Parish Churh Of St Andrew

Parish Church of St Andrew

This is a parish church of mixed medieval periods, standing on the site of an original Benedictine priory church. The earliest fabric dates to the 11th and 12th centuries, represented by wall fragments and quoins in the nave and chancel. The tower and North aisle were built in the 13th century. Around 1300, the South aisle was rebuilt, a chantry chapel was added, and a South porch was constructed. In the early 14th century, the chancel was extended to its full length and the aisle windows were altered. The nave arcade, clerestory and roofs date to the mid to late 15th century, with window tracery inserted into some original openings. The church underwent restorations in the 17th century, early 19th century, and in 1865 by W.M. Fawcett, using masonry said to have come from the priory ruins.

The walls are built of Barnack limestone and limestone rubble with brick repairs, and clunch is used for interior details. The roofs are covered in lead.

The South elevation shows aisles extending to the west face of the tower. The tower rises in four stages with angle buttresses, an embattled parapet with corner gargoyles, and a pair of two cinquefoil-light belfry windows. Below these is a late 13th-century Y-traceried blocked window with quatrefoil lights. The clerestory has a plain parapet and six two-light cinquefoil windows set in four-centred arches. The aisle windows are tall with Y-tracery and replaced 14th-century foiled transomes. The chantry chapel South windows display interlaced Y-tracery, with one replaced in the 15th century; a low-side window dates to the 14th century. A continuous moulded string runs along the aisle including the buttresses. The South door is particularly fine, comprising five continuous roll- and fillet-moulded orders terminating in moulded bases with scroll-moulded label and mask and foliage stops. The South porch has a two-centred arch with mask stops to the label, and moulded caps and bases to the inner moulded order. Rainwater heads are dated 1806.

The interior contains a nave arcade of six bays with slender piers that continue as pilasters to the clerestory. The chancel and tower arches are early 14th-century work, comprising two chamfered orders with moulded caps and bases; the chancel has a similar two-bay arcade. Fine 14th-century sedilia and piscina with foiled drain and foliate finials to ogee arches are present, along with a small locker to the east. Two north doors are partly blocked by a raised 19th-century floor. The South aisle has a clunch piscina with a deeply moulded trefoiled head. A string with roll-moulding is broken by the insertion of a low-side window, and in the chantry a 15th-century sedilia cuts into the jamb of the original sedilia or mural monument.

The roofs date to the 15th century and feature braced tie beams and moulded principals with bosses at intersections. Head corbels are found in the chantry chapel, and carved gilded angels adorn the chancel, with 17th-century drop finials added to the chancel roof. The aisle roof has a tie beam dated 1629.

The font has an octagonal bowl with a stem decorated with shields in foiled panels, and is 13th-century work. Thirteenth-century tomb stones are present in the North aisle. Nineteen 15th-century benches have moulded ends with paterae and carved finials; copies were made in 1866 and 1867 by Rattee and Kett. Two 15th-century chancel stalls retain replaced seats.

The monuments include one to Charlotte Francis (1833) in classical black and white marble. In the South chapel is a monument to Anne Kempe, Lady Cutt, first wife of Sir John Cutt of Childerley, dated 13 March 1641. This is a marble chest with a framed rounded panel and two folding doors, each held open by life-size female figures carrying oval shields of arms, and is the work of Nicholas Stone, master-mason to Charles I. A poor box with three locks stands near the South doorway.

The medieval altar stone is framed in a 19th-century altar table. A five-light restored East chapel window is a memorial to Thomas Cockayne, Lord of the Manor, dated 1852. The 19th-century reredos was made in 1866 by G.E. Street. A memorial window to John Layer (1632) and William Cole (1742–1782) was created by Francis Skeat in 1967.