Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a parish church dating back to the mid-11th century, with significant surviving elements from the 12th, 18th, and 20th centuries. It is constructed of rubble flint and stone, with stone and brick dressings, and a brick tower, all covered by an old plain tile roof. The church sits on ground that slopes down to the east.

The 11th-century chancel retains wide, Saxon-Norman flat buttresses at the corners and centres of its walls, and features round-headed double-splay windows on its side walls. An east window from 1330 is a three-light design with reticulated tracery and a hood. The late 12th-century nave and aisles are taller, with a pair of round-headed openings in the east gable of the nave. The east end of the south aisle contains a 14th-century two-light window, while the north aisle has a 14th-century three-light window with a 20th-century rebuilt head. Two 18th-century two-light round-headed windows with brick dressings flank the porch on the south aisle, with a similar window on the west side. The 18th-century brick porch has a rounded head to its 20th-century doors. A small round-headed doorway is located on the north aisle.

The tower of 1703, as indicated by a tablet on its south side ("John Rowland, John Newell, churchwardens"), features blue header brickwork, some stone quoins, a hipped roof, and a weathervane. It has an 18th-century round-headed doorway on the north side and a 20th-century, 18th-century style two-light round-headed window on the west side. The tower’s upper stages are stepped, with rebuilt 18th-century one and two-light rectangular bell openings, crenellations, and stepped detailing.

Inside the chancel, medieval stained glass fragments remain, including a depiction of St Andrew in the head of the east window. An east-side stone corbel is present, and below the south window is a 13th-century piscina. Good 17th-century altar rails are also in place. The 14th-century roof is concealed by a canted ceiling with a moulded wallplate, with a tie beam across the window. A plain pointed chancel arch is present. The nave features a 14th-century two-bay south arcade with plain pointed single order arches and octagonal piers. A doorway to a rood stair is within the face of the east respond. A 1733 Royal Arms is displayed above a round-headed door to the tower. Memorial slabs include one dated 1643 to Roger Diggens and another from 1745 to Thomas King. The church contains 17th-century panelled pews that have been repaired. The south aisle has a 14th-century pointed doorway with a string and chamfer, leading to a 17th-century door. To the west is a heavy 16th-century box pew and a 12th-century font with a round body, an octagonal top, and an 18th-century cover. The north aisle contains a chantry chapel to the Tichborne family, divided off by Elizabeth style railings. The east window has a square head with nook shafts and a rebuilt 14th-century design, alongside a piscina with a bowl. A brass floor marker commemorates Anne Tichborne from 1519. N wall memorials include one from 1621 to Sir Benjamin Tichborne and his wife (with recumbent effigies of them and their children below a canopy), a 1619 memorial to their child Richard Tichborne, and a 1845 memorial by J E Carew to Sir Henry Tichborne Doughty. Five painted boards display coats of arms. The roof features a chamfered wallplate and ties supported on arch braces on corbels.