Parish Church Of St Andrew

Parish Church of St Andrew

Parish church (Anglican) dating from the 15th century, extensively restored in the early and mid-19th century. Built in ashlar and rubble with lead roofs.

The church is arranged as a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, south porch, and chancel, all in the Perpendicular style.

The west tower is constructed of ashlar and rises through four stages with set-back buttresses joined across the angles. A south-east half-octagon stair turret rises alongside. The first stage is blank to north and south, featuring a west doorway beneath a heavily moulded pointed arch with drip mould and decorative stops. Above this is a tall four-light window under a hoodmould. At the junction of each stage, the buttresses display weathered setbacks. The second stage has two-light windows under hoodmoulds with label cills on all sides; the west window is blank and features a lily in a vase flanked by niches containing figures of Gabriel and Mary representing the Annunciation. The third stage repeats the two-light windows on all sides and includes a clock face to the west. The fourth stage contains two two-light windows to north and south, and three two-light windows to east and west, all divided by attached shafts with pinnacles rising from string to cornice. The buttresses become diagonal at this level and bear pairs of crocketed shafts. A trefoil pierced parapet with gargoyles and corner finials crowns the tower, while the stair turret has a panelled top stage surmounted by an octagonal conical cap.

The nave features five pointed three-light clerestorey windows under a continuous dripstone. Attached shafts between each window rise through the parapet to crocketed pinnacles. North-east and south-east polygonal rood stair turrets rise to caps matching the tower turret. The north and south aisles have windows matching the clerestorey but taller, appearing on all sides and divided by buttresses, with a parapet as the nave and tower. The centre bay to the north has an inserted doorway with a pointed arch decorated with fleurons under a square dripstone.

The south porch has a three-light square-headed window above a heavily moulded south doorway. A polygonal parvice stair rises within the porch, and the parapet matches the tower. The inner porch door is restored with fleurons and masonic symbols. Beneath the east pier of this doorway is a fragment of Saxon work featuring interlaced decoration.

The chancel contains two three-light windows under dripstone moulds divided by buttresses, with diagonal buttresses at the east end and a shortened five-light east window. A south priest's door opens from the chancel. Attached to the north side are a 19th-century vestry and 20th-century boiler room.

Interior

The interior features a tall moulded tower arch beneath a line of the first roof, which predates the clerestorey. A niche contains a figure of St Andrew, now indoors. The nave comprises five bays with piers decorated with hollows and attached shafts with capitals. The clerestorey windows sit under continuous moulding that meets angel corbels from which the roof springs. A fine ribbed wagon roof features elaborately embellished wallplates from which tracery extends down into the spandrels below. Angels appear above each window, and floral bosses mark every roof junction. The north aisle has a similar flat wagon roof, while the south aisle roof is a 20th-century replacement.

A superb seven-bay rood screen dated 1522 dominates the interior, with panelled dado featuring linenfold work and Perpendicular tracery. Fans rise to support a multi-frieze cornice, and the wider central bay contains a pair of doors. The rood stair entrance stands to the left beneath an ogee arch with head corbel. The chancel contains a 19th-century reredos, a painted wagon roof, and remains of an aumbry and piscina.

Fittings and Furnishings

The church contains a Perpendicular stone pulpit with crocketed tracery rising to a frieze, surmounted by a sounding board dated 1621. A 12th-century font bears later floral motifs. Poppy-head benches line the nave. A churchwardens' coat of arms in strapwork dates from the Restoration period but was overpainted in 1805.

Glass and Memorials

The east windows of both aisles contain reset 15th-century glass fragments, which were removed in 1813 from the rood screen. Seven late 18th and early 19th-century memorial tablets are mounted on the walls, featuring white caskets and eulogies on dark grounds.