All Saints Church is a Church of England church of 15th-century origin in Wyke Regis, Weymouth, Dorset, England. Built largely of Portland stone, the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England have described the church as a "remarkably consistent and unchanged 15th-century design". It has been a Grade I listed building since 1953. Facing Wyke Road from the modern cemetery opposite the church is the Wyke Regis War Memorial, erected in 1919.

History

The present All Saints Church dates to the mid-15th-century, however a church has been recorded on the same site as early as 1172. The present building was completed in 1455 and re-consecrated on 19 October that year. All Saints was the original parish church of Weymouth until the 19th century, when other churches were built to meet the growing population, including Holy Trinity Church, overlooking Weymouth Town Bridge, St Paul's Church in Westham and St Edmund's Church in Lanehouse.

Overlooking the Isle of Portland and Chesil Beach, the tower of the church was a prominent landmark for vessels during the age of sail. Within the churchyard are the unmarked graves of around eighty who died on board the Earl of Abergavenny, including the captain John Wordsworth, brother of the poet William Wordsworth. The ship sank in Weymouth Bay in 1805 after striking the Shambles Sandbank off of the Isle of Portland. Bodies recovered from the merchant vessel Alexander, wrecked in 1815, are also buried in the churchyard.

The church was reseated with new pews in 1859. Other improvements included the installation of a new pulpit and reading desk, and the removal of the church's gallery, which involved moving the organ to a platform under the tower. The work cost an estimated £500, £460 of which had already been raised by March 1859, when the plans were approved by the Weymouth vestry. The church reopened on 11 December 1859, with the morning sermon being preached by the Bishop of Salisbury, the Right Rev. Walter Kerr Hamilton, and the afternoon sermon preached by the rector, Rev. H. C. Pigon. A lych gate was added to the churchyard in 1896. It was erected by the builder Mr. J. Bishop to the designs of George Fellowes Prynne.

Bells All Saints Church has the following bells:

BellDiameterWeightNoteInscriptionTrebleFJohn G. and Emma Rowe Thanksgiving (1891)2EIn loving memory of Mabel Vincent of Faircross (1891)3DPeace be within thy walls (1891)4CBless ye the Lord, praise him, and magnify him for ever (1891)5B♭Give thanks to God (1891)6AThe women of Wyke gave me (1891)7GGiven by the Revd Fredrick Tufnell MA. In memory of his wife, Margaret Tufnell who died 1888. Oye spirits and souls of the righteous bless ye the Lord, Praise him and magnify him for ever (1891)TenorFLord, may this bell for ever be a tuneful voice o'er land and sea, to call thy people unto thee. (1891)

Incumbents of Wyke Regis The incumbents of Wyke Regis were:

Nicholas Lungspee – 1263 William Harvey – 1299 Simon de Migham – 1302 Simon de Stopham – 1307 William de Winterborn – 1314 Simon de Moenes – 1316 Uricus de Rupis – 1316 William Archer – 1324 Welter de Shryeborn – date unknown William Stanton – 1349 Henry Chelford – 1408 Thomas Wassayl – 1445 Thomas Hall – 1450 William Stoke – 1453 William Gifford – 1467 Edmund Hampden – 1469 John Baker – 1476 Henry Sutten – 1480 Henry Sutton M.D – 1495 Benedict Dodyn – 1497 William Bower – 1519 Williams Medow – 1531 Thomas Watson – 1545 Thomas Haywood – 1553 John Sprint – 1574 William Garth – 1576 Nicholas Jeffries – 1584 Eleazer Duncomb – 1631 Edward Quarles – 1631

Humphrey Henchman – 1640 Henry Way – 1643 Edward Buckler – 1650 Edward Butler – 1652 Edward Damer – date unknown Thomas Clendon – 1662 Richard Drake – 1667 Robert Wishart – 1681 William Hunt (was also vicar of Whitchurch Canonicorum) – 1689 William Rayner – 1720 Abraham Davis – 1730 Michael Festin – 1753 John Cutting – 1765 Samuel Payne – 1792 Samuel Byam – 1802 George Chamberlaine – 1809 John Menzies – 1837 John Thomas – 1847 John Hill – 1851 Henry Pigou – 1855 Richard England – 1882 Sidney Edmund Davies – 1899 Edward B Thurston – 1918 Ernest Pratt – 1942 Philip Rigby Rounds – 1967 to 1989 Keith Hugo – 1989 to 2006 Deborah Smith – April 2007 to 18 September 2018 Alasdair Kay – 25 September 2019 to 4 June 2023 John MacKenzie – from 17 October 2023

References

External links

The Parish of Wyke Regis website