Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This parish church, originally built in the 12th century, was significantly altered and enlarged during the 13th and 15th centuries, with further modifications in the 16th century and repairs in the 17th century. The building comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, south porch, north and south chapels, and chancel.

The structure is constructed of coursed, squared rubble with freestone dressings, except for the tower which is built in ashlar. The roofs are covered with lead and stone slate, finished with coped raised verges.

The west tower dates to the 15th century and was restored in 1928. It rises in four stages with setback buttresses terminating in clustered pinnacles on the third stage. The fourth stage carries clustered and setback pinnacles ending in square turrets set diagonally and surmounted by openwork spires. A projecting stair turret on the north-east is square on its first stage and half-octagonal above. The second and third stages have blocked two-light windows with cusped tracery heads and hoodmoulds with lozenge stops. The mullion of the third stage windows features a pierced quatrefoil within a circle at its base. An inscription appears to the left of the second stage window on the west face. Two single-light windows light the bell chamber, each with a pierced quatrefoil in an arch and four-centred heads, both set beneath a single ogee hoodmould that breaks through the parapet. The restored five-light west window has cusped tracery heads. A moulded surround frames the west door. A south-east buttress bears a plaque reading "I.B./I.C./C.W./1713".

The south aisle and chapel feature a plain parapet. Three windows in Perpendicular style, restored, include four-light and three-light examples; the eastern window has cusped four-centred heads to its tracery and daggers above. A projecting square rood stair turret with embattled parapet stands nearby. A relieving arch spans a blocked window immediately east of the porch. Carved gargoyles empty into downpipes with hoppers dated "EIIR/1953".

The nave is topped by a sanctus bellcote over the east gable with crocketed pinnacles.

The south porch, dating to circa 1300, displays an embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses. Its south doorway has five orders with ovolo moulding alternating with chamfers, topped by a roll-moulded hoodmould on a small fluted corbel to the west.

The chancel features angle buttresses and three-light windows. A priest's door is set in a heavy roll-moulded surround with a hoodmould carrying carved head stops. A restored three-light Perpendicular-style east window lights the space.

Rodney Chapel has an embattled parapet and east gable with a trefoil-headed window. A restored three-light Perpendicular-style window and north doorway with chamfered surround and depressed four-centred head complete its exterior.

The north aisle has a plain parapet and four windows of two, three, and four lights, all in Perpendicular style. Two four-light westernmost windows have cusped ogee heads. A north door with chamfered, four-centred headed surround provides access.

Interior

The south porch contains a blocked door to the left with a chamfered surround and pointed head, and a corbel with leaf ornament to the right. A stoup with pointed surround stands to the right of the door. A plank and cross-battened south door dates to the late 15th century.

The nave features five-bay arcades with octagonal piers and caps supporting chamfered, pointed arches. The westernmost arcade section dies into the later west wall. A 15th-century tower arch of two wave mouldings frames the entrance. The chancel arch rests on the thickened east piers of the arcade and takes a sharply pointed form. Carved heads ornament the piers, and square squints pierce through them. Restored Perpendicular-style roofs above the arcades rest on carved corbel heads. The nave roof is arch-braced and includes a two-light dormer window at the south-east corner, possibly designed to light the rood. Two blocked doors access the rood stair turret; the lower has an ogee and hollow-moulded surround.

Single-bay chapels to north and south have no capital to their eastern piers.

The single-bay chancel contains triple sedilia with colonnettes and pointed arches beneath a linked hoodmould on carved stops. A piscina of similar detail includes an outer roll moulding with a fillet. An ogee-headed niche stands to the left of the piscina, with two shallow niches on the east wall. The north-east corner holds a door with a double ogee-moulded surround and four-centred head.

Rodney Chapel, inscribed and dated 1536, was restored in 1933. It comprises a three-bay screen of depressed arches with a doorway to the left and two three-light cusped lights to the right. Above these are arms beneath a crocketed gable with pinnacles. A two-light trefoil-headed squint to the right retains a fragment of 11th-century carving. Inside, a cusped rere-arch frames the screen beneath a roof of five cusped transverse ribs.

A 12th-century font, restored in 1907, has a circular bowl with cable moulding and a circular stem with foliate moulding on its base.

The early 16th-century rood screen has a blank arcaded base with cusped tracery and quatrefoils in circles, with pierced tracery above and decorative heads. Doorways feature pointed four-centred heads. The pews date to 1933. A brass chandelier is dated 1786. The pulpit is late 19th century.

Monuments and Effigies

Rodney tomb: the effigy depicts Sir Walter Rodney, who died in 1466, though the tomb chest dates to the mid-14th century. It displays a five-bay blank arcade of cusped, ogee-headed niches with angels bearing arms and a band of fleurons above.

Rodney Chapel contains monuments to Elizabeth Harvey (early 17th century), an aedicule with small obelisk finial, and to Rice Davis (died 1638), comprising brass and marble plaques flanked by ashlar terms with moulded frieze, cornice, and arms above.

The north aisle holds monuments to Joseph Whitchurch (died 1792) by Tyley of Bristol, an inscribed marble plaque showing a weeping woman resting on an urn; Anthony Biggs (died 1752), a marble monument with broken pediment on brackets; and Joseph Hitchman (died 1765), a classical marble plaque.

The south aisle contains two monuments to the Simmons family—the lower from 1835, a marble plaque with draped urn, and the upper showing a weeping woman—and a marble tablet to Charles Biggs (died 1775) with flanking urns.