All Saints Church, Runcorn

A church has stood on the site of the present structure for centuries. There is a tradition that the first church was founded in 915 by Ethelfleda when she built a castle nearby. By December of that year architectural reports had been obtained from the architectural firm of Scott and Moffatt, and from Anthony Salvin, both of which concluded that the church was beyond repair. In September 1846 the last sermon was preached from the medieval church, and by November contracts for building a new church were completed. The new church was designed by Salvin. Its foundation stone was laid at Easter 1847 by Richard Brooke, the eldest son of Sir Richard Brooke of Norton Priory, and the church was…

The church is built of Runcorn sandstone with a slate roof, and is in Early English style. Its plan consists of a nave of five bays with north and south aisles and a clerestory, a chancel that is lower and narrower than the nave, and a steeple at the southwest corner. The steeple consists of a square tower with an octagonal spire rising to 161 ft. The steeple has corner buttresses, large louvred lancets at the bell-stage, and two tiers of lucarnes springing from the base of the tower and from the broach. At the corners of the nave and the chancel are buttresses that rise up as spirelets. On the gables of the chancel and the nave are cross finials and pinnacles. There is an organ chamber at…

The church is an active parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the deanery of Frodsham. Its benefice is combined with that of Holy Trinity, Runcorn to form the benefice of Runcorn All Saints with Holy Trinity. The historic patron of the church is Christ Church, Oxford. All Saints conducts services on alternate Sundays, together with baptisms, thanksgivings, weddings and funerals.