The present Church was started about c1280 but Archaeologists have found an earlier church of c1172 under it, probably the church that superseded the Saxon Church.
The next big event was when the Castle was under siege 1644/48 when the Royalists held the church and the Parliamentarians turned their cannons on it, resulting in its present ruinous state. It stayed a mortuary Chapel until 1836 when the Church transepts were reordered and it started to be used again as a Church. An extension to the Nave was added 1966/67.
There are 8 bells in the tower and the church features a very rare double helix stairway up and down the tower.
In 1999 a cannon ball fell out of the North Wall. From being shot it had only taken 360 years to finally reach the ground!
The area of All Saints is rich in Churches. Near its gate is the footprint of the Saxon Church, and 150 yards away in the castle grounds is the remains of the 12th Century Norman Church of St Clements along with the remains of the 16th Century Elizabethan Chapel.
A further 100 yards to the North is the remains of the Cluniac Priory of St John c1090 – 1539. Archbishop Thurston of York was buried next to the high Altar in 1141. Also buried there was Thomas Earl of Lancaster.