All Saints' Church, Cotgrave

All Saints’ Church stands in the centre of Cotgrave, a village south of Nottingham. Built in the 12th century, it is a Grade I listed parish church belonging to the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. The building was restored twice, once in the 19th century by Evans and Jolley and again after an arson attack in 1996. During the 17th-century plague outbreak the church served as a food store, and a hollowed-out stone filled with vinegar still survives from that time. The church’s eight bells were mostly cast by John Taylor & Co, and ringers practise every Friday and Sunday. The church’s clock, installed in 1865 by Reuben Bosworth, was an elaborate mechanism with brass wheels, a 10.5-metre pendulum and 5-cwt weights. It cost £135, raised by public subscription, and originally used bells from the tower for chimes and strikes. In 1977 John Smith and Sons of Derby fitted an electrically driven chime and automatic winding. The clock was restored again in 2006, and its dial repainted and gilded the following year. Inside, visitors find the hollowed stone used during the plague, still in place near the entrance. The tower houses the eight bells, rung regularly by a local team. The restored clock, with its large dial and brass works, remains a focal point of the nave. The church’s medieval fabric and later additions create a quiet space for reflection beside the village’s main street.