All Saints' Church, Jesus Lane
A Bodley-designed Victorian church opposite Jesus College, cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust and known as the Painted Church.
All Saints' stands on Jesus Lane, facing the gates of Jesus College. G. F. Bodley designed it, and its stone spire is a landmark from some distance. The Churches Conservation Trust describes the interior as "a dramatic blast of colour and pattern", with stained glass by leading Arts and Crafts artists, William Morris among them.
A church that moved
The parish's earlier church stood on St John's Street and went by the name All Saints in the Jewry. By the 19th century it could hold fewer than 400 of a parish population of about 1,400, so Jesus College gave land on Jesus Lane for a replacement. The foundation stone of the new church was set on 27 May 1863, and consecration followed on 30 November 1864. The tower and spire were added in 1869-71, modelled on St Oswald's in Ashbourne. The old church was pulled down in 1865, and its former churchyard is now All Saints' Garden.
Redundancy and revival
As the parish shrank, services ceased in July 1973. The building lay empty and deteriorated until plans to demolish part of it were dropped in 1981, when it passed to the Churches Conservation Trust. A regular events programme, including monthly music, was launched from 2021, and the church is available for hire.
Practical notes
The Trust lists the church as open for a regular programme of events rather than for fixed daily hours, so check the church's own pages before you go. The north door is reached by a short paved path and has a very small step. There is no running water, and the capacity for hired events is 230. The spire is about 175 feet high and is reckoned to have been the tallest building in the city when it was built.
Nearby
Within a few minutes' walk
