Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a parish church dating back to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations made in the 13th, 15th, 18th, and 19th centuries. It is a building of group value. The original 12th-century fabric comprises the nave, while the north arcade and chancel arch are from the 13th century, and windows from the 15th century. The tower was built in 1710 and the chancel re-built in the 18th century. A restoration in 1894, undertaken by C H Fowler of Durham, included new chancel windows, removal of a nave gallery, exposure of the existing arcade, and re-roofing.

The church is constructed from a variety of materials. The tower is of red brick in Flemish bond, set on a limestone base with sandstone ashlar dressings, while the nave is built of chalk rubble and squared blocks, with brick gables, eaves cornices, and facing to the lower sections of the north and south walls in English bond. The chancel is predominantly brick, partly rendered to the north and east. The roofs are covered with pantiles.

The tower is a two-stage structure with a moulded plinth, a round-arched chamfered doorway with raised key and impost blocks, a round-headed ashlar west window with key, and pairs of small round-headed belfry openings. The top stage steps in and features stepped and dentilled brick bands, a rendered frieze, and stepped and cogged brick eaves cornices, culminating in a low pyramidal roof with an iron finial. The nave has a chamfered plinth and quoins. The south side features a blocked round-arched brick doorway, two small lancets, and a pointed two-light Y-traceried window with a hood-mould. The north side has three blocked pointed arcade arches with a blocked inserted ogee-headed chamfered doorway flanked by square-headed three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and hood-moulds. The chancel presents a 19th-century plinth, a square-headed three-light traceried south window, and a pointed three-light traceried east window.

Inside, a blocked round-arched ashlar doorway is on the south side and a blocked segmental-pointed doorway exists on the north. The north arcade is blocked, featuring pointed double-chamfered arches on a central cylindrical pier, flanked by octagonal piers and an octagonal west respond with plain moulded capitals, some of which retain traces of painted coursed masonry. Remains of the chancel arch include an octagonal south respond and a section of double-chamfered arch, with the former north respond re-set as an opening to the organ chamber. A 19th-century pointed double-chamfered arch connects the chancel to the organ chamber, incorporating a re-used respond from the former nave arcade. A font with a 12th to 13th-century chamfered square bowl sits on a later base.