Parish Church Of St Andrew

Parish Church of St Andrew

A parish church of the 12th to early 16th century, restored in 1872 by G. Swansborough. The building is constructed of flint and stone rubble containing Roman brick and tile, with red brick in English bond and dressings of Barnack and other limestone. The roof is covered with handmade red clay tiles.

The nave dates from the early 12th century, the chancel from the 13th century, the west tower from the 14th or 15th century with its upper part rebuilt in brick in the early 16th century, and the south porch from the 15th century but altered in the early 16th century. A north vestry and organ-chamber were added in 1872.

The chancel contains a 19th-century east window. In the north wall are traces of a tile relieving arch, visible externally, from a blocked 13th-century lancet window that is plastered internally. Further west is a 14th-century 'low side' window of one light with moulded jambs and a two-centred head with trefoiled ogee tracery and one iron bolt-socket. Between these is a 19th-century opening to the organ-chamber. The south wall contains two windows: the eastern is early 14th-century with two septfoiled lights and tracery with richly moulded jambs, mullion and two-centred arch; the sill is carried down to form a seat, with splays stopped by trefoiled ogee heads. The western window is an early 14th-century 'low side' window similar to the one opposite but deeper, with four original iron hinge pintles near the bottom. Between the windows is a blocked 13th-century doorway with chamfered jambs, two-centred arch and moulded label. Above the doorway are traces of a 13th-century relieving arch similar to that in the north wall. The chancel arch was rebuilt in 1872.

The nave has west quoins of Roman brick irregularly alternated with limestone, and well-defined bonding courses of Roman brick are visible in the south wall. The north wall contains two 19th-century windows, with traces of a blocked 12th-century window defined in Roman brick visible externally. The south wall has two windows of 19th-century date except for the splays and moulded two-centred rear-arch of the eastern one, which is 14th-century. West of this window is a blocked 12th-century window defined externally with Roman brick, and indistinct traces of another further west. The 14th-century south doorway has double-chamfered jambs and a moulded two-centred arch; the doors are 19th-century.

The roof of the nave is 14th-century, arranged in four equal bays of crownpost construction with moulded wallplates, wall-pieces, arch-braces and straight tiebeams. The square crownposts have moulded bases and caps, with four-way rising braces and long straight down-braces to the end tiebeams. The rafters are plain with soulaces to every couple, and the collar-purlin is chamfered. The second truss from the east has two grotesque carved corbels dating from the 14th century.

The west tower has three stages with a splayed stair-turret to the south. The lowest stage is of rubble, probably 14th-century, while the upper stages were rebuilt in brick in the early 16th century. The tower arch and west window are 19th-century. The second stage has a chamfered loop in the north and south walls. The bell-chamber has in each wall an early 16th-century window of two four-centred lights with chamfered jambs and a pierced spandrel in a four-centred head with a moulded label. The buttresses each have a trefoil-headed recessed panel at the level of the second stage. The crenellated parapet projects on a trefoiled corbel-table above which is a band of cusped ornament; on the east side this band carries a stone shield and a De Vere molet. There are four crocketed octagonal pinnacles. The first floor is original, with chamfered joists of horizontal section framed round a bellway. A scratch-dial is visible on the base of the stair-turret.

The 15th-century south porch was originally timber-framed but has been built up in brick to wallplate level, with an ornamented brick gable added outside the original studded gable in the early 16th century. The outer archway has richly moulded jambs, a two-centred arch and label, all set within a projection with a crow-stepped head surmounted by a niche with a moulded base and four-centred head. The side walls each have a window of two four-centred lights with a pierced spandrel. The 15th-century roof is in two bays of crownpost construction with hollow-chamfered wallplates, moulded covings, moulded tiebeams with step stops, arched braces, moulded crownposts and plain axial bracing. The braces to the central tiebeam are cut back at their bases where brick side windows have replaced the appropriate posts. The cusped bargeboards, presumed to date from the original build, are much decayed.

Interior features include a 14th-century piscina in the chancel with moulded jambs and a trefoiled ogee head with carved spandrels, crocketed label and finial, and an octofoiled drain. On the south respond of the chancel arch is an early 16th-century brass to Agnes Hunt, widow, and her daughters Agnes, Alys and Elizabeth (inscription only).

The church contains six bells, the third by Miles Graye (1624) and the sixth dated 1760 inscribed 'Tho. Gardiner did me cast - I will seng his prais to the last'. A white marble tablet on the south wall of the chancel commemorates Philip Hills (1830) with lamp and swag on a black marble ground. White and black marble tablets on the north wall of the nave commemorate Thomas Sewell (1821) and his widow Mary (1824) with lamp and guttae, and Reverend James Boyer (1814) and his widow Catherine (1824). Oval white marble plaques on black marble grounds on the south wall of the nave commemorate Arthur William Trollope (1768) and Reverend John Greenwood (1863).