All Saints Church, Leicester

All Saints' Church, located on High Cross Street in Leicester, is a redundant Anglican church of significant historical and architectural value. Listed as a Grade I building on the National Heritage List for England, it is now under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Although the church is currently situated away from Leicester's modern city center, it was originally a focal point of the medieval town.

Historical records suggest that All Saints was one of six churches mentioned in the Domesday Book. It was granted to Leicester Abbey in 1143, and around 1300, it was expanded with the addition of aisles. Throughout the 14th century, further modifications included raising the tower and nave and the construction of new aisle roofs. The church has served not only religious but also secular functions, notably hosting the trial of Margery Kempe for Lollardy in 1418 and accommodating legal proceedings during the 1583 plague outbreak.

All Saints’ Church combines Norman, Decorated, and Geometrical styles. Built of stone with slate roofs, its layout includes a six-bay nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, a lower-roof chancel, and a northeast tower. The west front features a Norman-style arched doorway with chevrons, a five-light nave window, and four-light aisle windows. Buttresses support the aisles, and plain parapets top the structure. A 17th-century gabled wooden bellcote above the south doorway houses a clock with mechanical figures and a Father Time inscription.

Inside, the nave features six-bay arcades on octagonal piers, with a blocked chancel arch. The flooring includes medieval tiles, grave slabs, parquet, and concrete. Notable elements include a 13th-century carved font, a 15th-century polygonal pulpit on a 19th-century base, and medieval stained glass in the west tower window. Additional stained glass from the late 19th and early 20th centuries includes works by Heaton, Butler & Bayne, Clayton & Bell, and a war memorial window by Morris & Company.

The church remains a remarkable relic of Leicester’s ecclesiastical and civic history, preserving centuries of architectural evolution and cultural significance.