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All Saints' Church stands on one of the oldest sites of continuous Christian worship in this country. The exact date of the building of the original church is unknown, but it was certainly standing in the 10th Century. It was then called St Victors', a very rare dedication. St Victor was an African bishop raised to the see of Vita about 477 but was banished in 484 to Sardinia on account of his book against the prevailing doctrine that denied the presence of Christ within the communion bread and wine. He died in Sardinia in 512. His day is 23rd August. There is no record of when the name was changed to All Saints'.
The building is recorded in the Domesday Book at a value of 15 shillings. The only visible link to the Saxon Church is an altar stone in the South Transept which is almost certainly Saxon. There are references in 1900 to 'an exciting discovery under the wooden floor of the South Transept' The stone has been set in the floor upside down and the visible circular depressions would have been to house the stone pillars that supported it. Is it possible the builders in 1900 did not turn the-stone over which should have revealed carved stone crosses indicating its Saxon origin?
During the late 12th Century the church was rebuilt in the Norman Transitional style. It would then have been a small, well proportioned building with a nave of two bays, aisles and an apsidal chancel. The eastern end of the apse would have reached the entrance of the present chancel. The only evidence of the Norman Church visible today, apart from the font, are the two western columns. These are typically round and larger than the others. The northern most column viewed from the east, is considerably out of line and is evidence of the unstable foundation of loose flint and chalk, disturbed by thousands of interments both in and outside the church.
In 1136 the advowson of the church was granted to the de Pistes family by William the Conqueror in 1086. in 1136 the de Pistes transferred the advowson to the Abbey of Lanthony, originally in Wales, but subsequently moved to Gloucester. Evidence of this connection which lasted 400 years, can be found at the south east corner of the churchyard wall where there is a base of a very old churchyard cross which is said to have once stood at the Abbey. It probably stood in the churchyard before being incorporated in the wall, possibly in the 18th Century, maybe earlier.
In the mid 13th Century, a major rebuild took place in the early Gothic style which gives the cruciform shape of the church as it is today. The apse was pulled down and lengthened by one bay eastward, extending the present chancel and creating the transepts. Unusually the transepts are east not west of the chancel arch. Thus the eastern octagonal pillars, only 1 '9" in diameter, each support four arches. This was a bold architectural feat and provides a particularly fine chancel arch. Unfortunately the poor foundations led to many problems over the centuries, particularly with the southern pillar which was in continual danger of collapsing causing great cracks in the arch itself.