Parish Church Of St Andrew

A parish church of probable 13th-century origin, substantially enlarged and modified over the following centuries. The building comprises rough-squared stone rubble with slate roof and granite, volcanic, and freestone dressings.

The church's plan is distinctive for the county: it includes a nave, chancel, a four-bay granite south arcade, a north-east vestry, and a south porch, with an unusual transeptal north tower. The 13th-century core survives in the chancel and tower, with the south aisle and porch added in the 15th century. Major work was undertaken in 1846 (including the addition of the vestry) and 1884, followed by long-term restoration and repair from the 1970s to 1980s.

The chancel retains a probable 13th-century three-light Early English east window with intersecting tracery, though the splayed internal jambs appear to be a 19th-century rebuilding. The north and south sides have two-light square-headed cusped windows. The north lean-to vestry, said to date from 1846 according to the church guide, reuses a two-light square-headed cusped medieval east window.

The nave features a three-light Perpendicular west window and a two-light freestone Perpendicular north window. The dominant external feature is the two-stage 13th-century transeptal north tower with diagonal buttresses, battlements, and corner pinnacles. It has a round-headed window on the east side, cusped belfry openings on the north, west, and east sides, and a polygonal stair turret on the west side.

The south aisle contains three-light Perpendicular east windows and three three-light Perpendicular granite windows. A rectangular rood loft stair turret and a doorway into the south chancel chapel with a depressed segmental head are also present. The south porch is particularly noteworthy, featuring a moulded granite outer doorframe with moulded capitals below a late 18th-century slate sundial—the gnomon angled to account for the church's alignment. The inner doorframe is also moulded granite. The porch retains a medieval ceiled wagon roof, 19th-century floor tiles, and a 19th-century door.

Internally, the church has plastered walls throughout. The chancel arch rises from the junction of the nave and lower chancel roof as an asymmetrical arch supported on a large timber corbel on the south side. A plain pointed arch connects to the tower. The four-bay granite south arcade features diagonally-set shafts to the piers, moulded capitals, and shallow-moulded Tudor arches. The western respond abuts a short section of plain wall dividing the nave and aisle at the west end.

Ceiled wagon roofs of probable late medieval date extend throughout, except for the easternmost section of the nave, which appears to be a 20th-century replacement. The roofs' carved detail has been obscured by what appears to be a 20th-century black and white colour scheme, suggestive of 17th-century work.

The chancel contains a probable 1840s reredos with texts in stone frames, late 19th-century tiling, and a late 19th-century Communion rail with iron standards decorated with leaves. A tomb recess on the north side—possibly an Easter Sepulchre—features carved spandrels and blind tracery on the back, with an arch decorated with fleurons. A carved medieval figure survives on the back beneath a crocketted ogee arch, believed to represent God the Father holding a miniature crucified Christ. A Purbeck marble slab within the recess commemorates a member of the Cockworthy family. Late 19th-century choir stalls with shaped ends and pierced tracery backs occupy the chancel.

The nave contains a particularly fine 1848 stone drum pulpit on a stem, its sides decorated with tracery panels and a text in carved Gothic script below a fleuron-decorated cornice. A well-preserved and unaltered 15th-century font features an octagonal bowl with faces carved alternately with trefoil-headed panels and quatrefoils, complete with its original lead lining. A tomb recess in the south wall of the aisle displays carved spandrels and fleurons.

The floor is paved with numerous 16th- and 17th-century ledger stones in the nave and aisle, bordered with 19th-century tiles. Late medieval Barnstaple tiles with varied motifs survive at the east end of the aisle. Nineteenth-century nave and aisle benches with shaped ends furnish the seating. A probable 13th-century oak chest with iron banding remains in the nave.

The tower contains a probable 13th-century two-centred chamfered stone doorframe into the stair turret and displays the Royal Arms of George IV.

The church contains several notable monuments. The chancel holds a white marble wall monument with a brattished frame commemorating Ann Loveband (died 1827), and a late 17th-century wall monument to John Pollard (died 1667) with Latin inscription and two busts in medallions. The north wall of the nave carries a wall monument to John Loveband (died 1818) in black marble with reeded pilasters, an oval inscription tablet, and an urn above—notable for appearing considerably earlier than its date. Above this monument, a painted text in a decorated plaster frame reads "Let me die the death of the rightous (sic) and let my last end be like his (Numbers 23c 10v)". A white marble plaque commemorates Anthony Loveband of Northchurch (died 1826), and other early 19th-century white plaques in the aisle commemorate further Loveband family members. A slate ledger stone with Latin inscription lies at the east end of the south aisle below the window.

The glazing includes a Clayton and Bell east window with a memorial date of 1867. The east window of the aisle retains fragments of 15th-century medieval stained glass including armorial bearings and a winged figure.

Two doorways to the roof loft stair turret survive internally, the upper doorway plainer than the lower. A blocked west door to the nave is also evident.