Church Of St Andrew

History and Development

The Church of St Andrew was consecrated in 1259, though the earliest visible fabric dates from the 14th century or possibly earlier. Parts of the nave are probably 14th century, with the south aisle and west tower added in the 15th century and an exceptionally fine porch constructed in the early 16th century. The church underwent a long sequence of restoration work, culminating in a major programme begun in 1845 which involved rebuilding the chancel, adding the vestry, converting the west gallery into a private pew, and general refurbishment throughout.

Construction and Materials

The church is built mostly of flint with Beerstone dressings and some volcanic stone windows. The 19th-century work uses Bathstone for dressings, and the roofs are covered in lead.

Plan

The church comprises a nave, chancel, west tower, five-bay south arcade (with one bay extending to the chancel), north porch, and north-east vestry.

Exterior

Chancel

The 19th-century chancel features diagonal buttresses with set-offs and a very large five-light east window in Bathstone with a hoodmould and carved label stops. The 1845 lean-to vestry abuts the north wall, with a moulded east doorframe and a square-headed two-light north window with cusped ogee-arched lights.

Nave

The probably 14th-century nave has two small two-light Decorated traceried windows flanking the porch. The easternmost window lighting the pulpit is unusually elaborate Perpendicular work: a three-light window with carved demi-figures projecting below the capitals of the mullions. The internal face displays three projecting demi-angels holding scrolls. A shallow rectangular rood loft stair turret projects at the east end of the nave.

South Aisle

The south aisle has a four-light Perpendicular traceried east window and buttresses along the south side. The four western buttresses match one another with set-offs, while the easternmost buttress is plainer. Three three-light Perpendicular traceried windows light the aisle, and a two-centred shallow-moulded door with carved spandrels provides access to the south chancel chapel.

At the west end of the aisle, a gallery containing a family pew sits above the substantial heating system. A shallow 19th-century projecting stack on the south side has a stone shaft with set-offs and a crenellated cap. This end also features a 19th-century two-light square-headed south window with cusped lights and a west doorframe with a Tudor arch, hoodmould, and one-light cusped window above.

West Tower

The exceptionally fine, tall, three-stage battlemented west tower has set-back buttresses with set-offs, string courses, gargoyles below the battlements, and octagonal corner pinnacles with crocketted finials. A battlemented polygonal stair turret at the north-east corner rises above the tower, crowned with a tall conical lead spire. The turret has an external door with a chamfered doorframe, various windows (trefoil-headed, quatrefoil, and others), and a statue niche with a canopy.

The west face features a shallow-moulded Tudor arched doorway with hoodmould, a four-light 19th-century traceried west window with a king mullion, and a three-light traceried, transomed belfry opening. The south face has a two-light traceried, transomed belfry window. The east face has a similar three-light belfry opening and an 18th-century lead downpipe with rainwater head. The north face has a two-light transomed, traceried belfry window, a two-light uncusped window below, and directly below that a clock with a stone frame and carved spandrels.

North Porch

The unusually elaborate early 16th-century north porch has set-back buttresses and a coped parapet rising as a gable on the north side. The moulded four-centred outer doorway sits below three decayed statue niches with elaborate crocketted canopies and angel corbels holding shields and scrolls. The outer doorway is fitted with a fine pair of late 17th- or early 18th-century gates, balustraded above fielded panels with ramped top rails crowned with wrought iron cresting.

The porch has a shallow vaulted stone roof with a central boss, the ribs springing from corner shafts with blind tracery and bosses at the intersections. The inner doorway has a Tudor arched frame with an order of vine-carving and well-carved spandrels, with a statue niche above in a square-headed frame. A holy water stoup and porch benches with probably 17th-century moulded timber tops complete the furnishings.

Interior

Architectural Features

The walls are plastered. The 19th-century moulded chancel arch has an inner order dying into the responds. The elaborate Perpendicular tower arch features a panelled soffit with responds also panelled and decorated with three shafts with moulded caps.

The four-bay south arcade (with one bay extending to the chancel) has piers with corner shafts and carved foliage capitals. The western respond is a 19th-century rebuilding, and the arch into the chancel has additional mouldings to accommodate the thickness of the chancel wall. A south-west arch framing the family pew in the gallery has a moulded inner order dying into the responds.

Roofs

Open wagon roofs cover both nave and aisle. The aisle roof is Perpendicular (with some renewal) featuring shallow carved bosses and a vine-carved wall-plate. The east end bosses are more substantial and retain traces of paint. The nave roof is also renewed Perpendicular with bosses and remains of a pretty 19th-century painted scheme. At the east end, a ceilure bears a probably 20th-century paint scheme. The chancel has a 19th-century open wagon roof with a crested vine-carved wall-plate. The bottom stage of the tower has 15th- or early 16th-century cross-joisted intersecting moulded ceiling beams.

Fittings and Furnishings

The chancel retains its 19th-century fittings including good tiling, communion rail, 19th-century poppyhead choir stalls, and a low timber chancel screen with a frieze of open tracery. This screen has a 19th-century panelled dado and an unusual, moveable balustraded communion rail, probably 17th century.

The nave contains a 19th-century timber drum pulpit on a wineglass stem and an unusually ornate Perpendicular font with an octagonal bowl carved with panels of blind tracery filled with carved shields and figures. The bottom of the bowl is carved with tracery and set on a central, diagonally-placed stem carved with shields with four square-set corner shafts.

A set of 19th-century pews with blind traceried ends and doors furnishes the nave. The gallery supporting the family pew at the west end of the south aisle is elaborately decorated: at the bottom, ornamental iron grilles ventilate the heating system, with orders of stone carving and blind stone quatrefoils above, and a gallery frontal of open tracery at the top with poppyhead finials matching the chancel screen.

Repainted Royal Arms hang over the door, and early 19th-century nowy-head benefaction boards are displayed in the tower.

Monuments

In the chancel stands a 17th-century wall monument with some ancient colour, depicting a kneeling knight flanked by paired Corinthian columns. Cresswell considered this probably represents Sir Thomas Drewe of Grange. A number of white marble wall tablets from the 18th and 19th centuries commemorate members of the Drewe family. On the south side of the chancel, a tablet erected in 1898 and signed by Watts of Colchester commemorates Augustus Montague Toplady, Vicar 1768-1778, composer of 'Rock of Ages'.

The nave has a repoussé copper plaque commemorating John Barton (died 1898), and both aisle and nave contain a number of white marble 18th- and 19th-century wall tablets.

The south chancel chapel contains a late 17th-century wall monument commemorating Francis Drewe (died 1675) with original marbling and gilding, Corinthian columns, and a broken pediment.

Stained Glass

The church contains an extremely interesting 19th-century sequence of stained glass. On the south side, a series of four windows by the Hardman Company is particularly notable: the easternmost window and the next three. These are all of different dates but designed as a coherent set with similar scaling and colours. The westernmost window in the aisle is signed by Heaton, Butler and Bayne and dated 1901. The east windows in both chancel and aisle are by the same maker, probably Wailes, dating from around 1850. On the north side, the pulpit window is by Hardman, and the other stained glass window, with a memorial date of 1871, is probably by Powell.