Church of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This is a parish church of mixed dates spanning from the mid-14th century through to the 20th century, with major phases in the mid-14th century, 15th century, and significant work in 1638 and 1701. It was restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. The church is constructed of greenstone rubble with red brick and limestone ashlar dressings, some render, and has concrete tiled roofs with stone coped gables and cross finials. The plan comprises a west tower, a nave with a south aisle and south porch, and a chancel with a north vestry.

The west tower dates to the late 15th century and rises in three stages. It has a moulded plinth and string course, with six stage angle buttresses and patches of 18th-century brick. The principal west window is large and pointed with a double bowtell moulded surround, containing three cusped lights with the centre light featuring an ogee head. It has panel tracery, a hood mould and head label stops. A moulded string course sits above. A single lancet above has a bowtell moulded surround and inner cusped head. To the south is a similar window with four slit stairlights in the buttress to its left. Bell openings on all four sides have pointed heads, bowtell moulded surrounds, three cusped ogee-headed lights, reticulated tracery and hood moulds. The tower is finished with moulded eaves featuring small sculptured motifs and plain corner pinnacles.

The north aisle dates to the late 15th century and was remodelled in 1638, with 18th-century brick patches and 20th-century restoration. It contains a flattened triangular-headed 15th-century window with three triangular-headed lights and panel tracery. A pointed doorway with a continuous chamfered surround, hood mould and plank door is flanked by 20th-century two-stage buttresses. Stone above the doorway is inscribed "1638 WP RC". A 19th-century copy of a window appears to the west beyond an eastern doorway. A plain 19th-century rubble vestry to the left has a rectangular chimney and a ground-level doorway with an ashlar lintel, and a rectangular window above with two cusped ogee-headed lights.

The north side of the chancel features a single corbel. The east end has a rendered gable and a pointed east window, basically of 15th-century date but with panel tracery and mullions of the three cusped lights replaced in the 19th century. The south side of the chancel has a rectangular 15th-century window to the east with two cusped ogee-headed lights restored in the 19th century, and a doorway to the left with a pointed 19th-century head, plank door, hood mould and head label stops. A parapet continues along the full length of the chancel and nave.

The south aisle of the nave has a large pointed opening at its east end, now blocked with irregular rubble patching, with a single later lancet inserted having an inner cusped, pointed head. The south side proper features a 19th-century window to the right with a flattened triangular head and three triangular-headed lights with panel tracery, and a similar window beyond. An early 16th-century pedimented porch projects from the left side, with a pointed doorway having a continuous moulded surround. Beneath this is an inner 14th-century doorway with a continuously moulded surround, hood mould with large grotesque head label stops, and a 16th-century plank door. The west end of the south aisle contains a small 14th-century lancet with an inner cusped ogee head and hood mould.

A roof beam in the south aisle is inscribed "1701 I.M." The interior contains a tall 15th-century tower arch at the west end of the south aisle with a pointed triple chamfered head, the outer orders being continuous and the inner order supported on polygonal jambs with moulded capitals and high plinths. A doorway in the south west corner has a flattened triangular head, continuous moulded surround and a 17th-century plank door. The mid-14th-century arcades on the north and south sides comprise three bays each, with the north arcade being slightly later. Both arcades have double chamfered pointed heads, octagonal piers, polygonal responds and moulded capitals. A small blocked pointed opening appears in the eastern spandrel of the north arcade. The east end of the north aisle contains a rectangular doorway leading to the vestry. The south aisle has a small square aumbry. There is no chancel arch, instead an ornate 20th-century screen.

The chancel contains a 15th-century north vestry arch with a continuous double chamfered surround, originally leading to a now-demolished chapel. A female head corbel sits to the left with a partially blocked tomb niche to the right. Beneath this is a very fine recumbent effigy of Thomas de Redyng, rector of Little Steeping from 1318 to 1353. A piscina with an elongated trefoiled head is positioned beyond, and an aumbry with a segmental head sits on the south side. The church contains a 14th-century octagonal font on a high octagonal pedestal, with seven sides decorated with small standing figures beneath crocketed and finalled canopies. The interior furnishings include 19th-century pews, lectern, pulpit, and panelled ceilings with ornate painted bosses.