Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew, Aldershot

A garrison church of the Church of Scotland, designed by the eminent Scottish architect Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer (1864–1929). The church was opened in 1927 and later extended and reopened in 1939. It is built of brown brick in English Bond with red brick dressings to the arches and corners.

The church consists of a wide nave with narrow side aisles and two shallow transepts. The east end features a shallow but full-height apse, while the west end has a porch.

Exterior

St Andrew's is designed in a spare, modern interpretation of the Romanesque style. The use of double arches in the main windows is evocative of the work of early 19th-century romantic neo-classicist Sir John Soane, and is executed most effectively. At the west end is a tall gable containing one of these double arches forming the west window, with three rounded lancets within it. Below this is a lower porch replicating the gable's roof line with an arched opening and recessed door. To each side are narrow aisles, expressed externally, with two of the tall double arches containing lancet windows. The most western bay at each end is lower with a steeply pitched hipped roof. Two shallow transepts are lit by similar windows in their gable ends, the west ones featuring subtle diaper work and the east ones a circular window. The east end has a bold canted apse, full-height, with stepped coping to both the apse and the east gable. A low vestry adjoins the south side of the east end. A single-storey church hall, built in 1959 and of different style, is attached to the north-east.

Interior

The interior features a wide nave with shallow aisles joined by a tall arcade of three arches flanked by two small arches at the east and west ends. A tall arch at the east end spans the full height to the shallow apse, which contains the altar set against wood panelling below a single narrow stained glass window. Both nave and transepts have coffered timber ceilings with wagon roofs featuring flat panels on both sides and tie beams. Additional features include doors in the transepts with decorative carved stone surrounds and several stained glass windows. The window in the apse, unveiled in 1934, commemorates Field Marshal Earl Haig and was designed and executed by Mr Walker and J.R. Cook of Edinburgh. They were also responsible for the central window of the west end trio, a memorial to the Great War, unveiled in 1935. The primary strengths of the interior are the roof and arcade, together with the overall spatial and light qualities. The interior shares formal similarities with Lorimer's St Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Edinburgh (listed Grade A).

History

The present brick-built St Andrew's replaced an earlier church constructed entirely of corrugated iron. This was initially shared by the Churches of England and Scotland until 1893, when a garrison church was built solely for the use of the Church of England. In 1908 the Iron Church, as it was known, was dedicated to St Andrew. By the 1920s the fabric was falling into decay, and in 1926 it was demolished. Sir Robert Lorimer was commissioned to design a new church, intended as a memorial to those in the Presbyterian communion throughout the Empire who died in the Great War. Lorimer modelled St Andrew's closely on his St Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Edinburgh, as the two are very similar in design, particularly in the interior. Although the design could not be fully completed due to lack of funds, the new St Andrew's opened in 1927. It soon became clear the church was not large enough for its congregation, and in the 1930s money was raised to extend it and complete Lorimer's original plan. The nave was lengthened by 30 feet, the inside walls plastered, and the slender Celtic style bell tower was removed. The enlarged church was reopened in 1939 in the presence of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The attached church hall was opened in 1959 as a memorial to all Presbyterians killed in the Second World War.