By Roger Packham and Peter Connelly
Church Road links the village to the church, and this was laid out in 1907, replacing the footpath across the fields that had been in use for many centuries. To the right of the church, Church Lane leads off to the sports ground, the home of Warlingham Cricket Club from 1919 – the photo probably dates to the 1930’s.
Back to the church, and the current building dates from the mid-13th century, however there is documentary evidence to suggest earlier churches on the site as far back as the late 11th century. The mid-13th century building was quite small and simple, 17m long by 5.8m wide, with walls around 80cm in thickness built of flint and firestone. In the 14th and 15th centuries new traceried windows were added, together with the font and a wall painting of Christ.
There is a tradition that Archbishop Thomas Cranmer visited Warlingham All Saints’ to witness the first reading of the English Book of Common Prayer here in 1549, and although there is a stained glass window in the church showing Cranmer presenting his book to the King, no firm evidence exists to confirm the story.
In the 18th century a wooden gallery was added at the west end, and box pews introduced.
The 1823 drawing above shows the Church and Churchyard looking quite neglected and by the mid 19th century the church needed urgent repairs. A vestry was added in 1857, and the box pews removed. Further work was undertaken in the 1860’s, but by the 1890’s further repairs were needed. With the population growth in the village, it was also felt the church was now too small, as it could only seat just over one hundred worshippers. So in 1893 work commenced to repair the church, and enlarge the church to accommodate more worshippers. During the building work, several previously hidden earlier features were discovered, including piscinas, a sedile, scaffolding holes from when the church was originally built, and evidence of subsidiary altars in the nave. The work was largely finished by the following year, with the south aisle added, the floor lowered, roofs repaired or replaced, the font restored and a new vestry added.
The photo below shows the interior of the church in 1912, showing the appearance following the 1893 removal of the west wall and the greater part of the south nave wall. The alterations also extended the nave by 27 feet to the west and a new bell turret was constructed. The architectural historian Pevsner considered that the alterations effectively removed the village character.
Further work was needed in later years, with electric lighting being added in 1934 and more restoration in the early 1950’s to the roof, replacement of the organ, removal of the gallery and moving the choir stalls to the nave. This 1957 photo below shows the works being planned.
