Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

Parish church on the north side of Orwell High Street. The building comprises a 12th-century nave and ground stage of tower, late 13th-century north and south nave arcades, and a chancel of 1398. The south aisle dates to the late 13th century and the north aisle was rebuilt in the 19th century. The church underwent major restorations in 1860 and 1883. It is constructed of clunch, fieldstone and limestone, with tiled and leaded roofs.

The plan consists of a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, and chancel. The west tower rises in three stages. The 12th-century ground stage has on its east side the quoins of the 12th-century nave serving as clasping buttresses, with single shafts and cushion capitals to the corners of the quoins. Lancet windows were inserted into the ground stage during the 13th century, and the upper stages were subsequently added. The north-west and south-west corners have 13th-century angle buttressing in three stages. The bell stage features arcading on its west and south sides in three bays, with continuous two-centred arches enriched with dog-tooth ornament. The inner arch has a two-light opening with a quatrefoil in the spandrel, while the other arches are blind. The west window dates to the 16th or 17th century and was restored.

The nave originally dates to the 12th century and was built without aisles. The north aisle was added in the late 13th century and the south aisle slightly later. A 15th-century clerestorey, restored in the 19th century, lights the interior. The south aisle, late 13th-century in origin but restored in 1883, has an early 14th-century west window of clunch with reticulated tracery. The remaining windows are late 14th-century in style and were restored in Ketton limestone. The south porch was restored at the same time and retains a late 17th- or early 18th-century six-panelled door in a two-centred arch, similar to that in the north doorway.

The chancel and sacristy were built by Richard Anlaby, the rector, in memory of Sir Richard Burley. They are constructed of clunch and fieldstone with a banded tiled roof. The south wall contains three restored windows, each of three lights with vertical tracery. The east window is also late 14th-century, of five lights and restored. The north aisle, rebuilt in the 19th century, is constructed of gault brick with a reset late 17th- or early 18th-century six-panelled door.

Interior: The nave arcades consist of four bays. The north arcade, late 13th-century, comprises two-centred arches of two chamfered orders resting on columns of quatrefoil section. The south arcade is slightly later and also has four bays and two-centred arches of two chamfered orders on columns of quatrefoil section. The column profiles differ slightly and there are head stops above the piers and responds. The nave roof was rebuilt around 1600. The late 13th-century chancel arch is of two-centred moulded arches on piers of half-quatrefoil section.

The chancel contains a piscina in the south wall with a subcusped ogee arch embellished with foliate ornament and finial, and an aumbry in the north wall with a subcusped ogee arch. A wall monument to Jeremias Radcliffe, dated 1623, is set in the south wall. It is constructed of painted clunch with a recess flanked by Ionic pilasters beneath a four-centred head, containing a frontal half-effigy of the deceased.

The chancel ceiling is boarded and late 14th-century in origin. It was built in memory of Sir Simon Burley, was reconstructed in the mid-18th century, and was repainted in 1883. The ceiling comprises square panels divided by moulded ribs with alternate carved bosses and painted shields at the intersections.

A 13th-century limestone font with a cylindrical bowl on a stem stands in the church. At the east end of the south aisle is a recess containing a fragment of a reredos with a clunch figure of Christ crucified and St John. Floor slabs of Saxo-Norman date have been reset in the wall of the south porch.