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All Saints Church, in the villageSmall rural collection of buildings with a church. of Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire, is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Bedford, the archdeaconry of Bedford and the diocese of St Albans. It is one of the five churches in the beneficeOriginally used in feudal societies to describe a grant of land as a reward for services rendered. In modern usage it refers to a collection of parishes working together under a single incumbent. of Elstow Team Ministry.[1] All Saints is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed buildingStructure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection..[2]
The earliest parts of the church, including the chancelPart of a church containing the altar, used by the officiating clergy., date from the 14th century, although considerably reworked by Sir G. G .Scott in 1870, who installed its hammerbeam roofStructural framework of timbers designed to bridge the space above a room and to provide support for a roof. .[2]
Architecture
All Saints is built in coursed ironstone rubble with ashlarMasonry of squared and finely cut or worked stone, commonly used for the facing of a building. dressings, and has embattled parapets. Fragments of medieval glass have been reset in various windows, and the naveCentral part of a church, used by the laiety. and aisles retain some patches of 15th-century wall paintings.[2]