Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew, Shrivenham

This church was originally a 12th-century cruciform foundation whose central tower was rebuilt in the early 15th century in the Perpendicular style. When the building was substantially reconstructed at the expense of Lord Craven in 1638, the Perpendicular tower and two pilaster buttresses on the west wall were retained. The 1638 rebuilding created a rectangular space aligned with the end walls of the nave, chancel and transepts. A west porch was added in the mid-18th century.

The church is constructed of coursed rubble stone with stone dressings, dressed stone quoins and ashlar facing to the west porch. The central tower rises three storeys above the roofline and features diagonal buttresses with set-offs and carved figures, two-light pointed bell openings with Somerset tracery, and a final string course with gargoyles beneath a recently restored crenellated parapet with corner pinnacles. The apexes of the original cruciform roofs remain clearly visible on all four sides.

The body of the church is lit by excessively tall four-light cusped Perpendicular-style windows with flat heads linked by a continuous string course. Plain parapets run along the north and south sides, while pedimented parapets sit at the east and west ends. The south face displays a diamond-shaped clock, and the roof is topped with a weather vane.

The west front features a five-light window above the centrally placed porch. The porch's west wall has a pediment, while the north and south faces each have four-centred archways to studded plank doors with hood moulds and curious scrolled label stops. The east end presents a symmetrical composition with two three-light windows flanking a central five-light window, with two doors similar to those on the west porch below the outer windows. On the southwest corner are two sundials bearing the inscription: "All these dials were made by Salem Pearse, 1720".

The interior achieves classical effect through the uniformity and symmetry of its arcades. The three-bay nave and two-bay chancel feature bulbous Tuscan Doric piers with entasis to the midpoint, supporting heavily moulded capitals and round arches. The tower arches were rebuilt in a markedly medieval manner with continuous mouldings to pointed arches. A fan vault beneath the ringing stage is original to the medieval structure. Also original is the rood loft newel staircase in the southwest pier of the tower.

The nave and chancel are covered with simple late Perpendicular tie-beam timber roof structures with open panelling between principal rafters. The side aisles have simple lean-to timber ceilings. All windows have semi-circular rere arches; the window above the west door retains shafts with capitals of Transitional date.

The church contains various monuments of interest. The most ancient is a 14th-century defaced stone effigy of a woman in the south aisle. Others include several large black slate tablets with armorial crests to the Barrington family of Beckett Hall set into the floor of the chancel; two mural tablets on either side of the altar to John Wildman and John Shute of 1713 and 1734 respectively; and a neo-classical urn on a round plinth of 1793 on the northeast corner of the tower facing the altar to William Wildman, designed by James Wyatt and sculpted by Richard Westmacott. The chancel east window contains three fine panes of armorial glass. Three brass chandeliers hang from the roof; the central one bears the inscription "Ex douo Guillielmi Parson 1726".

The woodwork is an exceptional survival of the 1638 rebuilding period and includes a pulpit with tester whose panels feature perspective decoration, a contemporary chair in the sanctuary with similar decoration, pews under the tower and nave pews (cut down in 1887), and panelling on the aisle walls. The chancel screens are pseudo-17th-century work of 1901. The late 12th-century font of Purbeck marble has an octagonal bowl with round-arched blind panelling set on a round stem with an octagonal base. The brass eagle lectern is of 1901. The porch contains an enormous benefactions board and a royal coat of arms dated 1764.