north doorway. The chancel has a 13th-century piscina. The church was altered in the 14th century and the west tower is Perpendicular Gothic, possibly 15th-century. The building was restored in 1883 and 1885, which involved reroofing, new windows, widening the chancel arch, adding buttresses to the nave and building or rebuilding the south porch. One window has stained glass made by John Piper and Joseph Nuttgens in 1986, in memory of the poet John Betjeman, who lived at the Old Rectory from 1945 to 1951. Piper and Betjeman were friends who worked together on the Shell Guides. The window shows a tree of life flanked by fish on one side and butterflies on the other, intended to symbolise the resurrection. The west tower has a ring of five bells. The foundry at Wokingham cast the third and tenor bells in about 1499. Edward Read of Aldbourne in Wiltshire cast the fourth bell in 1753. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the second bell in 1927 and the treble bell in 1937. All Saints has two Sanctus bells: one cast in about 1599 and the other cast in about 1799. The 1799 Sanctus bell is unringable. All Saints is a Grade I listed building. Economic and social history The village is on a former packhorse route between Hungerford and Oxford via Abingdon-on-Thames. In the 18th century the route was diverted. A continuation of the route is evident near East Hendred. The parish's common lands were inclosed in 1777. In 1848 Samuel Lewis recorded that the major part of the parish was sheep pasture. He noted too the parish population was 204, presumably drawing on the 1841 Census. That is about double the parish's population in the early 21st century. The Old Rectory is a Georgian house built in 1749 of grey brick with red brick dressings. From 1945 to 1951 it was the home of John Betjeman, Poet Laureate. Nearest places References Bibliography External links Civil parishes in Berkshire Villages in Berkshire West Berkshire District