Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

Church standing on the main street at Bainton. The south-west corner of the chancel dates to around 1280, with probable late 12th-century origins, but the bulk of the building was constructed around 1330-40 for rector William de Brocklesby. Later additions include a vestry and south porch dating to around 1843, designed by Henry Wheatley, and restorations carried out in 1866 by Fowler of Louth.

The church is built of Newbald oolitic limestone and magnesian limestone with a grey slate roof. It comprises a 3-stage west tower, a 4-bay aisled nave with south porch and north vestry, and a 3-bay chancel.

The tower has a chamfered plinth and angle buttresses with offsets extending to full height at the western corners. A stair turret occupies the south-west corner. The west face features a 4-light pointed window with reticulated tracery beneath a hoodmould with face stops, set within a double-chamfered surround. The north side carries a slit window and a boiler house of no special architectural interest. A first-stage band marks the transition to the second stage, which has 2-light bell openings with pointed heads and reticulated tracery, each under hoodmoulds with face stops on both sides. A corbel table supports crenellated battlements pierced with crosses.

The nave and chancel share a chamfered plinth with offset buttresses, each topped by a gargoyle, to every bay. Throughout these sections are 3-light pointed windows with reticulated tracery to their heads, set beneath hoodmoulds with face stops within double-chamfered surrounds. The south side of the nave has diagonal buttresses with offsets at either corner. The south porch, positioned at the second bay, has a double-chamfered pointed opening. Inside the porch is a pointed plank door within a double-chamfered surround, with hollow-moulded capitals. Above runs a stepped eaves cornice; the parapet is low with chamfered copings and the remains of pinnacles.

The north side of the nave has diagonal buttresses with offsets at the corners. The vestry, at the second bay, features a double-chamfered opening beneath a hoodmould that peaks to a pinnacle with finials and face stops, with a plank door. To the west side of the vestry is a 3-light ogee-headed straight-headed window.

The chancel's south side includes a priest's entrance at the first bay—a pointed plank door in a double-chamfered surround, the inner order having capitals, marked by an impost band and hoodmould. Above this entrance sits a moulded trefoil-headed niche; to its left is a 2-light pointed window beneath a hoodmould with Geometrical tracery. The east end has a 3-light pointed window with reticulated-type tracery and a cross at the apex.

Interior. A double-chamfered pointed tower arch leads into the nave, the outer arch being roll-moulded and descending as shafts. The nave has 4-bay double-chamfered pointed arcades supported on octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The south aisle contains a trefoiled piscina and an ornate ogee-headed niche with carved and crocketed canopy above the effigy of Sir Edmund de Mauley, died 1314. The north aisle holds a mid-14th-century niche for a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a wall monument to Elizabeth Grimson, died 1771. A Norman tub font with lozenge decoration stands in the nave. At the north pier of the chancel arch stands an ogee-headed piscina. The chancel arch itself is 4-centred with double-chamfered mouldings, supported on octagonal responds with moulded capitals and bases.

The chancel contains a trefoil piscina dating to around 1280 and heavily restored 3-bay sedilia. The north wall bears a corbel supporting a statue of St Anthony. A wall monument commemorates Robert Faucon, died 1661. The east window dates to around 1844 and was designed by Wailes.