Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew, Sandon

This is a substantial parish church with origins in the 12th century. The nave and chancel date from this period, with the chancel arch rebuilt in the late 13th century. A north aisle was added in the mid-14th century, and the chancel was extended eastwards in the 15th century when the nave was also reroofed. The most distinctive features are the early 16th-century west tower and south porch, which have been attributed to Girlano Trevise, the Italian architect who worked on Hampton Court for Cardinal Wolsey, though this attribution remains uncertain. The church received new windows in the 18th century, restoration work in the 1850s by Henry Ringham, and the nave roof was restored in 1878. Further restoration took place in 1903-4 by Chancellor and Son. A parish meeting room was added to the north in 1993 by K C White and Partners.

The building is constructed of pudding stone and flint rubble with some Roman brick. The tower and south porch are early 16th-century brick with limestone and brick dressings. All roofs are tiled.

The 12th-century chancel, extended eastwards in the 15th century, displays Roman brick quoins visible as straight joints in its north and south walls. It features a 15th-century three-light east window with cinquefoiled lights and Perpendicular tracery. The north wall contains a late 13th or early 14th-century window of two pointed lights with a hood mould, while the south wall has a similar window and a heavily restored low-side window, with a 14th-century door between them featuring chamfered jambs and a hood mould.

The nave's south wall includes a 16th-century square window of two uncusped lights with an identical heavily restored or inserted window above, creating the appearance of a tall window with a transom. Adjacent to this is a large Perpendicular window, and west of the porch is an 18th-century window of two plain lights with an angled head. Below it are the remains of a probably 13th-century lancet.

The north aisle contains a 18th-century two-light east window, a similar west window set within a 14th-century opening, and two two-light Perpendicular windows in the north wall. The moulded north door is 14th-century and provides access to the parish rooms, which are built in diapered brick to coordinate with the tower.

The early 16th-century brick south porch is distinguished by an elaborate crow-stepped parapet on a corbel table of trefoiled arches. The outer arch is moulded with a hood mould, and above it is an ogee niche flanked by diaper crosses of St Andrew on either side. The interior features a brick vault with chamfered ribs on angle shafts, and there are two-light brick windows in the porch's north and south walls.

The brick tower comprises three stages with diagonal buttresses and extensive diaper work in blue brick, including crosses of St Andrew and tall conventional crosses in the upper stage below the parapet. The embattled parapet stands on a trefoiled corbel table matching that of the porch. A polygonal northeast stair turret with its own embattled parapet is topped by a small dome. The four-centred west door is blocked by an 18th-century window. Above it, the 16th-century west window has brick tracery, with small windows in the second stage and larger two-light brick windows in the bell stage.

Interior

The chancel arch is very plain, possibly 13th-century, with pointed form and moulded imposts. The north arcade contains three bays dating to the 14th century, with two moulded orders on quatrefoil piers featuring moulded capitals and bases. The very tall four-centred tower arch has three orders of dying mouldings. An organ loft is positioned under the tower.

The chancel ceiling is 15th-century, boarded and divided into panels by moulded ribs. The nave's hammerbeam roof was rebuilt in the 19th century but retains a 15th-century truss at the east end, with moulded hammerbeams, curved braces with traceried spandrels, and embattled wall plates.

Principal Fittings

The 13th-century chancel piscina survives. A 12th-century pillar piscina with spiral shaft, chevron base and interlace capital was found built into the northwest buttress in 1904. The church retains a fine 15th-century pulpit, unusually complete with its original stem and foot. It is octagonal with pinnacled buttresses on the angles and features linen fold panels and Perpendicular tracery. A polygonal font with plain bowl and moulded lower edge, dating from the 15th or 16th century, has a late 17th or 18th-century cover. The choir stalls are mid-19th century but incorporate 17th-century panelling. An early 20th-century reredos displays Arts and Crafts Gothic styling.

The church contains notable stained glass, including an east window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne from 1920, a chancel north window by Horace Wilkinson from 1929, and a tower window from 1912 by A J Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild. Fragments of earlier heraldic glass also survive.

Monuments include a brass to Patrick Fearne, parson, who died in 1588, and his wife, as well as fragments of another brass from around 1510. Wall tablets commemorate Anne, wife of Brian Walton, the rector and author of the Polyglot Bible, who died in 1640, and Deborah, wife of Samuel Smith, described as "pastor of this congregation", who died in 1647. Several hatchments are also displayed.

The 15th-century north door has been rehung on the organ loft wall. A probably 16th-century door leads to the tower stair, and a 17th-century door serves the chancel.

History

The double-square plan of the nave indicates construction in the 12th century. In the early 16th century, the manor of Sandon was granted by Henry VIII to Cardinal Wolsey, and he may have been responsible for commissioning the tower and south porch. The use of brick is characteristic of the area. The church was not fully restored until the early 20th century. By that date, post-medieval features were valued more highly than they had been during the 19th-century Gothic Revival, and consequently the church has retained several 18th-century windows that might have been removed had restoration occurred earlier.