Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

Parish church dating from the 12th to 15th centuries, with the chancel rebuilt in 1775. The building was restored and a vestry added in 1849, an organ chamber was added in 1889, and the porch was rebuilt in 1858 and again in 1980. The fabric is constructed of coursed and squared ironstone and limestone ashlar with ashlar dressings, beneath slate and copper roofs.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with clerestory, north aisle, vestry, organ chamber, chancel, and south porch.

The west tower, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, rises in three stages. It has a moulded plinth, two chamfered string courses, a shield frieze, coved eaves, four gargoyles, a crenellated parapet and four pinnacles. Four shallow clasping buttresses support it; the south-west buttress contains two small niches and a figurative panel with a crest. The first stage features a cusped double lancet to the west with hood mould and mask stops. The south side of the second stage carries a clock. The bell stage has on each side a cusped double lancet bell opening with coved reveal, hood mould and mask stops.

The nave extends for three bays with a chamfered sill band, crenellated parapet and gable with cross. The south side has three buttresses with three setoffs each and three full-height Perpendicular triple lancets with transoms, foiled heads, hood moulds and mask stops. The north side has a clerestory with plain parapet and to the east two squat 15th-century double lancets with four-centred arched heads, hood moulds and mask stops.

The north aisle spans three bays with three buttresses and an angle buttress to the west. It has coved eaves. A central cove-moulded 13th-century doorway with hood mould is flanked to the east by a 15th-century graduated cusped triple lancet and to the west by a similar double lancet, both with hood moulds and mask stops. The vestry and organ chamber to the north have a gable with three buttresses and three chamfered single lancets. The east side has an angle buttress and a re-set 15th-century cusped double lancet with panel tracery and hood mould.

The unbuttressed chancel is a single bay with a coped east gable and blank sides. The east end has a Decorated triple lancet with hood mould and above it a datestone inscribed '1775'. The unbuttressed south porch has a chamfered plinth and a re-set double-chamfered 14th-century doorway with responds and hood mould. Each side contains a Geometrical double lancet of 19th-century date. The porch interior has stone benches and a common rafter roof. A moulded 13th-century south doorway with impost band and 19th-century door stands nearby.

The interior has a double-chamfered and rebated tower arch of the 13th century with shafts and moulded capitals, beneath which stands a crested Perpendicular-style glazed screen of 1958. The nave arcade is of the late 12th century and extends for four bays. It is attributed to the masons of Oakham Castle Hall. The arcade features round piers, the central one with a Corinthian capital. The west respond has a lobed leaf capital, the east respond a leaf-crocketed capital with dogtooth ornament. The remaining piers have moulded capitals. Chamfered and rebated round arches with hood moulds span the bays. The restored 15th-century roof has billet-moulded tie beams with bosses, arch braces and wall shafts on mask corbels.

The north aisle east end has a depressed four-centred arched opening to the organ chamber. The aisle's restored 15th-century roof features moulded tie beams, double arch braces and mask corbels. The vestry contains a stained glass window of 1889. The chancel has a 13th-century chamfered and rebated arch (restored) with a keeled north respond on an octagonal corbel. The north side has a 19th-century round-headed opening to the organ chamber and vestry. The east end has a panelled wooden dado and reredos dating to circa 1891, and a stained glass window of 1960. The roof is low-pitched and plain.

Fittings include a 13th-century square font with dogtooth ornament on three corners and a lobed leaf on the fourth; the east side is carved with a foliated cross within a ring. Furnishings of 1849 comprise an octagonal oak pulpit, lectern, stalls with poppyheads, plain benches and a prayer desk. There are two late 17th-century curved chairs and two double donations boards of 1824. Monuments include three re-set 18th-century tablets to the Ashby family.