Kilham, All Saints

Kilham Church, Image copyright Richard Zerny

Kilham, All Saints

ALL SAINTS CHURCH, KILHAM
To summarize the history of the building, All Saints is an early 12th century Norman church, represented by the nave and the south doorway. The chancel was completely rebuilt and enlarged at the end of the 13th century.

A substantial west tower was erected in the 15th century, probably replacing an older and smaller structure. It is believed that the font is another Norman feature.

The south porch probably dates from late 16th century, originally constructed in stone but it has been extensively patched with brick on the outside.

In 1865/66 the nave and chancel were re-roofed with slates, probably replacing lead sheets. The railway age had made slates available cheaply, and the high cost of lead no doubt made a useful contribution to the cost.

During the 1820’s all the old small Norman windows were either replaced by larger windows or filled in, to the detriment of the building’s appearance in the opinion of certain assiduous antiquarians and students of British church architecture! The church stands in an elevated piece of land in the centre of the village.

The west tower houses six bells, which are rung frequently.

Their details are as follows… Bell Founder Date Weight
Treble John Taylor, Loughborough 1998 5 - 3 - 3
2 John Taylor, Loughborough 1998 7 - 0 - 14
3 John Taylor, Loughborough 1998 8 - 2 – 10
4 William Oldfield, York 1608 10 - 0 – 0
5 Samuel Smith I, York 1663 11 - 2 – 8
Tenor William Oldfield, York 1608 14 - 3 – 6

The three original bells were re-hung lower in the tower with all new fittings in a locally made steel frame for 6 bells and were augmented to 4 with a bell given by the Beverley and District Ringing Society in 1996 to commemorate their 50th anniversary. The 4 were then augmented to 6 in 1998 as a “Ringing-in-the-Millennium” project.

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