All Saints, Pittville is one of only two parishes in the Diocese of Gloucester within the traditionalist Catholic tradition of the Church of England. The Anglo-Catholic movement emphasizes the Catholic rather than the Protestant heritage of the Church of England, and emerged as a result of the 19th-century Oxford Movement which sought to renew Catholic thought and practice in the Church of England. In this sense, All Saints is closely linked to the Oxford Movement and the development of Tractarianism – a doctrinal system held by a group of Anglican priests (among them St John Henry Newman and John Keble) who led the Oxford Movement, intending to revive the Catholic tradition of the Church of England. The name was derived from the widely circulated, extremely influential tracts or pamphlets propagating their ideas that were published from 1833 to 1841 which opposed the theological liberalism and reactionism of their age, and reaffirmed the divine authority of the Church of England as a branch of the historically continuous Catholic Church. All Saints provided an Anglo-Catholic response to the largely Evangelical drive of other new Cheltenham churches built during the latter half of the 19th Century.
All Saints Church is the largest church in Cheltenham with the capacity to seat several hundred people. It has been identified as a ‘Major Church’ – one of only 300 such churches across the United Kingdom, because of its size and Grade One listed status. Its unique history as a Parish in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England since its inception in 1868, also gives it a rôle beyond that of a typical parish church, attracting worshippers from a wide area beyond its immediate parish boundaries.
All Saints has a good musical tradition with an adult choir, which sings at the Solemn Mass each Sunday. As a parish in the See of Oswestry, it under the sacramental and pastoral care of the Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas SSC. The congregation comprises members of the local community and also from many areas of the Diocese of Gloucester drawn to the particular style of worship and churchmanship All Saints offers.
The church holds particular significance in Cheltenham because of its association with the Holst family who lived in Pittville at the time of its consecration. Gustav Holst’s father Adolph von Holst was its first Organist and was responsible for the design of the fine instrument still played today. Holst the composer almost certainly received his early music education here, as a member of the choir and as an organist. The church maintains the link through its relationship with the Holst Society and the Holst House Museum in Cheltenham. The current parish priest is building on these links and in 2026, for the third year running, the Holst Birthday Concert will take place at All Saints.
