.A. (1628), with Doric pilasters and a coat of arms. A plain tablet commemorates Edward Keate (1679), and a tablet to Millicent, late wife of John Grace, vicar of Aldworth, has a painted kneeling figure under an arch with a coat of arms, Gules a lion and an orle of cinquefoils or, for Grace, impaling Needham. In the nave are several tablets of the 18th and 19th centuries to the family of Collins of Betterton, and under the tower are two floor slabs to Thomas Upton, rector (1684), with the Upton arms, and to Christopher Minshull (1681), with his arms, Azure a star coming out of a crescent argent. Also under the tower is a brass to Mary daughter of Edward Needham (1628), with a figure and shield of the Needham arms; another in the chancel is to Edward Keate (1624) and Joan (Doe) his wife, with two small figures and a coat of arms. In the head of the northwest chancel window is a certain amount of old grisaille glass with a border.

There are four bells: the treble inscribed,' Praysed be thy name O Lorde that hast sent 1578 I. W.'; the second by W. Taylor of Oxford, 1852; the third inscribed, 'God be our spyd in our begynyng W. T.,' with a cross flory; the tenor by Robert Wells of Aldbourne, 1793. There is also a ting tang by Robert & James Wells of Aldbourne, and the bell frame is inscribed '1620 W.C.'

The plate includes a cup (London, 1576) with a chased band round the bowl; a paten (London, 1677) inscribed, 'This belongs to ye Church of East Lockins in Berks'; and a silver-gilt chalice presented by Lord Wantage in 1886.

The registers previous to 1812 are as follows: (i) baptisms and burials 1546 to 1663, marriages 1547 to 1662; (ii) baptisms 1664 to 1739, marriages 1666 to 1738 and burials 1663 to 1738; (iii) baptisms 1739 to 1787, marriages 1738 to 1787, burials 1739 to 1788; (iv) marriages 1787 to 1812; (v) baptisms 1788 to 1812; (vi) burials 1788 to 1812.

Historical information about All Saints Church is provided by 'Parishes: East and West Lockinge', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 307-311. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp307-311 [accessed 24 February 2023]..

All Saints Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS, Lockinge - 1368679 | Historic England.

For more information about All Saints Church see Parishes: East and West Lockinge | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk).