All Saints Church, Billesley

The church is constructed in blue lias stone, and it has a tiled roof.[1] Its architectural style is Georgian.[2] The plan consists of a two-bay nave with an apse at the east end, a west porch and a south transept, which was initially a family pew and was later used as a vestry. At the west end is a bellcote. The apse contains a round-headed window, and there are two similar windows on both the north and south sides. Between the windows on the north is a blocked doorway, and on the south side the windows flank the transept. The transept has a gable decorated with urns and a finial, and it contains an oculus. At the west end the porch is also gabled, and this carries an urn finial and a ball finial. Above the porch is a smaller round-headed window. The bellcote is louvred and has a cornice, an ogival cupola, and a weathervane.[1]

The interior of the church contains some re-used 12th-century masonry. In the transept is a fireplace with a bolection-moulded surround. There is a gallery at the west end. On the north side of the church are stalls, on the south side is a priest's desk and pews, and at the west end are box pews. The octagonal font is simple in design. In the transept are two pieces of carved stone. One is a tympanum dating from about 1140 that depicts a man being attacked by a snake and a dragon, and being defended by a dove.[1] The other stone is carved on three sides. It dates from about 1150 and it contains a figure of Christ holding a cross shaft. It is probably part of a Harrowing of Hell.[1][3] The single bell was cast in 1721 by Richard Sanders. When the church was active in 1945, its communion plate included a cup and cover dated 1634, and an alms plate inscribed 1700.[3] Investigators looking through the church floor have found a crypt and have seen inside two sarcophagi and a chest; the crypt has not been opened in recent history but plans are underway to open it in 2011 as part of an inspection of the state of the church floor.[5]