Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a large parish church, dating from the mid-15th to late-15th century, built on an older site in Plymouth, Devon. The tower was funded in 1460 by Thomas Yogge, a merchant, and construction involved masons John Dew and John Andrew, who worked on the South aisle in 1481-82. The church underwent restoration in 1826 by John Foulston and in 1875 by Sir Gilbert Scott. Severely damaged in the Blitz, it was restored between 1949 and 1957 under the direction of Frederick Eschells.

The church is constructed with Plymouth limestone rubble walls and granite dressings, with dry slate roofs and coped gable ends. The plan includes a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north and south chapels, porches, and a west tower standing 136 feet high. The exterior features 15th-century windows with 1875 Perpendicular tracery, including a five-light window at the east end to the aisles and a six-light window to the chancel, and similar windows to the west. Angle buttresses and four-light windows with hoodmoulds are also present. The north porch has a pointed-arched doorway with a square hoodmould and carved spandrels. The four-stage tower has offset corner buttresses, strings dividing the stages, and an embattled parapet with polygonal, crocketed corner pinnacles. A four-centred arched doorway is on the north side, with a two-light traceried window to the next stage; clockfaces are on the stage above, and three-light louvred and traceried windows are in the upper stage.

The interior features six-bay arcades between the nave and aisles, two bays between the aisles and chapels, and a lower arcade of three bays between the chancel and aisles, all with standard “A” type piers and depressed arches. Remnants of waggon roofs remain. The church furnishings were largely destroyed in the Blitz; a 1661 font, discovered in the garden, has since been reinstated. Post-war altar furnishings were designed by Colin Shewring.

The church contains a variety of monuments, including a 12th or 13th-century monument with a head on a pillow, a monument to John Sparke and his wife (1635) featuring kneeling figures, a monument to Jane Barker (died 1769), a bust by Chantrey (1829), a monument to Mrs Risdew (died 1818), also by Chantrey, and a monument to Dr Woolcombe (died 1822) by Westmacott, depicting standing figures of Medicine and Charity. Stained glass in the east and west windows, designed by John Piper and made by Patrick Reyntiens, dates to 1958. Following the Blitz in 1941, the inscription “RESURGAM” appeared above the north entrance, accompanied by flowers, which inspired the people of Plymouth to rebuild the church after the war.