Church of St Andrew is a Grade I listed building in the Epping Forest local planning authority area, England. First listed on 11 April 1984. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Andrew
- WRENN ID
- grim-hall-pine
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Epping Forest
- Constituency
- Brentwood and Ongar MP: Alex Burghart (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 11 April 1984
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Andrew, Ongar
- OS grid reference
- TL 538 029
- Coordinates
- 51.70441, 0.22554
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St. Andrew is a unique structure with vertical split oak log walls in the nave, which have been dated by dendro-magnetic method to 845 AD. It is said that the body of St. Edmund rested here around 1013 while on its journey to Bury St. Edmunds. The church was re-roofed during the reign of Henry VII and underwent significant restoration and underpinning between 1837 and 1848, during which carved spandrels depicting the legend of St. Edmund were added and dormer windows were inserted. The chancel was rebuilt in red brick around 1500, featuring an original arched and moulded doorway and window on the south side.
The tower, which is timber framed and weatherboarded with a brooched shingle spire, is of uncertain date and includes three louvre openings to the belfry and a three-light diamond leaded window. Above the ground floor, there is a three-light window with cuspings and tracery. The roofs of the nave and chancel are covered with plain red tiles and have three gabled dormers on the north and south sides, each with two-light leaded windows and barge boards on the gables. The chancel has a flint plinth, likely from the original Norman chancel, and round-headed moulded brick windows with drip hoods on the north and south walls, in addition to the original window and doorway. The east window features three lights with cusped tracery, a moulded brick surround, and a label. Stone-capped buttresses are present on all ends of the chancel.
The south porch is timber framed, gabled, and has barge boards. Internally, the chancel arch is made of 16th-century moulded brick in two orders. There is a pillar piscina of uncertain date, a small arched panel painting of St. Edmund from around 1500, and a stained glass head of a man, also reputed to be St. Edmund, in the west window, dating to around 1500. The pulpit features moulded timber panels dated 1698. Notable monuments include T. Smith from 1585 and R. Hewyt from April 26, 1724.
Local climate
Church of St Andrew sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 680 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 96% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 58% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
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- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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