Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew, Pickworth

A parish church of major architectural significance, with origins in the 12th century and substantial rebuilding in the 14th and 15th centuries, plus later additions. The church is constructed of ashlar and coursed limestone rubble with slate, lead and plain tile roofs.

The church comprises a western tower, nave with two aisles, chancel, and south porch.

The western tower is a 12th-century structure that was refaced and raised in ashlar during the mid-14th century. It stands in three stages on a triple moulded plinth with two string courses and stepped corner buttresses. The south side of the second stage features a traceried circular panel with a hood mould on three sides. The west side has a 14th-century single light with ogee tracery in the first stage and a small recent 12th-century round-headed light in the second stage. The third stage has 2-light 14th-century belfry openings with reticulated tracery on all faces. Above rises a broach octagonal spire with three tiers of alternating lucarnes. The lowest tier has lucarnes of two lights with a cross fleury to the ridge. The second and third tiers have two lights and a single light respectively, with crocketed gables. The spire is topped with a finial.

The north aisle, partly ashlar and partly coursed rubble with a plain tile roof, has a plain plinth, a low string course at cill level, and a splayed cornice at eaves. The west window is a 13th-century 2-light window with geometric tracery. The north side is divided into three bays with four stepped buttresses. A central 14th-century door with a hood mould and simple label stops is flanked by two 3-light windows with reticulated tracery, flat heads, and hood moulds. The ashlar clerestorey has been raised by a few courses of rubble and features a lead roof. Five shallow stepped buttresses form four bays, each with late 14th-century triangular-headed 2-light windows with reticulated tracery. The original steeper pitch of the nave roof is visible on the east end of the nave.

The ashlar chancel has a slate roof with a stone coped gable and cross fleury to the ridge, set on a triple moulded plinth. The north window is a 14th-century 3-light window with flowing reticulated tracery. The east end has corner buttresses and a 14th-century 4-light window with curvilinear tracery and a hood mould. The south side has a 14th-century 3-light window with flowing reticulated tracery and a hood mould. An 18th-century tablet with a moulded surround refers to a will to uphold an adjacent monument. In the corner between the chancel and south aisle is a 14th-century ogee-headed single light with transom.

The south aisle is ashlar with a slate roof. On its east side is a circular projection housing the rood loft stairs. The east window is a 14th-century 2-light window with reticulated tracery. The south side has plain buttresses forming four bays, including the porch. The two easternmost bays contain 14th-century 3-light windows with reticulated tracery and square heads; the western bay contains a similar 2-light window.

The south porch is ashlar with a slate roof, dated 1659 on the east angle corner buttress. The plinth is decorated with panels containing paired quatrefoils. Large gargoyles flank the opening and the parapet is heavily battlemented. The porch opening is a slightly flattened double-chamfered semi-circular arch with stone side benches. The doorway has 13th-century nook shafts and a 14th-century arch with a hood mould and human mask stops. The door is 14th-century with decorated hinges and straps.

Interior features

Both aisles have matching 4-bay arcades with circular piers and double-chamfered pointed arches. The arches are 14th-century but the bases, piers and responds may be reused 12th-century work. The north aisle appears to have been moved out as it is off-centre from the tower. Against the tower wall is a large buttress built from a circular base, which may mark the position of the earlier 12th-century aisle. Various traces of earlier nave roof pitches are visible in the tower wall.

The south aisle contains a piscina with an ogee head at the west end and a more elaborate piscina on a horizontal figure with a highly decorated crocketed ogee head with finial and human mask label stops at the east end. Two statue brackets stand here, with a headless 14th-century painted figure of Mary Magdalene in the northern one. The north aisle has a blocked door, a 14th-century piscina, and a further statue bracket. The tower contains a small plain double-chamfered 13th-century pointed arch. The nave roof is 15th-century arch-braced with moulded oak beams and purlins. The newel stairs to the rood loft remain complete.

The 14th-century chancel arch is double-chamfered and without responds. It bears mortice holes for a painted panel, now removed. The chancel contains a 14th-century sedilia with three ogee arches and a small crocketed and pinnacled ogee piscina. The north wall has a plain aumbry. The roof is 17th-century.

Furnishings and decoration

The 14th-century rood screen consists of eight panels with two centrally placed over the door opening. It features delicate tracery with oak leaves and acorns beneath a curved canopy. The screen underwent extensive restoration in 1966 when the canopy was entirely replaced. The pews are 14th-century with bench ends displaying carved panels depicting elements of tracery design. All pew backs have moulded top rails. The front pair incorporates reused 14th-century tracery. A two-decker pulpit is dated "RSC 1693". The altar rail with turned oak balusters is inscribed "Ed Wells Church Warden 1767" and "Jos Dabell Fecit". Seventeenth-century oak wainscott panelling appears on the west end of the south aisle. The font is a 12th-century circular tub on an octagonal base. A wooden memorial tablet to Thomas Gibson (died 1622) is mounted on the west wall of the nave.

Extensive wall paintings decorate the church. Over the chancel arch, north clerestorey, and part of the south clerestorey are 14th-century wall paintings, dated to circa 1380. Over the chancel is a doom painting, the top now obscured by the lower 15th-century roof. The north side displays three scenes depicting the Ascension, the three kings and three skeletons, and St Christopher. On the south side is the cauldron of Hell. Above these paintings are 15th-century stencil patterns of sexfoils and cinquefoils. The south aisle contains 17th-century wall paintings of texts. A lightly incised and painted consecration cross is visible on the nave east wall.

A 19th-century boiler by C. Portway & Sons of Halstead, Essex stands in the nave.

The 14th-century rebuilding of the church is said to date from 1356, probably undertaken by the Pickworth family.