Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This is a well-preserved parish church, primarily dating from the 15th century with some earlier fragments incorporated. The chancel may be 14th century and was consecrated in 1318. The building features rendered limestone and sandstone walls, exposed to the chancel, with gabled slate roofs over the nave and chancel, and flat lead roofs to the aisles.

The church comprises a nave, north and south aisles with chapels, a west tower, and a south two-storey porch, built mainly in the Perpendicular style. The tall west tower tapers in three stages and features set-back buttresses at the corners with battlements and eight low pinnacles. A pentagonal stair turret stands at the centre of the south side with very small arched lights. The belfry openings at ringing stage have two rounded arched lights. The west doorway is a wide four-centred granite arch with roll moulding, set back behind an outer arch of volcanic rock and red sandstone which has hollow chamfering. A late 19th-century restored four-light Perpendicular west window lights the tower, with a small single arched light on the second stage. The north aisle has a polygonal stair turret at its north-west corner, which formerly led to a west gallery and has one slit opening; both aisle and turret are battlemented. Six north windows, probably 19th-century restorations with Perpendicular tracery in Bath stone, are set between intermediate buttresses. The north doorway, set under a divided buttress, preserves a reused Norman tympanum in red sandstone carved with a Maltese cross and a bird, probably a swan, though the stone was damaged when hacked to fit the present doorway. A flat-roofed extension of circa early 20th century, set between the north aisle and chapel, has trefoil-headed windows. The chancel features an early 20th-century restored five-light Perpendicular east window with carved headstops, with set-back buttresses from the corners. A similar restored three-light window stands on the south side. To its left is a 15th-century priest's door in red sandstone with a four-centred arch, chamfered with pyramid stops and an arched hoodmould above. The east window of the south aisle is probably a 19th-century restoration but in Decorated style with star tracery similar to that at Staverton Church, retaining what are probably original carved headstops to the hoodmould. The south aisle is battlemented with set-back buttresses at the corners and intermediate buttresses between windows, and features restored four-light Perpendicular windows. Both aisles and the chancel have a chamfered plinth. The two-storey battlemented south porch has a small square-headed light on its east wall. A red sandstone four-centred arched doorway has hollow chamfering rebated behind a chamfered surround, with a four-centred arched light above containing leaded panes. Above this is a slate sundial dated 1713. The porch has a corbelled rubble roof and stone seats. A holy water stoup in the east wall has a chamfered arched opening with a projecting stone bowl. The south doorway is Early English, transitional from Norman style—a slightly pointed chamfered arch of red sandstone and Beer stone blocks with very heavy roll and hollow moulding to a semi-circular arched architrave with a depressed keystone. The doorway is hung with a probably 16th-century very heavy oak studded door with decorative strap hinges.

The interior is of good quality. The arcades to the aisles comprise six bays of octagonal red sandstone piers with shallow Beer stone capitals moulded at the top and carved with fleurons and human faces; some capitals have plain unchiselled blocks, as if unfinished. The bases vary, with some replaced; the original ones have cushion stops. The arcade features chamfered four-centred arches in red sandstone. The tower arch is plain and unchamfered with chamfered imposts. Stone newel stairs serve the porch chamber and stand in the west corner of each aisle, formerly leading to galleries which were removed in 1883.

The chancel contains a piscina in the south wall with a two-centred arched opening, and to its right is a sedilia of three stepped oak seats. The nave and chancel retain a restored wagon roof, whilst the aisles have 20th-century flat panelled ceilings. A 15th-century rood screen extends across the nave and both aisles, heavily restored in 1898 when the coving was completely replaced and the frieze and tracery were partially renewed. The panelling is largely original and painted with figures of the 24 Elders, the 12 apostles, and the 12 prophets; the two southernmost sections of panelling, which are unpainted, were replaced during restoration. Parclose screens to the chapels either side, also heavily restored, feature Perpendicular tracery and cambered arched doorways. Altar rails dated 1724 are of barley-twist type. A fine 15th-century richly carved and painted pulpit on a tapering stem has five panels which originally contained statues with crocketed canopies and decorated with carved vine foliage and fruit; 18th-century steps with turned newels, turned and moulded balusters, a curtail step, and carved brackets were added later. A 15th-century octagonal Beer stone font has alternate quatrefoils and shields in panels and two-light trefoil-headed niches on a pillar, three of which contain carved figures. The three chancel windows date from 1906 and are memorial gifts by C E Kemp. The glass in the east window of the south chapel is by Drake of Exeter.

Several 17th-century ledger-stones are preserved. In the nave is a red sandstone stone of 1650 and 1692 to William and Elizabeth Crosson; the latter was daughter of John Crossing Gent of Dornafield. At the front of the nave is a red sandstone memorial of 1653 to Henry Full of Ambrooke with a rhyming epitaph at the centre. At the rear of the nave is one of 1652 to Margaret Full of Ambrooke with a worn epitaph at the centre. On the wall of the south aisle is a large ornately carved plaster memorial to several members of the Neyle family of Ambrook, erected by William Neyle in 1727, bearing the family coat of arms. Above the south door is a royal coat of arms dated 1725.