Church of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

Parish church built in 1875, designed by J P Seddon. The building is constructed of squared sandstone rubble with limestone dressings and tiled roofs, in the Gothic Revival style.

The church comprises a three-bay nave, one-bay apsidal chancel, south vestry and north porch. The west elevation features a pair of chamfered trefoil-headed lights surmounted by a separate cinquefoil under a round relieving arch, above which is a small trefoil-headed opening into the roof space. A gable cross sits at the apex. Short weathered clasping buttresses sit at each corner. The north porch has a double chamfered two-centred arch dying into single chamfered jambs with spurs at the base, with a label with moulded stops. Bonded central buttresses sit at each front corner. Two-leaved pine and wrought iron gates with cast-iron lower panels guard the entrance; the upper panels have spear-headed bars while the lower panels have lattice composed of small quatrefoils.

The north doorway has a chamfered two-centred arch and a ledged oak door with strap hinges. The north elevation of the nave shows one trefoil-headed light to the left of the porch and two pairs of similar but asymmetrically set lights flanked by buttresses further to the left. A moulded eaves cornice almost runs into the porch roof slope before returning parallel with the slope and ending with a stop. The east verge has a gabled bellcote with a cross at the apex. The chancel's north elevation sits on a deep battered plinth on falling ground and has one cinquefoiled light. The apse displays 2:3:2 trefoil-headed lights with a continuous roll-moulded cill beneath which sits a central date tablet. A moulded eaves cornice runs along the apse, and a wrought-iron cross sits at the roof apex. The vestry features a trefoil-headed east window and two similar windows on the south side, next to a doorway with a two-centred head containing a ledged oak door with strap hinges. The west side has a smaller trefoil-headed light, and the roof is hipped and overhangs the west side. The south elevation of the nave shows 2:2:3 trefoil-headed windows separated by weathered buttresses. Eaves cornices are restricted to the east side of the vestry, the chancel, and the north side of the nave.

The interior features panelled wagon roofs with moulded wall-plates in both the nave and chancel. Above the apse, the margins of the panels form radiating ribs. Patterned tiled floors in red, brown and black cover the floor. The chancel has three flat two-centred inner arches to the east end separated by two dwarf columns with octagonal abaci and bases. Stained glass in the centre three lights depicts The Blessed Virgin Mary, St Andrew and St Mary Magdalene.

Communion rails are pine with turned balusters. Choir stalls on the north side have a single bench and desk, the latter with eight cinquefoiled openings above four arch-braced trefoil-headed open panels. A harmonium in mahogany by W Bell & Co of Guelph, Canada, stands in the choir; it is inscribed on the pedals "PAT'D FEB 24 1887 / MOUSE PROOF PEDAL".

The chancel arch is two-centred with a chamfered inner arch supported on two moulded corbels. Beneath it sits a low pine screen which to the north runs into a reading desk with quatrefoil decoration. To the south the screen curves through a quadrant with more quatrefoil decoration before reaching the pulpit, which is similarly decorated and has an enriched brass bookstand.

The nave's easternmost pair of lights on the north wall are separated by a column similar to those in the apse. A memorial on the north wall commemorates two people from the parish who fell in World War I and three in World War II. The lectern is oak with opposed wedges and an octagonal decorated shaft on an octagonal base. The font has a circular base and circular bowl with a curved underside decorated with carved fish and a net with wave motifs. The rim has running foliated carvings. The centre of the bowl is supported by a thick shaft, while the outer parts are supported by coloured marble shafts arranged unusually as a pentagon.