History

The ancient parish church of Edmonton. The entry in Pevsner’s Buildings of England records that a church existed here by 1136-43 when Geoffrey de Mandeville, lord of the Edmonton manor, granted the living to Walden Abbey. Fragments of the south door of the Norman church at the west end of the south aisle, displaying ‘dogtooth’ and ‘chevron’ decoration, suggest that the Romanesque building, albeit modest in size, was an impressive structure. It probably replaced a pre-Conquest Saxon foundation on the site.

All Saints, like most English parish churches, is the product of one age superimposed on an earlier one. The major 15th century re-building has been much altered and extended through the succeeding centuries.

Externally, the ragstone tower, typically of four sections, and now beautifully restored, provides the most impressive view of the church. Other key external elements include late Medieval chequer work masonry above the east windows, a Georgian brick-faced north aisle and late Victorian stone-faced south aisle, indicating a complex but fascinating building history.

Inside the church, visitors might recognise the eclectic style characteristic of the architect Ewan Christian in the mid-nineteenth century restoration of the east end and chancel. The lady chapel, originally the organ chamber, was designed by Christian’s former assistant, W.G. Scott.

The roofs internally are of particular note; vestry and nave fifteenth century, north chapel sixteenth century, north aisle seventeenth century, chancel Victorian for the most part, and south aisle nineteenth. Of especial interest on the north aisle roof is the oak corbel carved with the date ‘1626’ to denote the date of its restoration.

Charles and Mary Lamb

Charles and Mary Lamb are buried together in the churchyard. During their lifetimes, Charles and Mary were a central part of a literary circle which included such figures as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William and Dorothy Wordsworth and William Hazlitt. They were the authors of essays, poems and plays. Their most enduring literary legacy is their ‘Tales from Shakespeare‘, prose versions of some of Shakespeare‘s plays written especially for children.