Church Of St Andrew

CHURCH OF ST ANDREW

A parish church of medieval origin located on the north side of Wootton High Street. The building is primarily of 13th-century date, with substantial later medieval additions and significant Victorian restoration.

The church consists of a west tower, three-bay aisled nave with south porch, and two-bay chancel with adjoining vestry to the north.

The tower is the most prominent external feature, dating to the 14th and 15th centuries. It is constructed in weathered ironstone ashlar with limestone ashlar parapet, and rises in three stages. The first stage contains a restored pointed two-light window with Perpendicular tracery. The second stage has square openings with pierced quatrefoils to the south and west, and a clockface to the south. The upper stage features pointed belfry openings with pierced roundels over twin lancets. The tower is articulated by diagonal buttresses, moulded plinth, stair lighting slits to the south-west angle, and string courses between stages. The top of the tower was rebuilt in 1877. It is finished with a coped embattled parapet with crocketed angle pinnacles and angle gargoyles at the string course level.

The nave and chancel are faced in mixed materials: the south aisle combines ironstone and limestone ashlar in the lower section with squared chalk above; the north aisle is of squared ironstone and chalk with rusticated limestone ashlar to restored sections. The chancel and vestry are constructed of coursed limestone rubble, squared chalk and ironstone. The porch is similarly built in limestone rubble, squared chalk and ironstone. All sections feature limestone and ironstone ashlar dressings, with slate roofs throughout.

The south aisle windows are primarily 13th-century work, consisting of restored square-headed two-light trefoiled windows with hood-moulds and original headstops. There is a single-light trefoiled east window and a 19th-century pointed two-light traceried west window with hood-moulds and re-used headstops. The north aisle contains a restored pointed ovolo-chamfered door, two square-headed two-light windows with restored tracery, a pointed three-light east window with restored intersecting tracery, original hood-mould and headstops, and a pointed two-light west window with 19th-century tracery, hood-mould and original headstops.

The chancel is buttressed at the angles and has two-light and restored three-light traceried windows to the south. The north window is a restored pointed two-light plate-traceried design with pierced trefoil in roundel over a pair of trefoiled lights. The east window is a 19th-century pointed three-light traceried design. The porch has a chamfered plinth and quoins, with a restored front featuring a pointed chamfered arch with hood-mould and headstops. The inner arch is similarly pointed and ovolo-chamfered with hood-mould and headstops.

The interior retains the original arcade structure of the 13th century. The arcades comprise pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers with plain moulded capitals and bases. Those to the south are notably wide and have more ornate detailing. The tower arch is similarly tall and pointed with double-chamfering, a moulded base and inner order on plain moulded capitals. A pointed chamfered door provides access to the tower staircase.

The chancel arch dates to the 19th-century restoration and is of double-chamfered design with filleted responds. There is a pointed arch to the pulpit. Piscinae survive in three locations: a trefoiled example in the south aisle, an ogee-headed version in the north aisle, and a pointed piscina in the nave.

The interior retains significant 19th-century fittings, including an ornate painted carved ashlar pulpit and traceried altar rails. Marble wall tablets in the north aisle commemorate Francis Ellis (1759), with pilasters, obelisk and winged cherub's head; the Uppleby family (late 18th to early 19th century) with carved draped urn, winged cherub's head and pediment; John Uppleby (1839) with life-sized head profile in relief and pediment with painted arms; and the Gifford family (early 19th century) with carved urn. A 19th-century font and commandment boards stand at the west end of the nave. A disused medieval font with plain sub-rectangular bowl on chamfered column and plain base also survives.

The 1851 restoration campaign included the rebuilding of a new chancel and porch, with the chancel receiving further attention. 20th-century restorations addressed the north aisle.

The church is documented in a drawing by C. Nattes from 1794, held in the Banks Collection at Lincoln City Library.