East Lockinge - Parish Church

Parish Church

The Church of England parish church of All Saints was built in about the middle of the 12th century. The Norman north door of the nave survives from this time. The chancel and the south chapel parallel with it were built in the 13th century but the chancel was rebuilt early in the 14th century. A south aisle was added in the 13th or early in the 14th century. A window in the north wall of the nave was added in the 15th century, but was altered to accommodate the west belltower that was added in 1564.

In 1886 the south aisle and chapel were demolished, the three-bay arcade between the south aisle and the nave was rebuilt and a new nave and chancel were built in place of the demolished aisle and chapel. This became the main body of the church, leaving the earlier nave and chancel as a north aisle and chapel. The reredos paintings are by the Arts and Crafts movement artist Kate Bunce and their beaten metal frames are by her sister Myra Bunce. Lady Jane Lindsay, presumably a relative of the Colonel, designed the glass of the east window.

The tower has a ring of four bells. The oldest is the treble, cast in 1578 by Joseph Carter of Reading, Berkshire, who later became the master founder of Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London. The third bell was cast at Reading in about 1599. Robert II Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire cast the tenor bell in 1793 and he and James Wells cast the small Sanctus bell in about 1795. William Taylor cast the second bell in 1852, presumably at the foundry that the Taylor family then had in Oxford. Currently for technical reasons the bells are unringable.