All Saints Church
The Construction of All Saints’ Church began in 1893.
It was due to the generosity of Mr William Waldy of Worsall Hall, who granted a site, and Mr & Mrs Temple of Saltergill who provided funding for the building, the energy and enthusiasm of the Rev. H.O.Crow and the Church Wardens. The Rev. Crow is indeed our first recorded Incumbent.
The design was by Architects Armfield and Mossop of Darlington.
The Main Contractor was Dougal of Darlington. The masonry work was placed with Mr Tutin and the woodwork with Mr Stanger, both local craftsmen.
Construction of the building commenced in 1893 and the foundation stone was laid by the Rev. H. O. Crow on August 10th of thay year.
The nave portion of the church was consecrated by the Archbishop of York on 27th July 1894, and by September 1896 construction of the chancel had progressed to eaves level.
The church has two internal memorial plaques, one to the memory of William Garmondsay Waldy of Worsall Hall, who died of fever in Georgetown, British Guyana, in 1901, aged 29 years, and the other is to the memory of Robert Bertram Holt of East (or Low) Worsall, who died in action in 1916, aged 20 years.
The Organ
The Organ was built by William Hill in 1900, a classical builder who built many organs particularly for cathedrals and town halls such as the organ in Middlesbrough Town Hall.
The Organ in All Saints’ is quite small with two manuals, pedals and eight stops. It had a major overhaul in 1973 but remains exactly as it was built. The organ is maintained by Harrison and Harrison of Durham.
The Serpent
This Serpent musical instrument is to be found in York Castle Museum (ref. YORCM : DA689).
Once played in All Saints Church it was donated to the museum in 1937.
The local folklaw is that it was originally used in St Johns Church but clearly this was not so as by the dates it could not have been associated with St Johns.
The description from the 1937 ledger reads:
'Serpent. No maker's name.
Stays between crooks of brass, each with 2 globular mouldings.
Mouthpiece not complete.
Brass binding at end not very broad.
3 brass keys. 6 holes, - 4 ivory-ringed, 1 brass, 1 with no ring.'
Dimensions of the serpent are: height 86cm, width 43cm, depth 11.8cm
This provenance note is in the original museum ledger:
'In a letter T. W. Campbell of Catterick Bridge Shop says:
"the serpent was played in Worsall church near Yarm.
I understand that it was used by the late organist and also by his father before him.
The son is very old and decrepid."
[ Cf. the Somerset Militia Serpent Connoisseur XLV No 180 pp226-7.' ]
It was clearly owned by the family.
The Pulpit and Font
The Stained Glass Windows.
There are a number of decorated windows all designed, made and installed
by Ann Sotheran of Fulford, York.
The East Window is the outstanding feature of All Saints Church.
With it's text, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net”, (Mathew 14:47), it depicts Christ as a Fisher of Men and the Villages of High and Low Worsall in a bend of the River Tees, with some of the local animal and plant life.
The window was a gift of the Parish Community to mark the centenary of the Church in 1994 and was installed in 1995.
Children are challenged to count the number of 'Daddy Long Legs'.
The creation of the window is down to Ann Sotheran, of York, who both designed, fabricated and installed it all.
Her own detailed explanation of the design is here.
There are three further stained glass windows on the South side of the Nave installed at the same time as the East Window.
The Evans window to the left incorporates the text,
"In happy memory of Major H.K.D. Evans and Nancy Evans of Worsall Hall 1930-1993" and
recalls Major Evans’ military service as an officer in the 4th Queen’s Own Hussars, Mrs Evans’ interest in carpentry and beekeeping and their joint interest in hunting and fishing.
The other two windows, of similar design, feature excerps from the Psalms.
And later on Three other windows were installed at variuos times
On the north side of the nave ” is a memorial to Dobby Rock 1926-1995. It recalls Dobby’s lifelong membership of the Mothers Union.
The memorial to Peter Rock window, opposite the organ in the chancel, commemorates Peter’s service of thirty-two years as the All Saints Organist.
The window, on the West end and on north side of the nave opposite to the entrance door, marks the Millennium.