Church of All Saints

All Saints Church stands in Wyke Regis, a short walk from Weymouth’s seafront. Built mainly of Portland stone, the church dates from the mid-15th century and still shows the same design recorded by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. A Grade I listed building since 1953, it was first mentioned on this site in 1172 and completed in 1455. The tower once guided sailing ships past Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland. Nearby is the Wyke Regis War Memorial, raised in 1919. The churchyard holds unmarked graves of about eighty people lost when the Earl of Abergavenny sank in 1805, including Captain John Wordsworth, brother of William Wordsworth. Bodies from the Alexander, wrecked in 1815, rest there too. In 1859 new pews, a pulpit and reading desk were installed, the gallery removed and the organ moved under the tower. The work cost £500, mostly raised by March that year. A lych gate was added in 1896, designed by George Fellowes Prynne and built by Mr J. Bishop. Inside, the 15th-century structure remains clear despite later changes. The tower platform now holds the organ, and the pews installed in 1859 still guide worshippers. Outside, the churchyard overlooks the modern cemetery and Wyke Road. The view east takes in Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland. The war memorial opposite marks the First World War losses.