With its tall west tower, All Saints’ Church dominates the skyline above Langport. Parts of the church date from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, but most of what we see today dates from the 15th century. The portcullis emblems on the tower pay tribute to Lady Margaret Beaufort, the Lady of the Manor, who paid for much of its construction. The east window displays a particularly fine collection of medieval stained glass. On the outside of the building there are many impressive ‘hunky punks’, grotesque stone carvings unique to Somerset.
Inside and out, there are memorials to many of the town’s most important inhabitants. Several generations of the Stuckey family are recorded, and the window above the west door was installed in memory of Walter Bagehot, the famous economist and journalist, by his widow. The churchyard contains the graves of the Bagehot family, and William Quekett, headmaster of Langport Grammar School for 52 years, amongst others.
The inscriptions on the headstones and memorials in the churchyard were recorded in 1995, and you can read the list below.
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