Church of All Saints, Middleton (EHER 9930)

Parish Church. Mid 12th century, with 13th and 16th century alterations and restored in 19th century. Flint rubble, cement rendered with dressings of Barnack stone and clunch. Red plain tile roof, with timber framed bell turret. Mid 12th century Nave. Mid 12th century south doorway. Mid 12th century chancel, was extended in 13th century.

Monument description derived from merging EHER 8830, 9931, and 28538. Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Walls of flint rubble with cement with dressings of Barnack stone and clunch. Roofs are tiled with timber-framed bell turret. Chancel and nave built about the middle of 12th century, chancel extended perhaps in 13th century. South porch added probably early in 16th century. Features and fittings: mid 12th century chancel arch; south doorway with chevron ornament; 4 13th century windows 14th century east window, 2 other windows and piscina; early 15th century south door and nave roof. Floor slab to James Samson, rector in 1349. Church was restored in 19th century. South porch largely rebuilt, reusing original brick and timber. 19th century windows. <1> - <3> 1991. Watching brief. Watching brief in 1991 of removal of wooden floor of the nave except most of the aisle, which had a tile floor laid onto brick rubble. The removal of the wooden floor also involved digging out loose soil below the timbers. A linear feature of chalk was clearly visible for a length of 5.4m across the west end of the church; this survived to a maximum width of some 70cm and was between 4 -15 cm thick. It was considerably disturbed in the south. An isolated patch of pebbles was present at either end of the chalk strip, apparently lying beneath it. Both chalk and pebble patch were sectioned. The excavation suggested that the area of chalk is part of a chalk floor which was largely dug away when the wooden floor was inserted in the 19th century. The pebble area proved too insubstantial for a posthole. <4> February 2008. Survey. In February 2008 Iain Frearson For Freeland Rees Roberts Architects opened-up a section of the north door in order to clarify some design considerations. The key thing was to establish the clear width of the opening (this meant not only looking at the outer face of the opening, but also checking whether there was a stone 'frame' set back within the reveals - thankfully not in this instance). Behind the outer skin of masonry (and rendered face), the cavity was filled with loose material (broken bricks, a piece of brick pamment, flints, and a couple of dressed stone - possibly from the original door head). The material was put back and the openings made good before the builder left site. <5> See also: <6> <7>