The Priory Church Of St Andrews'

The Priory Church of St Andrews is a Grade I listed former Augustinian Priory located in Hexham. It was originally founded by St Wilfrid around 673, with the crypt dating back to this period. The choir, transepts, and tower were constructed around 1180. The nave was burnt in 1296 and rebuilt in 1908 by Temple Moor, with much recent restoration work carried out. The church features an embattled crossing tower and a five-bay aisled chancel, with the easternmost bay taken down and rebuilt slightly higher around 1858. Below this, there are fragments of a possibly late-Saxon apse. The church has three-bay transepts with eastern aisles, and the south bay of the south transept includes a slype with a gallery for the night stairs above. The six-bay nave has an exterior that is uniformly early English, except for the decorated tracery of the nave windows, which include lancets and a corbel table.

The interior is primarily Early English, though it has been much restored and altered. It features a wooden ceiling and vaulted aisles with dado arcades in the transepts and chancel. High stilted arches on the west wall of the north transept are supported by clustered shafts. There are two chantries, one dedicated to Prior Ogle (died 1410) and another to Prior Leschman (1480-1491), the latter adorned with a cowled effigy and intricate stone sculpture. The early 15th-century sedilia includes painted panels, one of which depicts the dance of death. A delicate Rood Screen, dating from 1491 to 1523, showcases panel painting and rich woodwork. The stalls contain misericords, and at the west end of the nave is a font that incorporates part of a pilier cantonne from the north transept, featuring a dog tooth central shaft. The interior also houses several monuments, including a relief of a Roman standard bearer, St Acca's Cross from the 7th century, a cross base with a Crucifixion from the Spital, the Frith Stool or St Wilfrid's chair, and various fragments built into the nave walls.

St Andrew's Church, along with the listed buildings in the Market Place, forms a group, with Nos 8, 10, and 16 being of local interest.