All Saints Church, Findern

Findern was a chapelry under the mother church of Mickleover. It now has a distinct parish of its own.

The medieval chapel, which was dedicated to All Saints, was completely swept away in 1862. Its dimensions, according to measurements taken in 1818, were: nave 50 ft 5 ins by 17 ft 9 ins and chancel 26 ft 2 ins by 14 ft 1 in. The building consisted of a nave and chancel and a square wooden bell turret over the west gable. There was a porch on the south side of the nave and a plain round-headed priest’s doorway on the south side of the chancel, although that had been blocked up. A drawing of about 1820 shows windows of probable mid-17th century date. A board within the chancel stated that the building had been ‘Beautifyed in the year of our Lord 1796’. In the north chancel wall was a small single-light window with an angular head which must have been there when the chapel was given by William the Conqueror to Burton Abbey, for it was of Saxon date. At the west end was a Norman corbel-table. A recessed founder’s arch was found in the north wall of the chancel when the old fabric was being pulled down. The Norman tympanum over the south doorway has been built into the interior wall of the north aisle of the new church.

The Chapel of All Saints, Findern, was demolished in 1862. It is said to have been given by William to Burton Abbey and to have been of Saxon date. The new church, built in 1863, incorporates a Norman tympanum. It is not known why replacement of the church in the 1860s entailed the total demolition of the Norman building. Comparison of contemporary maps (OS 1836 versus OS 1896) does not suggest an increase in population, so the cause may have been deterioration of the fabric. The church appears to have been built on ground deliberately raised by the dumping of gravel.

A bell in All Saint’s Church, Findern is of historical significance. As to date, the 1704 bell is the oldest bell made by founder D Hedderly of Lincoln.