Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

Parish church with medieval origins, substantially developed in the 13th to 15th centuries, with 17th-century alterations and major restoration in 1893 by H Hardwicke Langs of London and William White. The building comprises a west tower, nave, north aisle, north porch, south aisle, and chancel, constructed in coursed rubblestone with ashlar dressings and copper-clad roofs.

The west tower rises in five stages. The lower three stages date from the 13th century and feature a chamfered plinth with four stringcourses dividing the stages, and a cavetto-moulded cornice with crenellation above. A diagonal buttress with set-offs stands at the north-west corner, and an angled buttress with set-offs at the south-west. The west face carries a large 13th-century lancet window with hoodmould in the first stage, with a smaller lancet above in the second stage. The third stage has clock faces to the west, north, and south, dated 1908. Each elevation displays 15th-century two-light bell-openings with square frames and hoodmoulds.

The clerestory comprises five bays with four-centred arched three-light windows featuring concave moulded frames and hoodmoulds. The north aisle has a heavily moulded plinth and coped parapet, with the porch tower functioning as a buttress with set-offs. A three-light window with panel tracery and hoodmould with headstops sits to the east of the porch, followed by another buttress with set-offs and a three-light window with flowing tracery and hoodmould with headstops. A diagonal buttress with set-offs stands at the north-east corner. The east wall holds a 17th-century three-light window in a square frame with splayed mullions and jambs, beneath which are two 19th-century memorial tablets. Two lead downpipes descend the north aisle walls with a coped gable.

The north porch dates from the 14th century. It features a coped gable with finial, plain tile roof, and diagonal buttresses with set-offs. The chamfered doorway has a hoodmould and headstops with a 20th-century glazed wooden door. Single-light windows open to the east and west; inside are oak benches, and a heavily moulded north doorway with a plank door.

The chancel's east section was rebuilt with a 17th-century coped gable and finial. The north wall contains, from west to east, a single-light wooden casement, a lancet with hoodmould, and a priest's doorway with hoodmould and plank door. A tall plinth with a reset headstone dated 1703 stands to the east, continuing across the east wall. The four-light east window has a hoodmould. The south wall displays, from east to west, a 13th-century pointed arch window with Y-tracery and hoodmould, a tall lancet, and a three-light window with hoodmould and stops. The south aisle has a coped parapet with a three-light east window bearing hoodmould and stops. Its south wall contains, from east to west, a large four-light window with hoodmould, a lead downpipe, a blocked four-centred arch doorway, a three-light window with hoodmould, and another lead downpipe. Above to the west stands a 19th-century flat-topped stack.

Interior

The interior features five-bay nave arcades with pointed arches and continuous hoodmoulds. The piers are double-chamfered with engaged shafts bearing moulded capitals and bases. The tower arch is double-chamfered and closed by a 20th-century part-glazed wooden screen and door; an earlier roofline remains visible above. A low, 13th-century triple-chamfered chancel arch has triple-shafted responds with moulded capitals and bases, with a former entry to a rood stair on the north side.

The north aisle contains a double aumbry in the north wall. The south aisle's west bay is closed by 20th-century part-glazed wooden screens, with a war memorial in the blocked doorway on the south wall. The chancel has a slightly squared squint in the north wall. A piscina with two arched openings and a blank quatrefoil above sits in the south wall.

A rare 12th-century font stands in the north aisle, featuring a large square bowl decorated with beaded intersecting arches, supported on four engaged shafts. The octagonal base is not 12th-century work. The 15th-century nave roof was repaired in the 19th century and features moulded trusses decorated with brattishing and carved central bosses, moulded side purlins, and openwork lancets between trusses and ridge beam. The trusses are carved with female figures supporting the ridge piece. The 15th-century chancel roof was renewed in the 19th century, as were the 15th-century aisle roofs, which retain brattished trusses and carved bosses.

The altar, altar rail, choir stalls, pews, pulpit, and lectern all date from the 19th century. Various 19th and 20th-century memorial tablets adorn the north wall of the chancel and north aisle, including five 19th-century memorials to the Cerrance family in the chancel. A fragment of Anglo-Saxon work, possibly a stone jamb with latticed plaiting, survives in the south aisle. A large late 18th-century wooden board detailing "Donations and bequeaths to the poor of Foxton parish" and a late 18th-century board titled "A table of kindred and affinity" remain in the south aisle. A plaque recording the 1893 restoration date appears on the north wall next to the doorway. A clock dating around 1680, with a wooden frame and iron cogs and gears, stands in the south aisle and was replaced in 1908. The floors are 19th and 20th-century tiled and wooden parquet, with flagstones at the north entrance.