The Church of All Saints’ in the village of Beeby, Leicestershire UK.

Much of what is written here is taken from a guide to All Saints' written by Geoff Brandwood. In the tiny village of Beeby lies All Saints' Church. Pevsner, in his book 'The Buildings of England' wrote: "An unfortunate church. The recessed spire remained a stump in the tower, which starts with an ambitious limestone ashlar facing and continues in ironstone, and the chancel is a thrifty brick affair of 1819..... Fine 13th century south doorway with one order of shafts and a deeply moulded arch...." The most notable feature of the church is the fine Perpendicular west tower. It has three stages with angle buttresses and an impressive plinth which is carried across the west ends of the aisles to make a showy front. The facing is of limestone ashlar whereas most of the rest of the church is built of attractive coloured light brown ironstone. In the top stage are three-light belfry windows with transoms, considerably grander than in most Leicestershire parish churches. The tower carries a plain parapet which once had (or was intended to have) pinnacles at the corners. Perhaps these suffered the same fate as the unfortunate spire - planned but never completed. John Nichols, the Leicestershire historian, recounts the tradition that two brothers were engaged to build the spire but quarelled so that one pushed the other to his death from the scaffolding. Nichols retained a historian's healthy scepticism about this tale, and the truth is that less lurid explanations, like running out of money, are more likely! Much of the south aisle may be 13th century as is suggested by the deeply moulded, but much worn, doorway, and the single-light window towards the east end. The north aisle is probably fractionally later and, unlike the south aisle, has its bays divided up by buttresses. Inside the arcades have typical octagonal piers and capitals. The west end of the church is occupied by the tower which was built within the body of the pre-existing building - a not uncommon procedure when a tower was decided upon but the space to the west of the church was limited. The chancel screen is unusually early, being mid 14th century. It has a plain dado and three arches on either side with hefty reticulated tracery. Well known architect W.D. Caroe, restored the chancel screen in 1893 and added the doors. For the cross above he reused wood from the roof of Rearsby church. Although quite an amount of work was being done in English churches during the early 19th century, most of it was undone again by the Victorians who had very different ideas on how churches were meant to be arranged. At Beeby, however, we are fortunate in that the Georgian changes were not swept away. In 1843 the present glass in the east window was installed. It is signed by Thomas Willement, one of the leaders in the revival of stained glass in early Victorian times. It has Old Testament figures and the whole character of the work in terms of drawing and colouration would not be out of place ten or twenty years later. In the main lights are the Old Testament figures Noah, Daniel, Job, Abraham, Moses and Elijah. In the tracery above are the emblems of the Evangelists. The stonework of this window is unusual for being red sandstone from Warwickshire, a material hardly ever used so far east in Leicestershire. The only monument of note is a white tablet at the east end to Edward Laurence, the Royalist rector of Beeby who died in 1645. The inscription is long and in latin. It was translated 9th September 1938 by A. McKinnon, B.D. Rector of Beeby. Sacred to the memory of Edward Laurence, Priest, Master of Arts, the very Worthy Rector of Beeby, who discharged the duty of a Pastor most deserving imitation, by faithfully feeding his flock, by performing works of Charity toward the poor, by hospitably receiving strangers, by completely rebuilding the Rectory-house which was more than threatening to fall, who also in the late bad and sorrowful days dared to be a good Son of his Mother Church of England by asserting and maintaining against the impious Revolutionists of that time the true and ancient Catholic and Apostolic Faith which he professed, and the duty which he owed to his God and to his King, with unshaken firmness, with the remarkable learning wherewith he was strong, and with practice confirming thereto: by these Revolutionists he was sacrilegiously harassed, robbed, deprived of his liberty and - shame to say - further hardly treated, and contracted a disease which was quickly fatal, and gave up his Soul to his Creator on the 28th of June 1645 A.D., to the greatest sorrow of all, and thereby gained the fame of a distinguished Confessor of the Faith, if not rather of a Martyr. His wife and most distressed widow, Anna, in expression of her sorrow and mourning, erected this Memorial to his loved memory. "The memory of the just is blessed" - Proverbs 10 verse 7. Next to the church, beside the road, is "a well of good water". This was restored by Rev. George Calvert who came to the church in 1818 and remained until 1865. It was again restored in 1953 to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.