Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a church of 1848, built in the Decorated Gothic style by R C Carpenter. A sacristy was added in 1886, and the church stands on a new site. The building comprises a nave, north and south aisles, a crossing tower and spire, north and south transepts, and a chancel. The walls are of flint rubble with Caen stone dressings and copings, and have a slate roof. A stone broach spire tops the tower, with an internal brick core.

The south elevation features pointed windows of two lights with Y-tracery heads, trefoil-ogeed and quatrefoil detailing, and substantial hood moulds with decorative head stops. Diagonal buttresses are present, and the south doorway has a two-centred head and a stilted segmental-pointed rere-arch, flanked by nook shafts with plain round capitals. A Victorian porch of two bays, with benches and ogee-headed lights, stands to the south. The central tower has three stages, with a northeast spiral stair of octagonal form. The lower two stages have windows with small trefoil heads; the bell-stage has two-light windows with a reticulated head. Two orders of responds have keeled mouldings, with label and head stops. The broach spire has a small two-light window above a ball-flower cornice. The chancel has two bays with windows featuring curvilinear tracery. The sacristy to the northeast has a pitched roof and chimney, and includes a heavy quatrefoil plate, four roundels, a two-centred door with a label.

Inside, the chancel features an east window of three lights with a cusped geometric design, nook-shafts, a rere-arch, hood-mould and head stops. The chancel has two bays, with sanctuary windows that extend to ground level. The pointed barrel-vault ceiling is divided into 30 compartments, painted with sprays of stars. The crossing has pointed arches taller to the east and west, over half-octagonal responds. The flat wooden roof is divided into nine compartments, carried on stone corbels. Small north and south transepts are set under pentice roofs. Victorian features include a rood screen with a painted wood ogee-headed central arch and four side arches, and openwork brass gates with jewelled decoration. A wood sculpture above the rood depicts Christ crucified, the Virgin Mary, John, and four attendant angels. A hexagonal, panelled oak pulpit from the 19th century has carved figures, a stone and marbled trumpet-ribbed base, and terminates in paterae. A brass desk and two candlesticks are also present. The octagonal stone font has a cinquefoil panelled bowl, a hollow with a ball flower motif, an octagonal stone stem with spurs, and a brass eagle lectern. Five excellent stained glass windows by Powell’s, dating to around 1875, depict New Testament figures in the north and south aisles. Sanctuary furniture includes large and small brass candlesticks, one altar crucifix, two brass vases, and two service books. The sacristy contains some 17th-century enriched framing with turned front legs and modern arms.