Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This is a parish church of mid-12th century origin, altered in the 14th and early 18th centuries, and restored in 1845–6 and 1898. The building is constructed partly of sandstone rubble and partly of rendered brick with ashlar dressings. It has plain tiled roofs with parapets and cross-finials at the gable ends, and a weather-boarded timber bell-turret with a slate roof. The plan comprises a two-bay nave with a south porch and bell-turret at the west end, and a single-bay chancel. The architectural style is mainly Norman and Perpendicular.

The nave dates from the 12th century, though its north elevation was partly rebuilt in 1845–6. At the west end are 14th-century diagonal buttresses with offsets. A 14th-century buttress to the north elevation is partly enclosed by a 19th-century brick lean-to. A 19th-century buttress with offsets stands on the south elevation, with two tomb slabs of probable 12th-century date attached to its east side. The west window is a two-light 14th-century pointed window. The north and south elevations have square-headed two-light windows; two in the north elevation are 19th-century replacements, and one in the south elevation is a restored 14th-century window.

The south porch dates from the 14th century. It is gabled and timber-framed on a 19th-century brick base, with scalloped bargeboards. The inner and outer trusses are arch-braced collar and tie-beam trusses forming pointed archways. The sides have five boarded lower panels and five-light wood-mullioned openings above. Long swept braces cross the inner corners. Inside, the roof features cusped swept wind-braces and several slip-decorated tiles of around 1450, now fixed beneath the benches.

The south doorway is 12th century but much restored. It has a round arch of two orders: the outer order displays a large roll moulding supported by shafts with cushion capitals, chamfered abaci, and moulded bases; the inner order is enriched with star-shaped mouldings. Above the arch head is a 12th-century stone panel that once bore a relief of a winged figure and a tree, now barely distinguishable.

The bell-turret is square, with weather-boarding continued down to cover the west gable end of the nave. It has paired rectangular louvred bell-chamber openings, a pyramidal slate roof, and a weathervane.

The chancel was rebuilt in the 14th century and again in the 18th century. The east window has three pointed lights with rear arches springing from detached shafts. Lancets appear in the north and south elevations, and there is a pointed south doorway.

The interior features a 12th-century chancel arch similar to the south doorway, with a chamfered string course extending from the abaci to the side walls. Above the arch are two 12th-century panels: one representing the Agnus Dei and the other probably representing a lion, comparable to panels at the Church of St Peter and St Paul at Eastham and other churches in the region. A squint is located on the south side of the arch.

The nave has a 14th-century roof with five collar and tie-beam trusses featuring a central strut flanked by large swept struts and alternate subsidiary arch-braced collar trusses. All trusses have cusped swept V-struts above the collar. The chancel has a sapele wood ceiling installed in 1962.

The furnishings include a late 16th-century oak altar table, early 18th-century altar rails, an octagonal font probably original with a 19th-century shaft and base, and a 19th-century pulpit. A parish chest stands at the west end.

Notable memorials include a late 16th-century painted wood tomb in the north-east corner of the chancel, restored in 1853, with panelled sides bearing coats of arms and a canopy above supported by turned posts, commemorating Thomas Walshe (died 1593). At the foot of this tomb is a large 13th-century tomb slab decorated with a cross and branch stumps, bearing a Lombardic inscription around its sides that commemorates Redulphius, the first recorded rector of Stockton on Teme, appointed in 1284. In the nave is a brass to William Parker (died 1508) with an 18-inch figure, together with an early 19th-century memorial to the Nott family and a mid-19th-century memorial.

The stained glass includes a late 19th-century east window, an early 20th-century south window, and a mid-20th-century west window.

This is a small Norman church notable for the detailed carving of its south doorway and chancel arch, its 14th-century south porch and nave roof, and its unusual medieval memorials.