Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a parish church primarily built in the 15th and early 16th centuries, with some work dating back to around 1200 in the lower parts of the tower and chancel. It underwent renovations in 1765 and 1816 and was restored after a fire in 1933. The church is constructed of stone rubble, ashlar, and knapped flint, with slate roofs. It features a nave, north and south aisles, chancel, north and south chapels, and transepts, along with a crossing tower.

The 15th-century nave includes a large restored perpendicular west window and a west doorway. The upper part of the nave and the north and south arcades were rebuilt in the 18th and early 19th centuries. An early 14th-century five-light east window showcases geometric tracery. The church has embattled ashlar parapets on the nave, south aisle, and south transept, as well as a two-storey south porch with external stairs. The crossing tower features two-light bell openings, an embattled parapet with pinnacles, gargoyles, and a late 15th-century octagonal top stage with two-light windows, battlements with pinnacles, and small flying buttresses at the corners.

Inside, the four-bay north and south arcades were rebuilt in the 18th and early 19th centuries. There is a stone screen to the south chancel chapel dating from around 1530 and a Jacobean stone screen to the north chancel chapel. Notable monuments include those of Margaret Countess of Devon (1449), Sir John Pole (1658) and his wife (1628), possibly by Gerard Johnson of Southwark, and Sir William Pole (died 1635), the antiquary, who is buried in the Pole Chapel without a memorial. Other 17th-century Pole monuments, as well as those for William Westover (1615) and W Drake (1680), can also be found. Fragments of a Saxon cross from around the late 10th century and a brass candelabra from 1796 are present, along with stained glass in the west window by Hardman. The church contains 19th and 20th-century furnishings and roofs, with the roofs of the nave and south aisle destroyed by the 1933 fire. In the churchyard, there are several 18th and 19th-century tomb chests.