Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a parish church with origins in the 15th century, substantially rebuilt in 1862 by G Evans of Wimborne for Sir Richard Glyn, incorporating some earlier fabric. It is constructed of coursed rubble and ashlar with lead roofs. The church comprises a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a west tower, a north vestry, and a south porch. The architecture is primarily Perpendicular, with elements from the 16th century.

The west tower has four stages separated by weathered string courses. The top stage is entirely 19th century, with diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet topped with crochetted pinnacles and gargoyles. It has a moulded 4-centred west door and a 3-light west window with a pointed head and carved stops. Rectangular loops are visible on the second stage, while the third stage features pointed 2-light windows from the 15th century with original labels and carved stops. The fourth stage has paired rectangular lights with labels bearing head stops. The remainder of the church features a parapet built of solid quatrefoils with openwork panelling above; a section dating to 1530, with the rest being 19th century, some panels elaborately carved. A string course with gargoyles sits below. The north aisle has four reset, pointed 15th-century 2-light windows. The vestry has a single-light window with a traceried head and returned label. The chancel’s east window is a 5-light design with a 4-centred head and returned label with carved stops. The south wall of the chancel has two segmental-headed 2-light windows with labels and head stops, flanking a pointed, moulded door with an ogee label and carved finial. The south aisle possesses pointed east and west wall windows of three lights with stopped labels. A 3-light square-headed window with 4-centred tracery and a stopped label is also present. Other windows are square-headed with 2 or 3 lights and stopped labels. The south porch has a moulded, pointed arch with respond shafts and carved capitals.

Inside, four-bay pointed arcades are carried on piers with applied shafts and elaborately carved 19th-century capitals by Boulton. A pointed, moulded chancel arch and a pointed, moulded tower arch are also present. The nave and chancel have 19th-century hammer-beam roofs springing from carved corbels, while the aisles have beamed roofs. A carved stone pulpit by Blentham, featuring figures of the four Evangelists, and 19th-century encaustic tiles are also noteworthy. The church also contains a 12th-century font with a cauldron-shaped bowl displaying carved scrolls and birds in high relief, 20th-century pews with traceried ends, a 16th-century tower screen combining Gothic and early Renaissance detail, 17th and 18th-century reset wall monuments.