St Andrew'S Church

St Andrew's Church is a mediaeval church, altered in 1866. It comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north vestry. The building is constructed of flint and septaria rubble, partially rendered, with limestone dressings and slated roofs with parapet gables.

Early 14th-century features include two two-light south windows to the chancel with curvilinear tracery, a three-light east window, and a double piscina with separate arches. In the south nave wall is an ogee-headed tomb-canopy, likely belonging to Alexander de Walsham (died circa 1338), of Brockley Hall. Later 14th-century alterations include two-light windows and south doorways to the nave and chancel, and a nave entrance door with oak battening, a boarded construction, an iron knocker, and an escutcheon. The chancel arch has pilasters with a moulded capital and base, and flanking image pedestals. Steps lead to a former rood-loft, incorporating a dropped window sill with an inset piscina bowl.

The west tower was added in the late 15th century and has crenellated parapets, two-light belfry openings, diagonal buttresses, a frieze at plinth level with flushwork tracery, and the inscription "Ricardus Copping" on the south side. A three-light west window with tracery is also present, along with a tall tower arch with pilasters. The south porch, added in the 15th century, is timber-framed with an arched doorway and diamond mullioned side-lights, a flint and ashlar plinth (partly repaired in red brick), and a gabled slated roof with simple crown posts.

Significant alterations occurred in 1866, which included the removal of a tower between the nave and chancel (visible evidence remains in the south wall), the replacement of the chancel roof with a seven-canted roof, boarded with ribs and bosses, and the removal of the nave roof, replaced by a scissor-braced coupled rafter roof. A new vestry was constructed against the north wall. The interior features oak poppy-head pews and choir-stalls, some incorporating C16 poppy-heads and benchends. An oak-framed reredos with seven panels and figurative paintings is also present. Windows in the north wall were inserted or possibly unblocked and restored. Details and engravings of the church before the 1866 alterations can be found in John Gage’s History of Thingoe Hundred, 1838.