History of All Saints Church, Edmonton, North London
A Very Brief History Of All Saints
A church has existed on the present site since at least the early 12th century. In 1136, the Lord of the Manor (Geoffrey de Mandeville) gave the church as an endowment to the Abbey which he founded at Walden in Essex.
The earliest recorded Vicar so far discovered is William the Priest whose name occurs in a document dating from about 1190, but the roll of Vicars in the church is headed by John at Green, 1335.
Fragments of the South Door of the Norman church can now be seen in the West wall of the present church. However, rebuilding of the church in the late fifteenth century obliterated almost all traces of the earlier building. Surviving medieval features of the church include the chancel, the nave, the north aisle, the vestry and the tower.
In the late eighteenth century the church building was encased in brick, and galleries were erected at the West end, and in the North aisle. The galleries were removed in the late nineteenth century, and the South aisle was added.
The writers, Charles and Mary Lamb (authors of Tales from Shakespeare), are buried in the churchyard of All Saints, and there is a memorial to Charles Lamb and to the poet William Cowper inside the church.
The eight bells in the tower weigh from 5 to 15 hundredweights. Five of them date back to the 1700s, one to 1866, and two to 1959.
A booklet giving more details about the history of All Saints, and featuring colour photographs is available for sale in the church library. However, when time permits, we are aiming to expand this part of the website as there is lots of historical interest in the church.