All Saints Church in Aston - The Interior

A view along the nave

I first visited All Saints church in Aston-cum-Aughton on Good Friday, to take advantage of a sunny day in spring – as part of my exploration of the mediaeval churches on the No. 74 bus route from Treeton to Harthill. Not knowing that there was a service on at the time of my visit, I had a quick walk around its exterior and, seeing that it's door was open, I poked my nose through the door and was interested to see that the arcades were built with Magnesian Limestone and Rotherham Red sandstone.

The south door

I had to wait until the Heritage Open Days event before I could take a good look at its interior and, when entering the porch, the construction detail above the simple Decorated Gothic style door arch is very unusual. There were also many other visitors going in and I only took a couple of photo before I entered the south aisle, but the building stones here need further investigation. 

The south arcade

The arcades, with their round arches and alternating circular and octagonal section columns, are considered to be from the late 12th century, but their chamfered arches and capitals – including a broad pointed arch at its east end – indicate that there is a transition between the Norman and Early English Gothic styles of architecture. This is also seen in the chancel arch, which has similarities in its details with St. Helen's church in Treeton.

The chancel arch

Although I had brought my tripod with me, which I had managed to use when taking a few photographs of the font in Thorpe Salvin's mediaeval church during its Garden Trail weekend, there were far too many people of all ages exploring every nook and cranny here for me even to think about using it to photograph the magnificent font.

A few views of the font

Instead, I left the bulk of my photographic equipment under a pew and took a few quick snaps of various fine memorials and monuments, as well as taking a closer look at some of the details of the stonework to the arches and arcades.

A fragment of painted lime plaster