The ecclesiastical parish of All Saints, Higher Walton, was formed in 1865 out of the parish of St Leonard, Walton-le-Dale. The church, standing on an eminence overlooking the village, was erected in 1861–2 from the designs of the
Lancaster architect
E. G. Paley at a cost of £6,000 (equivalent to £750,000 in 2023).[3][4] It provided seating for 604 people.[5] The site was given by Miles Rodgett, and several stained glass windows in the church are erected to the memory of members of the Rodgett family.[6] Paley donated a stained glass window depicting the healing of the sick man.[5] The steeple was added in 1871 by the partnership of
Paley and Austin.[3]
Architecture
Exterior
All Saints is constructed in rock-faced stone, and it has
slated steeply-pitched roofs. The architectural style is
Early English. Its plan consists of a
nave and a
chancel in one range, a south
aisle with a porch, a north
transept and
sacristy. The chancel ends in a three-sided
apse. At the west end is a tower with diagonal
buttresses, a north stair
turret, and a
broach spire. On the west side of the tower is a three-light window, and in the upper part is a two-light bell opening on each side. The spire has a clock face under a
gablet on each
cardinal side.[2] At the east end of the aisle is a
wheel window.[3] The other windows have two lights.[2]
Interior
Inside the church is an
arcade of three short
piers with
capitals carved with different foliage designs. On the chancel walls are painted geometrical patterns, and on the ceiling are painted panels.[2] The stained glass in the north transept dates from 1877 and is by
Lavers, Barraud and Westlake. Elsewhere there is 20th-century stained glass by
Shrigley and Hunt.[3] The two-
manual organ was built in 1873 by W. E. Richardson of
Preston, and overhauled by the same firm in 1909. It was restored by
Peter Collins in 2003–04.[7] There is a
ring of eight bells, all cast by
John Taylor & Co between 1871 and 1928.[8]
^
abBrandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon:
English Heritage, p. 219,
ISBN978-1-84802-049-8