Building record MDR5462 - House adjoining All Saints' Church, Dale Abbey

The church at Dale Abbey is dedicated to All Saints [see SMR 18726]. Under the same roof, and forming part of the same building, is a dwelling house called Church House. This house was rebuilt a few years ago [written in 1895]. The old house is thought to have been formerly used as an inn. There is an upper chamber that extends over the whole building except the chancel, and serves the purpose of a gallery to the church. From the gallery there was formerly a door that led to the old house when it was used as an inn, but this was eventually blocked up. (1) All Saints' Church [SMR 18726] is one of the smallest and oddest of English churches. It is under the same roof as a dwelling house (which was formerly used as an inn). It is in no provable way connected with the abbey [SMR 18713], although it has been suggested that the whole structure was the infirmary and infirmary chapel. (2) The house adjoining All Saints' Church [SMR 18726] at its west end. It is a small, two-storey ashlar house of medieval origin, restored in the 19th century. The importance of the building is largely historical as part of the church. Grade I. (3) A grade I listed parish church [SMR 18726] and attached farmhouse dating to the late 12th, 14th, 15th centuries, 1634 and the mid-19th century. It is built of coursed squared gritstone with gritstone dressings, and has a red brick with pseudo-timber framed upper parts. It has plain tile roofs, with a coped gable to the east. The building is of one and two storeys. The house is to the west and is slightly set back. To the ground floor it has a large two-light casement window. The pseudo-timber framed jettied upper floor has one two-light gabled half dormer. The history of the building is uncertain, but it may have been the infirmary and infirmary chapel of the Abbey [SMR 18713]. See list description for more details. (4) All Saints Church at Dale Abbey is a tiny chapel dating to the 12th century [SMR 18726]. It may have been the infirmary chapel for the Abbey of St Mary [SMR 18713]. It is attached to a domestic dwelling, which was originally the Abbey infirmary, and later a village inn (during which time the bar was used as a vestry). The building is of Norman origin but was altered in 1480. The furnishings are 17th century in date. The house was rebuilt in 1883. (5)