Monument record MDR2708 - Chapel of All Saints (site of), Atlow Lane, Atlow

Atlow was undoubtedly one of the chapels of Bradbourne when that church with all its dependencies was bestowed on the Priory of Dunstable in the year 1205, and it seems probable that a chapel had existed here for about 100 years prior to that date. The old chapel was almost entirely rebuilt about the middle of the 18th century, nothing being left of the old fabric beyond a portion of the foundations and walls. In 1874 a new church was built on a site immediately above that of the former building, which was entirely removed. Prior to its demolition it was visited by Cox, who described it as "a small barn-like building, having an area of forty feet by fifteen. The windows were all square-headed ones of the last century, and there was a gallery at the west end, entered by a flight of exterior steps. There was a plain unassuming porch, in the east side of which was a window that may have been used in the older building. The oldest and best part of the masonry was at the west end, which was supported by a central buttress of three stages. In the interior of the church, against the south wall of the chancel, about three feet from the ground, a small stone bracket projected a few inches, which was hollow in the top and may have served for a piscina, though we did not observe any trace of a drain. In the east wall close adjoining was a small recess about a foot square. The roof was flat, with a plastered ceiling, though three of the old tie-beams, roughly curved, showed below. The font was modern." (1) A building is shown in this area on the Tithe Map of 1839, and is presumably the chapel. (2)