A Brief History and Tour of All Saints, Calverton

The Church in Calverton first appears in the local records in the year 1068, two years after the Battle of
Hastings and the Norman Conquest by William the Conqueror. The date of 1068 would indicate that it is
one of the oldest Church foundations in Buckinghamshire, if not the oldest!.

The first Rector of the Parish of Calverton, which was dedicated to All Hallows -a medieval title for All
Saints - was Richard, whose name appears at the heed of the list of Rectors on the south wall inside the
Church.  Although the year 1068 is an official record of the Christian Church's more definite structure in
the area, the actual Christian presence goes back, of course, much further: in fact to some time between
AD600 and AD700.

We know this because during the time a missionary named Birinus came to this part of the country
converting the pagan West Saxon people, our forebears in this area. In fact Birinus found the people
here so pagan that he decided to settle among his converts and preach the gospel by permanently living
with them. This meant that Christianity in the area of Buckinghamshire, and South into Oxfordshire and
Berkshire became well established. Birinus was a great missionary and organiser who became the first
Bishop of Dorchester caring for the people he converted and loved. It is to Birinus that we owe the system
of parish organisation in this area and it is more than reasonable to suppose that the Parish of Calverton
was established at this time.

Unfortunately we do not really know what the Church building looked like before the eleventh or twelfth
century when Richard became Rector, but we can conjecture that it would have been built of wood or
“wattle and daub” and very simply consisting of a nave (with no seats or pews!) and a chancel to house
the altar.

The “old” Church of All Hallows, Calverton (there are pictures of it in the present “new” Church) was of a
style built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This consisted of a nave, a chancel and a south aisle with
an entrance porch. This “old” church was replaced by the present “new” Church in 1818 when, it would
seem, the tower of the medieval building collapsed!

Building of the present Church, All Saints, took place virtually upon the same foundations as the previous
one of All Hallows. Its design and financial support were through the generosity of the Patron of the living,
Lord Arden, assisted by the temporary Rector, Dr. Butler. The son of Lord Arden - the Hon. and Revd.
Charles George Perceval succeeded Dr. Butler in 1821 and during his incumbency as rector here the



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