Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

An Anglican parish church at Coln St Dennis, dating from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries with late Perpendicular additions. The building is constructed of limestone rubble with dressed stone quoins and has a stone slate roof.

The church comprises a nave with a projecting south porch and an incorporated west tower, together with a chancel. The 11th-century nave retains a simple plinth and long and short quoins except at the north-east corner. The south wall of the nave features a stepped base to the lowest quoin stone at the south-east corner, and a single simple pilaster with an 11th-century mass dial (restored). A 15th-century three-light pointed window with tracery stands to the right of the pilaster, while to the left is a pointed two-light window with quatrefoil and hood adorned with small beasts' head stops. The south porch contains a 19th-century plank door set within an early 12th-century surround featuring engaged nook-shafts with scalloped capitals and a plain segmental tympanum. A 13th-century trefoil-headed lancet window is positioned to the left of the porch. A single lancet appears at the west gable end.

The north wall of the nave has a single simple pilaster with stepped base. A 15th-century pointed two-light window with cinquefoil-headed lights and quatrefoil sits to the left, and a 19th-century two-light pointed window matching that on the south stands to the right. A blocked north doorway displays a late 13th-century outer face with keeled jamb shafts and a cinquefoil-headed arch with heavy roll moulding, marking the position of an 11th-century doorway.

The chancel was rebuilt in the 11th century at its east end with a plain plinth. The north wall has a single plain pilaster, and a small round-headed window cut from a single stone slab. The east window is a three-light Perpendicular design with stepped hood. Two 19th-century lancet windows flank a 19th-century plank door on the south wall, set within a 13th-century basket-headed surround with traces of an 11th-century pilaster visible above.

The late Perpendicular two-stage tower above the west end features a single lancet to the lower stage on the west side and pointed two-light belfry windows. A string course between the stages is interrupted by a 19th-century clock on the west side. The late Perpendicular porch has a pointed-arched entrance with flat-chamfered imposts. The church roof displays flat coping to gable ends and a 19th-century Maltese cross finial at the east end of the chancel, with a 19th-century panelled roof within the porch.

Interior

The church is plastered with a six-bay nave and two-bay chancel, both covered with 19th-century panelled wagon roofs. The nave and chancel have flagged floors, while the sanctuary is laid with coloured and encaustic tile. A tall, probably 11th-century, round-headed archway with imposts stands at the rear of the south door. The chancel arch is 12th-century with a round-headed profile and flat-chamfered imposts decorated with pellet ornament. A 19th-century organ gallery obscures the probably 19th-century tower arch. The north wall of the nave contains a recess with an open-sided recess above for a 19th-century store. A probably Perpendicular segmental-headed recess in the north wall, featuring a casement-moulded surround with one carved-head stop, may be a tomb recess or Easter sepulchre.

An early 12th-century tub font with scalloped base (scraped and refaced inside the south door) survives. 19th-century furnishings include pews, lectern, communion rail and altar table. A medieval oak chest stands at the east end of the nave. A 15th-century five-sided stone pulpit with moulded panels is also present.

Monuments

The church contains several monuments: a neo-Greek white marble monument to Richard Millington (died 1765) and Jeremiah Millington (died 1796) on the south wall of the chancel, executed by R. Cooke of London; a segmental-headed monument to Thomas Hunt of Burford (died 1807) with two urn finials on the north wall; and a white marble monument to John Millington (died 1817) to the right.

Three 19th-century stained glass windows in the chancel include an east window possibly by Hardman. Fragments of 15th-century glass survive in the nave, including a figure of St Margaret.