stained glass windows and other embellishments were installed. The windows depict some of the Christian
Church's most famous saints and one or two not so famous.

All Saints, Calverton, owes much to Father Perceval. He was a devout High Churchman being a supporter
of the Tractarians - men who were concerned with the decline in Church standards of teaching and worship.
Much of the decoration in the Church, particularly in the chancel, owes its origins and ideas to the great
movement of Church renewal and its supporter in Calverton, the Revd. Charles George Percevel.

The Rectory at this time was also built by Lord Arden for his son and is today Calverton Place, a fine
example of Georgian architecture. It was here in the Rectory during the period of the Tractarians that some
of its leaders would meet. Men such as Dr. Pusey from Oxford, and John Henry Newman with Edward
Manning were visitors to Calverton. Newman and Manning were later made Cardinals in the Roman Catholic
Church, after leaving the Church of England. It is known that some of the “Tracts for the Times” were
planned if not written at Calverton.

An autobiographical note by the Rector, Fr Charles George Perceval, appears in his own handwriting on the
fly-leaf of the Parish Register for 1812-1866. It runs as follows:

“I, Charles George Perceval, 3rd surviving son or Lord Arden came to reside here as
Rector of Calverton on the 26th of March 1821. Aged 24 years and 3 months - being
born on Christmas Day 1796. I succeeded Dr. Butler to whom it was given by my father
in 1814 to hold till I was of a proper age. My father purchased the living from Lord Salisbury.

The new Church was built principally at my father's expense - Dr. Butler handsomely
contributed £500. The new Rectory house and etc was built entirely at my father's expense.

The church was opened in October 1818.

The foundations of the house laid in July 1819.”

A portrait of this worthy Rector can be seen under the lower in the West End of the Church. It was given to
commemorate the centenary of his death in 1958.

Sir John Betjemen the Poet Laureate, has written of All Saints, Calverton, that “it is a stately piece of
Victorian re-building (though original Georgian construction) with a solid Norman revival tower, the rest
being sumptuously mid-Victorian consisting of rich carving in stone and wood. The Tractarian chancel
has a carved and gilt reredos seen through a forest of candles”.

There is a west tower with a large door leading into the nave, used primarily for ceremonial occasions.
Entry into the Church is by way of the porch on the south side and this leads into the south aisle. Walking
east (that is to the right) down this south aisle one comes to the newly restored Baptistery. The font had
previously been moved sometime before to west-end of the nave under the tower. Before being restored
as a Baptistery the south aisle had been used as a children's chapel, although there is record of it ever
having an altar. In the baptistery there is an excellent stained glass window illustrating Our Lord's Nativity



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