Church Of St Andrew

An Anglican parish church of complex growth spanning from the late 12th century through to the 15th century, with significant 19th-century restoration by Waller to the nave and north aisle in 1883.

The church comprises a nave with projecting south porch and north aisle, chancel with north vestry, and west tower. The south wall of the nave is reputed to have been built at the expense of the Neville family and is of ashlar, while the chancel, north aisle, south porch, and tower are of limestone rubble. The tower has squared and finely dressed clasping buttresses.

The south wall of the nave is the most elaborate exterior feature. It displays five fine tall 3-light Perpendicular windows, two of which are curtailed by the porch gable. Buttresses with offsets and moulded copings rise above a plinth with moulded capping. A projecting multi-angular stair turret dated 1485 gives access to the rood loft and is decorated with a pierced stone ventilation panel. Above the wall runs a moulded cornice carved with small faces and bats, and the stone slab roof rises to an engaged finial. A large painted sundial with metal gnomon is set above. An inscription dated 1461 on the buttress to the right of the porch commemorates Richard Sely, probably the Neville's bailiff. The south porch contains a double studded 19th-century door within a 4-centred arched surround dated 1491 on the right-hand jamb, decorated with carved spandrels bearing shields and foliate ornament. An image niche with flat-chamfered basket-headed surround sits above the door. The south wall terminates in a battlemented parapet with a crocketed pinnacle at the south-east corner and a string course with large gargoyles including a frog.

The 13th-century chancel has roll-moulded corbels on its north and south walls. A 14th-century pointed 2-light window with plate tracery and scroll-moulded hood appears to the right, flanked by a narrow 19th-century plank door with decorative hinges in a flat-chamfered round-headed surround. The east end features a three-light Perpendicular window with scroll-moulded hood with scrolled stops and relieving arch. A partly blocked lancet window on the north side retains 15th-century stained glass depicting the man in the moon, Tudor roses, stars and a crown; fragments of similar glass are reset in the base of one of the south chancel windows. A flat-roofed 19th-century vestry extends from the north, fitted with a plank priest's door with decorative hinges in a Tudor-arched surround decorated with thistle flowers.

The 19th-century north aisle has a north wall with side buttresses of offsets and three 3-light stone-mullioned windows with tracery in rectangular surrounds.

The late 12th-century tower is distinguished by a 15th-century fourth stage. A narrow early studded plank west door with early thumb latch and lock sits within a restored round-headed surround. Strings mark the divisions between stages. The third stage retains blocked 12th-century belfry windows, two with central square-sectioned mullions and semi-circular lintels and hoods. The fourth stage has pointed single-light belfry windows with stone slate louvres. A 19th-century clock is mounted above the south belfry window. The parapet is battlemented with a string course carrying gargoyles.

The 13th to 14th-century south porch is gabled with a double-chamfered arched entrance whose inner arch springs from moulded corbels, and features a stopped hood. The flagged floor contains a freestanding rectangular block of limestone (approximately 30 by 40 centimetres) with two small rectangular niches, the lower pierced at the rear. A single flower and cross motif is cut by the upper niche.

The interior is plastered with a 5-bay nave, 7-bay north aisle, and 2-bay chancel. The late 12th-century three-bay nave arcade consists of cruciform piers with corner shafts and larger semi-circular responds to the arch openings, topped with scalloped capitals. The wall above the arcade was raised in the 15th century to match the south wall height. The late 12th-century tower arch is depressed semi-circular, of three orders. The Early English chancel arch features stiff-leaf capitals. Nineteenth-century pointed arches connect the north aisle and organ chamber, and the organ chamber to the chancel.

The chancel roof is an early panelled wagon type resting on carved head and heraldic stone corbels. The nave roof features 15th-century moulded and cambered tie beams supported on brackets from carved head corbels of the same date; the panelling was replaced in the 19th or early 20th century. The vestry has 19th-century arch-braced roof trusses with wind-bracing.

Flooring comprises flagged stone in the nave and encaustic tiles in the chancel. A 13th-century trefoil-headed piscina with roll-moulded surround stands in the south wall of the chancel, and a small 4-centred arched piscina appears in the nave south wall. A blocked flat-chamfered Tudor-arched doorway that once gave access to the rood loft is now occupied by a fine 15th-century octagonal stone pulpit with blind tracery, crocketing, and engaged pinnacles.

The 12th-century limestone tub font with blind arcading stands inside the south door. A niche containing a Madonna and child figure by Helen Rock, dated circa 1911, is set in the north wall of the north aisle. An 18th-century wooden lectern with barley-twist column and caryatid figures at the base serves the church. Twentieth-century pews and choir stalls are also present.

The church contains numerous monuments. A marble monument to John and Elizabeth Ballinger, died 1789 and 1788 respectively, was erected by Charles Ballinger of Chalford, a clothier. Another marble monument commemorates Anne Eliza, wife of Reverend Cornelius Pitt, died 1825, and Reverend Cornelius Pitt himself, died 1840, both by Emmanuel Bridges of Chedworth. At the base of the tower on the west wall stand two 18th-century monuments, one to Thomas Rogers who died 1742 with family members, featuring a cartouche-like surround with three cherub heads (originally with three ball finials at the top), and an oval memorial to Reverend James Rawes, former Vicar, with pink marble inlay and ribbon tie. Below is a benefaction board detailing a benefaction by Charles Ballinger dated 1798. The north wall displays a monument to John, son of Thomas Rogers and Dennis his wife, died 1724, with a cartouche-like surround and single cherub head (formerly with a single ball finial). The south wall contains a limestone monument to George Nelson, former curate, died 1811, with a raised rectangular stone plaque.

The stained glass of the partly blocked north chancel lancet window is 15th-century work, with fragments of similar glass reset in the base of one of the south chancel windows. The remaining chancel windows contain 19th-century stained glass.