Church of All Saints, Houghton Regis

The Church of All Saints, Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, is a medieval Grade I listed building. Characterised by flint and clunch checker work on the exterior, the church dates predominantly from the 13th and 14th centuries, with 15th century additions. All Saints' serves as the Parish Church for Houghton Regis, the parish including the town, parts of North Dunstable, Bidwell West, Thorn, and Linmere, as well as the hamlet of Sewell.

Brief History
The religious use of the site predates the present building and is claimed to go back one thousand years to Saxon times. During the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042 -1066) Houghton Regis was a royal manor. A pre-Conquest church located on the site of the current Parish Church was one of very few in Bedfordshire to be mentioned in Domesday Book (AD 1086), which records that it was held by William the Chamberlain, who also held St Mary’s Church, Luton. Domesday also recorded the church's finances. Its financial endowment, half a hide, was valued at 12s. In 1291 the church's value (mostly from its glebe land) was recorded at £16 13s. 4d.

King Henry I gave Houghton Regis to Earl Robert of Gloucester, and subsequently his son William granted it to the monks of St Albans Abbey in 1153. However, only the font remains today from that church. All Saints’ was reconstructed in later centuries, probably before the leadership of Abbot John Moore of St Albans, who ordered the Tithe Barn adjacent to the churchyard to be constructed between 1396 and 1401.

Upon the Dissolution of the monasteries the vicarage was listed as worth £11 13s. 4d. and the rectory (including parish land) at £41.

The church held six registers antedating 1813: "(1) all entries 1538 to 1678; (2) the same 1704 to 1767, marriages to 1754; (3) marriages 1754 to 1795; (4) baptisms and burials 1768 to 1807; (5) marriages 1795 to 1807; (6) marriages 1807 to 1812." The actor Gary Cooper and his brother Arthur were baptised and confirmed at All Saints' on 3 December 1911. These records are now in the care of Bedfordshire Archives.

The churchyard was closed to new burials in the 1980s.

In 2011, the Mayor, Cllr Robin Hines, unveiled a new Town Sign for Houghton Regis. It was financed by specific grant funding and was intended to “add a sense of place and community to the town.” The sign and crest feature historic and more modern elements including All Saints Church.

In 2019 a major restoration of the outer fabric ensures that All Saints' is taken out of the Heritage At Risk Register.

The church tradition of All Saints’ is rooted in the catholic heritage of the Church of England (sometimes called Anglo-Catholic). The Parish Mass, every Sunday at 10:30am, is the main weekly act of worship.

Architecture and Notable Features
Charles O'Brien and Nikolaus Pevsner, in the 2014 revised edition of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough in the Pevsner Buildings of England series, describe All Saints as "a stately church".

The style of the building is mainly Perpendicular (or Rectilinear) Gothic, with some early Curvilinear elements such as the east window in the south aisle. It consists of a chancel, a nave of five bays and clerestory, side aisles, south porch, and tower.

On the outside All Saints’ is characterized by its flint and Totternhoe stone checker work, the battlements, and the stone grotesques which adorn the walls. Battlements were added to the chancel in the 19th century whilst it was being extensively renovated by George Somers Clarke. The cluch, a relatively hard chalk from the Chiltern Hills, used here has been sourced locally, since the construction of the church, for most restoration works. For example, in the 2019 restoration of the outer fabric was provided by H.G. Clarke and Son of Totternhoe.

Tower
The embattled western tower with an octagonal turret at the south-west angle was remodelled and raised to 70ft in the 15th century. The cross above the tower is a later addition, to which a weathercock was then added in 1750 that fell during a storm in the 19th century. The tower also houses six bells, a spacious ringing chamber, and a beautiful Victorian stained glass window, flanked by medieval canopied niches.

The specifications of the bells are as follows: the treble (John Briant, Hertford, 1815); Second (John Briant, 1816); Third (Newcombe, 1616, recast 1899 by Taylor); Fourth (John Briant, Hertford, 1811); Fifth (John Dier, 1580, recast 1899 by Taylor); and the tenor (Anthony Chandler, 1673).

Norman Baptismal Font
The circular Norman font of Totternhoe stone is the oldest known part of the church, having been constructed well before the present building was even begun. The font is one of a number of fonts known collectively as the 'Aylesbury Group' after a particularly fine example in the parish church at Aylesbury. It is made of Totternhoe stone, and its elaborate carvings and cable moulding are particularly good. The lid is made out of reclaimed timber from Houghton Hall. Sir Stephen Glynne, writing before 1840, described it in his Church Notes, as "remarkably fine" and "very richly sculptured throughout".

Sewell Tomb and South Aisle Chantry
In the south aisle wall is a tomb with the effigy of a knight at with a lion at his feet. This is reputedly the tomb of John de Sewell who accompanied the Black Prince to Aquitaine in 1366 in the retinue of Hugh, Earl of Stafford. It is carved with quatrefoils framing heraldic shields displaying a chevron and three butterflies or stylised bees— the Sewell Arms. Under the tomb are carvings representing the same coat of arms. A medieval piscina and decorated ceiling above the east end of the aisle indicate that an altar stood nearby. And indeed, this area of the church may have been a chantry chapel for John de Sewell and his family.

Nave Ceiling
The nave ceiling dates to latter part of the 14th century (or the beginning of the 15th); it is a simple but elegant example of Rectilinear gothic architecture. It is supported by stone corbels in the shape of animals and mythical creatures, and it is decorated with carved oak figures of monks bearing shields or coat of arms. These figures are visible reminders of the connection between All Saints’ and the St Albans’ Abbey. To the east end of the nave, the ceiling is more elaborately decorated, with bosses and vine leaf motifs, then the rest of the ceiling, providing a “canopy of honour” for the Cross (or Rood), and marking the original position of the Rood Screen.

Chancel
The chancel, Rectilinear in style, was partly rebuilt in the 19th century, under the direction of Somers Clarke, after many decades of neglect. At that time the chancel arch was reopened. The restoration also preserved many other original features, such as the medieval wall safes. The altar rail, made from the reclaimed staircase banister of Houghton Hall, divides the chancel in two areas: choir and sanctuary.

The floor is mostly paved with the stone monuments to members of the Brandreth family, save for the chequered marble flooring around the altar and, most notably, two brasses. These bear the effigy of two priests connected to All Saints'; the larger one is of William Walley, 15th century vicar of All Saints', the smaller of John Walley (a relative, of William Walley).

High Altar Triptych
The high altar triptych was gifted to All Saints’ in memory of Fr Colin Gay SSC, Honorary Assistant Priest from 2002 to 2015 and dedicated by the Rt Revd Norman Banks, Bishop of Richborough, on 26 June 2023.

The central panel measures 210cm by 131cm, and the side panels 105cm by 131cm. It can be closed during Lent and Passiontide remaining at 210cm in width. It depicts Christ in glory with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist in the central panel, St George the Martyr and St John the Baptist in the right section, St Wilfrid and St Theodore of Amasea in the left panel. The piece was painted by Nechita Laurentiu, a Romanian icon writer, using gold leaf. The artist has worked for the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and he has a number of pieces displayed in UK church (e.g. the “Frank Weston altar” at St Matthew’s Willesden). The triptych was originally commissioned in 2007 for Preston Minster by the vicar, Fr Timothy Lipscomb, and the PCC. It was placed above the High Altar, encased between the back riddel posts. However, it was sold off in 2020 to a church furniture dealer, where it was purchased by a parishioner of All Saints'.

Stained Glass
Above the vicinity of the Sewell tomb, in the Lady Chapel, and in the tower there are rather good examples of Victorian stained glass by Thomas Baillie. The west end window was unveiled in 1891 to commemorate the Revd Hugh Blagg Smyth, and it depicts the Resurrection of Jesus, the Baptism of the Lord, and the Institution of the Eucharist. The two windows in the Lady chapel commemorate Smyth's daughter Minna and his wife, dating from 1864. The one above the Sewell tomb commemorates George Marshall, churchwarden.

Pipe Organ
The organ is two manual and pedal instrument, dates from approximately 1880 and 1914. It was originally believed to have been built by Nicholson and Lord of Walsall. However, in 2021 during cleaning and refurbishment works by Pipe Organ Services it was discovered that the organ was originally built by C. M. Walker of London and only later rebuilt by Nicholson and Lord of Walsall. Several additional stops (including the full-length Conacher trumpet) were installed by Kenneth Breedon of Bletchley in 1992.

Vicars, Parish Priests, and Patrons of All Saints'
The patronage of the parish (or advowson), meaning the right to present or put forward a person to be inducted as vicar, was exercised by the person or institution owning church land. St Albans Abbey was granted the right when it received All Saints' land in 1153. After the Dissolution, English monarchs, the Brandreth family, the Dukes of Bedford, and other individuals exercised this right over the centuries. The advowson currently rests with the Board of Patronage of the Diocese of St Albans.

Both the lists of Priests, Chaplains (Cappellani), and Vicars of Houghton Regis preserved at All Saints’ Parish Church and Bedfordshire Archives begin in 1226. The names of those who ministered in the parish before this time are not known. The following list is the one preserved at the county archives.