Church Contacts:
To contact a church warden please see our contacts list for The Hills. The church that each warden is associated with is listed alongside their name.
Church History and Information:
All Saints is part of the Chipstable with Raddington parish which contains 3 churches – All Saints Chipstable, St. Michael’s Raddington and Waterrow Church and Community Hall. For more information on the parish please visit their parish website.
The Church is delightfully situated at the centre of the peaceful village of Chipstable, set among green hilly pasture and woodland combes. The first Rector mentioned (see succession of Priests in the Parish) is “Stephen, Parson of Cyppestable” in 1248. However, he was by no means the first as the Doomsday Book notes a Church at Cipestable in the time of King Edward.
The old nave and the present tower probably date from around 1239; the external evidence furnished by the tower points to this date with the capitals of the three-bay arcade with their figures of angels. The present Nave of the Church (rebuilt in 1869 in the Geometrical style) stands precisely where the old Nave Stood, and is thus practically a reproduction of it. The Tower and two of the main pillars were retained, and the form of the Church then, as now, was twin aisle. The beautifully carved oak bench ends (date around 1530) were also retained.
Both the old and the newer parts of the Church are in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles. In the rebuilding of the Twin Aisle, Chancel and Porch, local building stone was supplemented by re-using material from the old Church. The ringing chamber with its handsome oak front was built in the 1990’s. The Church has 6 bells with a tenor of 7 hundredweight.