Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is an Anglican parish church dating back to the 12th century, with later additions in the Early English and Perpendicular styles. It was considerably restored and had a north aisle added by J. Medland in 1866. The church is constructed of coursed squared and dressed limestone, with a stone slate roof over the nave and chancel, and a concrete tile roof on the north aisle.

The church comprises a nave with a north aisle, a south porch, a chancel, and a west tower. The chancel is buttressed. The south wall includes two 19th-century two-light stone-mullioned casement windows with trefoil lights, and a simple memorial to Bartholomew Dobson, the rector who died in 1660, positioned below the right-hand window. A round-headed east window is also present, featuring a flat-chamfered string course stepped above the windows. A 12th-century corbel head is incorporated into the north wall. The north aisle is a lean-to addition, with two pointed windows with gables in its north wall.

The west tower is of two stages with diagonal buttresses and a moulded plinth. A blocked west door, featuring a blocked pointed arch with casement and roll mouldings and carved spandrels, is visible above a two-light pointed window. String courses run between the tower stages. The belfry windows are two-light and have stone louvres, topped by a battlemented parapet.

The south wall of the nave has a single Early English trefoil-headed lancet window with carved spandrels, to the left of the porch, and a restored two-light Perpendicular window with cinquefoil-headed lights and a hood with square-ended stops. The porch is of 14th-century origin, and features a pointed arched entrance with hollow mouldings above the impost, and a stopped hood. Inside are stone bench seats and a late Perpendicular niche within the east wall, the sill incorporating part of an early sepulchral slab with an elaborately incised cross.

Inside the church, the 12th-century chancel arch displays chevron mouldings on its outer soffit, and engaged jamb shafts with scalloped capitals. Further 12th-century shafts with scalloped capitals are found at the east end of the chancel, potentially remnants of a former vault. A tall Perpendicular pointed arch leads to the tower, featuring semi-octagonal engaged columns. Access to the tower stairs is provided by a plank door within a Tudor-arched surround. The two-bay nave arcade includes a central round pier and flat-chamfered pointed arches. The nave has 19th-century seven-facetted roof trusses, and a square-panelled chancel roof. The nave floor consists of red and black tiles, with encaustic decorative tiles in the chancel and sanctuary. The church furnishings include a fine 13th-century octagonal font with paired trefoil-headed panels, contemporary pews, and a circular 19th-century pulpit with a painted biblical inscription. There is a 19th-century grey and white marble monument on the north wall of the nave, as well as 19th and 20th-century stained glass in the chancel east window and the easternmost window of the north aisle.