Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This is an Anglican parish church in Aveton Gifford, with origins in the second half of the 13th century, but extensively rebuilt and modified between 1957 and 1970 following major bomb damage sustained in 1943. A significant restoration was also undertaken in 1868.

The building is constructed of rubble with slate roofs to coped gables. It is cruciform in plan with a central tower, north porch, aisless nave, transepts, and chancel. Chapels that formerly flanked the chancel were not rebuilt after the bombing. A prominent circular stair turret occupies the south-west corner of the tower.

The west end features a 4-light window in 14th-century style with sexfoil over quatrefoil tracery. Corner buttresses with offsets to eaves height are present throughout. The south side has two 4-light windows with dripmoulds and voussoirs, and a circular stair turret with conical roof. A pointed doorway and two slits are visible on this side. The south transept is plain to the west, with a 4-light window and corner buttresses; its east face has a 3-light window set into walling that fills the original arch to a former chantry chapel. The south face of the chancel similarly has arcade fill with two 3-light windows; the east end features diagonal buttresses and a 4-light window with drip-mould similar to the west end. The north wall has a 3-light window with drip-mould and voussoirs. An internal corner to the north transept contains a vestry with lean-to roof, and a section of wall to a former chantry chapel remains at the north end. The north gable of the transept has a 4-light window with drip-mould.

The north porch, which survived the 1943 bombing intact, features a 2-light 14th-century window over a pointed arch with six hollow chamfers to the jambs (in worn slatey stone) and three much-worn colonnettes with barely discernible bases. The west side has an octagonal stair turret with a quatrefoil light, and the east side has a cusped lancet cut from a single stone. The porch has a slate floor and a 19th-century ceiling on brackets. A splendid 13th-century inner doorway has a richly moulded surround with paired columns; the mouldings terminate in crude cylindrical stops, as does the outer doorway.

The nave's north side has a lancet on each side of the porch. Windows throughout are generally in 14th-century style. The central tower comprises a plain square base, a middle range with louvred lights to the bell stage, and a crenellated parapet. The tower was rebuilt a second time in 1966 following wartime destruction.

Interior: The nave has a slate floor, plastered walls, and a barrel roof divided into 6 by 10 compartments with bosses. The north wall contains a small blind 13th-century opening and two lancets in deep rere-arches on colonnettes. A moulded doorhead breaks through a moulded string that returns at the west end and is stepped down at the window. The tower arch has a double hollow mould and 3 Early English columns with capitals. The intrados to the north tower arch contains a 14th-century figure in a niche of Bishop Stapletone (c.1300); a 20th-century screen is present. The chancel has a barrel roof similar to the nave, divided into 6 by 7 compartments; the remains of arcades feature granite piers with trumpet capitals. A piscina with wave-moulded arch is present. The north transept has a wood floor and a 6 by 5 compartment ceiling; a blind arch to the east features granite piers and capitals with interlace or cable-mould. The south transept is similar.

Fittings include an octagonal 14th-century granite font with panel decorations, a stone altar table, and 20th-century pews.

Memorials are distributed throughout. The nave's south side bears two white marble Greek tablets dated 1813 and 1834 by Kingsbridge Sculptors. The north transept contains a memorial to John Hurrell (1751 and other dates), a large slate memorial to John Honeychurch (died 1662) with very shallow lettering, and three brasses from 1874, 1917, and 1925. The sanctuary has a white marble memorial to Reverend Benjamin Kerr Vaughan, who died in 1847 aged 87 and served as vicar for 57 years. A tablet records that the Incorporated Church Building Society provided £30 in 1868 during the major restoration to furnish 56 extra seats, bringing the total capacity to 362 places.

In 1943, a stray aircraft released a series of bombs on the village, causing considerable damage. The church was left without a tower or roofs. A panel in the east wall of the porch records: "Built in the fourteenth century, destroyed 26 January 1943, restored 1948-1957, reconsecrated by the Bishop of Exeter 12 October 1957. New tower built in 1970."