Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This parish church at Nether Wallop has an 11th-century core with substantial additions and rebuilds spanning the medieval and later periods. The building is constructed of rubble flint and stone with stone dressings, brick rebuilds, and a roof of lead and old plain tile.

The church began as an 11th-century structure comprising a chancel and nave. In the 12th century, the original chancel became the east bay of the nave, and a new chancel was formed from what had been the westernmost bay, with the nave extended to its present length. Around 1200, a south chapel was added to the sanctuary and a south aisle built to the nave. The north aisle followed later in the 13th century. A further chancel bay was then added at the east end, the sanctuary incorporated into it, and the 12th-century chancel arch removed and reused for the tower arch. The 14th century saw the south aisle rebuilt and joined to the south chapel, a north chapel added, and the tower rebuilt following its collapse in 1704. The chancel was substantially rebuilt and enlarged in 1845, with its oldest part becoming the choir.

The chancel features a three-light Perpendicular east window with short corner buttresses and a kneelered gable. Two-light Perpendicular windows appear on the sides. The east nave bay has a tiled roof matching the chancel, while the rest of the nave has a slightly taller clerestory with three 14th-century two-light square-headed trefoiled windows on each side. The south aisle contains a 15th-century pointed three-light window with traceried head and a diagonal southeast buttress. The lower wall has been rebuilt in brick with four 15th-century square-headed two-light trefoiled windows, a diagonal southwest buttress, and a 15th-century three-light window with quatrefoil in its head. A 19th-century gabled porch with double doors stands between the western windows. The north aisle has a 15th-century three-light east window with traceried head and a diagonal northeast buttress. Most of this wall was rebuilt in the 18th century in brick, with a reset 14th-century three-light trefoiled window at the east, three stepped brick buttresses, and three tall square-headed 15th-century trefoiled windows toward the east. A reset 12th-century round-headed doorway with continuous keel moulding on the inner order and a later chamfer to the outer order spans both imposts, with a cushion capital on jamb shafts with moulded bases. A 16th-century three-plank door sits in an 18th-century frame, and a 15th-century three-light window occupies the west end. A 19th-century rendered gabled porch with double doors and iron gates sits toward the west.

The large plan tower has diagonal west buttresses and a west two-light Perpendicular window with a tablet above dating the rebuild. A planked door in 18th-century style faces north, with louvred bell openings on each face. A low parapet with raised corners supports weathervanes.

The interior chancel is High Victorian in style. Floor slabs commemorate John Miller (1667), Rev William Dowling Clarke (1680), Ester Powlett (1697), Hester Miller (1706), and Thomas Gatehouse (1749). A 19th-century chancel arch copies the choir arch, which is pointed with two orders, the outer chamfered and the plain inner on impost with scalloped capitals and round shaft. Pointed arches to north and south of the choir contain 19th-century memorials, with a ceiling inserted above.

The nave has four-bay arcades with a small break in the wall between the first and second bays marking where the original chancel arch stood. The south arcades rest on round columns, three western ones retaining 12th-century scalloped capitals with roll label, others plainer like the 13th-century north arcade. The east wall shows remains of 11th-century wall painting depicting flying angels supporting a mandorla containing Christ. The south wall contains 14th-century painting of Sabbath breakers, and the west wall has 16th or 17th-century painting of a bell. A floor slab bears a brass dated 1436 to Prioress Maria Gore; another slab at the west, beneath a 19th-century font, commemorates Moses Saunders. The tower arch is 14th-century with two orders, the inner on reused 12th-century scalloped capitals on a round shaft. An 18th-century benefactor board sits inside with a reused 15th-century timber screen. A memorial to Sir Francis Gosling dates to 1664. The north aisle retains remains of a rood stair in its northeast corner, with the east window containing 15th-century image niches in the rear arch. Floor slabs commemorate Dorothy Douce (1698), Thomas Douce (1732), and members of the Cleverly family (early 18th century). Pews in both aisles date to the 17th century.

The roofs of nave and aisles are 15th-century moulded arched brace roofs with cambered ties and embattled wallplates. The church contains bells dated 1585, two from 1642, and others from 1702 and 1770.