All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames

All Saints
All Saints Church
All Saints Church from Kingston Market Place, with the memorial gateway to the East Surrey Regiment in the foreground
Coordinates: 51°24′37″N 0°18′22″W / 51.4104°N 0.3061°W / 51.4104; -0.3061
Location	Market Place, Kingston upon Thames
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	AllSaintsKingston
Architecture
Style	Norman, Decorated, Perpendicular
Years built	1120
Administration
Parish	Kingston
Deanery	Kingston
Archdeaconry	Wandsworth
Diocese	Southwark
Clergy
Rector	Jonathan Wilkes
Laity
Director of music	Stephen Westrop
Organist(s)	Matthew O'Malley
Churchwarden(s)	John Dewhurst Liz Deller
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated	30 July 1951
Reference no.	1358437

All Saints Church is the historic parish church of Kingston upon Thames on the edge of London, and is set between the ancient Market Place and the main shopping centre. It forms part of the Diocese of Southwark and with the church of St John, it forms a team of Anglican churches serving residents, businesses, schools and Kingston University. The church is the only Grade I listed building (but not structure) in Kingston.

A church at Kingston sprang up in Saxon times and Egbert, king of Wessex, held his great council at the site in 838. Seven Saxon kings of England, including Athelstan and Ethelred the Unready, were crowned here in the 10th century. The present church was begun in 1120 under the orders of Henry I and has been developed since then. It is a cruciform church with a central tower and a four-bay nave, with Perpendicular clerestory, choir, north and south aisles, transepts and chapels. The exterior is of flint with stone dressings and a parapet of stone battlements.

Edward the Elder was crowned in Kingston in 900 at the Coronation Stone, as was his son Athelstan in 925. In the following years Kingston was the site of the consecrations of Edmund I in 940, Eadred in 946, Eadwig in 955, Edward the Martyr in 975 and, finally, Ethelred, who was crowned by Bishop Oswald of Worcester in 978.

Outside the south door of the present building are some outlines marked by stones, which are all that remain of the Saxon church and chapel of St Mary. The present church was begun in 1120 under the orders of Henry I and has been developed since then. During the 14th century, the Norman nave was widened. The chancel and the chapels of the Holy Trinity to the north and St James to the south were added during the 15th century. The original high wooden spire on top of the tower was struck by lightning and almost entirely destroyed in 1445 and was rebuilt in 1505. In 1600, the church was described at vestry meeting as being "much out of repair and there being a need for a speedy repair of the same in several places ... to prevent further damages and inconvenience." The tower was taken down to the level of the nave and was strengthened and rebuilt in 1708 in brick, with dipped parapet and pineapple ornaments on the corners. The chapel of St. Mary, which stood at the south-east of the church, next to the south chapel of St. James, was pulled down in 1730 after some of the walls fell, killing the sexton.