Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew, Biggleswade

The Church of St Andrew is a large and impressive late medieval town church with significant 18th-century and 19th-century work, plus 20th-century additions. The tower arch and south doorway date from around 1300 or the early 14th century, but the remainder is Perpendicular in style, with the chancel dating to around 1470. The tower was entirely rebuilt in 1720. North vestries and toilets were added in the 19th century and 1954 respectively, and two halls were built to the northwest of the north aisle from the late 1970s.

The church is constructed mostly of coursed dark ironstone rubble, with the tower built of grey ashlar on an ironstone base. Limestone is used for dressings, and the chancel roof is covered in slate. Other roofs are hidden behind parapets.

The plan comprises a west tower, nave with wide north and south aisles, a south porch, a long chancel, and a north organ chamber arranged transept-wise at the east end of the chancel, with vestries and toilets between this and the north aisle.

Externally, the church is striking. Its east end faces the main north-south road through Biggleswade. The east wall of the chancel features a very large window of seven lights with panel-tracery filling the head. The east gable shows a break in slope reflecting the Mansard-style profile of the chancel roof behind. The side windows throughout are all of Perpendicular design: those in the aisles have panel-tracery, the chancel side windows show more flowing designs, and the nave clerestory windows are simple and broad. All are three lights. The church has plain parapets to its principal components except the three-stage tower, which is embattled.

The tower, rebuilt in 1720, is generally medieval in appearance but with distinctive detailing. The clasping buttresses on the west face, the round-arched openings on the middle stage and in the belfry windows, and the unusual treatment of the junction between the middle and belfry stages all mark it as a later rebuild. The ironstone base may be a relic of its medieval predecessor.

The two-storey south porch is a notable feature with spreading buttresses and an ogee south doorway. The doorway has an unusual treatment of blind quatrefoils over the entrance that follow the profile of the ogee moulding above. Over the apex of the hood-mould is a representation of the Trinity. Within the porch is a tierceron-star vault.

Internally, the walls were stripped of plaster in the late 19th century. The nave and aisles are separated by Perpendicular four-bay arcades with moulded arches and piers. Each pier has four shafts in the cardinal directions with hollows between. The chancel arch has similar detail. At the west end, the tall tower arch is a remnant from the early 14th-century tower.

The nave roof dates from the 19th century and is flat, built on tie-beam construction with arch-braces springing from timber wall-posts. The spandrels are filled with quatrefoil tracery. The roof is divided into rectangles and longitudinally boarded. The flat-pitched south aisle roof contains much late medieval work, including several carved bosses. The chancel roof is four-sided, reflecting the external profile, and was renewed after a fire in 1953 by architect Michael Tapper. The north aisle roof is flat and longitudinally boarded, appearing to date from the late 19th century.

The church contains an extensive collection of late 19th and early 20th-century furnishings. The nave and aisle benches date from 1870 and are of pine with square ends featuring traceried detail. The chancel contains poppy-headed stalls that survived the 1953 fire. At the east end is a stone reredos designed by R J Withers in 1877 and completed with mosaic work by Salviati in 1881. The wooden wine-glass pulpit, replacing a stone one of 1870, and the rood-screen were both installed at the end of the First World War.

In the chancel floor are remnants of a large and remarkable brass to John Rudying, who is said to have rebuilt or refurbished the chancel. The brass features a long Latin inscription between Rudying and the figure of Death, who is about to strike him with a spear. It follows the tradition of memento mori, with Death pointing out that despite Rudying's accomplishments, all men come to the same end.

There are several minor wall monuments throughout. The stained glass in the east window was installed in 1877. The chancel southwest window depicting the Crucifixion dates from 1882 and is by Lavers and Westlake. The middle window on the south of the chancel is by C E Kempe and was created in memory of G J Barnett, who died in 1892.

The church is first mentioned in a grant of the manor of Biggleswade to the bishops of Lincoln in 1132, though no fabric survives from that date. The earliest surviving fabric dates from around 1300 or the early 14th century. Most of the church is 15th-century, and the chancel was said to have been rebuilt or refurbished between 1467 and 1481 by Archdeacon John Rudying (died 1481).

The medieval tower collapsed in the early 18th century. A brief was issued in 1719 to fund its rebuilding, which took place in 1720. The tower was fitted with a ring of five bells cast by Thomas Russell of Wootton in 1721.

The 18th and early 19th centuries saw reports of disrepair and unsuitable fittings. A re-pewing took place in 1832–33 with a £200 grant from the Incorporated Church Building Society. The work was carried out by William Edwards of Biggleswade at a cost of £565. Further accommodation was added in 1842 with architects John Elger and Harvey Lonsdale Elmes. Elmes is noted as the architect of St George's Hall in Liverpool, which began the previous year and is considered one of the greatest neo-Classical buildings in the world.

The main restoration occurred in 1870 when W G Habershon and Pite repaired the roofs and stonework, added a north organ chamber, opened up the tower arch, and carried out the present seating scheme. Corbels were introduced to carry the wall-posts for the nave roof. The contract, valued at £1957, was undertaken by Messrs Edey of St Neots, and the church reopened on 30 November 1870.

Later embellishments included the stone reredos designed by London architect R J Withers in 1877, with decoration by the celebrated mosaicist firm of Antonio Salviati. Following the building of a sister church, St John's, in Biggleswade in 1883, pressure on accommodation eased and the galleries at St Andrew's were removed in July 1883. Shortly after, the great Victorian church architect William Butterfield was commissioned for further improvements, including reroofing the chancel and adding a new vestry, which were completed in 1885–88.

The chancel and organ chamber were severely damaged by fire on 15 November 1953. Restoration took place in 1953–54 under Michael Tapper and included alterations to the vestries and the erection of an organ gallery at the west end. The church was rededicated on 13 May 1955. Structural additions were completed with the erection of rooms to the northwest of the church in the late 1970s.