Kirtling church, and the manor it once belonged to, are extremely interesting historically. The parish church of All Saints bears clear signs of Saxon construction incorporated in a later Norman design and it stands immediately north of a moat which once surrounded a manor or castle mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086. Before the Norman Conquest of 1066, the manor of Kirtling was owned by King Harold, but after the Conquest Kirtling was the capital of Countess Judith's Cambridgeshire estates (she was the niece of William the Conqueror) and from the early 12th century Kirtling was owned by the Tony family.
The building is largely Norman with many 12th-century features including a carved 12th century south doorway whose moulding is decorated with traditional Norman motifs – zigzag and chevrons. The tympanum is carved with a figure of Christ in Majesty seated on a rainbow. The actual wooden door is also Norman, though it has been rehung:
The aisles, chapel, chancel and west tower are 15th century Perpendicular in style, and several statue alcoves are preserved, including one with red paint in situ:
There are many memorials the North family in the memorial chapel taken over by them to be used as a family chapel in the mid-16th century. The most flamboyant memorial is Sir Roger North's tomb (c. 1600) which is extremely ornate and his effigy lies under an ornamented canopy with a griffon at his feet. The pillars supporting the canopy are magnificently carved in an intricate pattern of foliage:
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