All Saints Church, Leicester

All Saints’ Church stands in High Cross Street, Leicester, a redundant Anglican church now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust. Once at the heart of the city, it was one of six churches recorded in the Domesday Book. In 1143 it passed to Leicester Abbey, and by 1300 aisles were added to the original structure. The tower and nave were raised in the 15th century, and the church served both sacred and civic purposes. Margery Kempe was tried here for Lollardy in 1418, and in 1583 the assizes were held during plague outbreaks. The church’s fabric has been shaped by successive restorations. In the early 19th century the chancel was rebuilt, and Henry Goddard added seating and extended the gallery in 1843. Joseph Goddard and Alfred Paget restored the nave roof and added new windows between 1874 and 1876. William Basset-Smith repaired the tower in 1894–95, but by the 1960s a new road system isolated the building. Services ended in 1982, and after a period as a store the church suffered a fire in 2020. Inside, the nave has six-bay arcades on octagonal piers, and the chancel arch is blocked. Medieval tiles and grave slabs remain in the floor, while the 13th-century font is richly carved. The 15th-century pulpit stands on a later base, and the 17th-century clock has faces on both sides of the south doorway. Stained glass includes medieval fragments and work by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, with a war memorial window by Morris & Co. In the churchyard lies the table tomb of Gabriel Newton, a local politician who died in 1762.