Church Of St Andrew

Church of St Andrew

This is a church of major architectural importance, dating from the late 12th century with substantial additions in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. The chancel was added after the foundation of the Chantry College at Cotterstock in 1337. The building was restored and extended in 1876.

The church is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with squared coursed limestone and limestone ashlar, roofed in Collyweston slate and lead. It comprises an aisled nave, chancel, south porch, vestry and west tower.

The chancel's south elevation is built in ashlar and displays a range of three large Decorated windows with 3 lights and cusped lozenges. Two-stage buttresses separate the bays, with a plain parapet punctuated by two gargoyles. The steeply gabled roof is set with Collyweston slates and ashlar gable parapets. The east window has 5 lights in similar Decorated style, with a central buttress below it and flanking 3-stage buttresses. A stringcourse runs above the window, with a plain gable above. The north elevation of the chancel has three bays containing a range of two 3-light windows matching the south elevation, with a central 2-stage buttress and priest's door. A gabled vestry, added around 1876, projects from the left bay. An octagonal flue of 19th-century date rises from the main roof parapet.

The south aisle comprises two bays with a single 2-light square-head window. Two-stage clasping buttresses sit at the corners, supporting a lean-to roof with ashlar gable parapets. The aisle has 2-light windows at east and west ends, the west window square-headed. An ashlar gabled porch projects from the left bay, with an outer doorway topped by a 4-centre arch with moulded stone surround and multi-polygonal responds. The inner doorway is double-chamfered with a 2-centred arch head. Two-stage clasping buttresses sit at the corners. Square-head 2-light windows in the return walls are surmounted by central gargoyles. The porch roof is shallow and gabled with a castellated ashlar parapet; armorial beasts decorate the apex and eaves. The ceiling is tierceron-vaulted with ridge ribs and finely carved bosses.

The north aisle has three bays with a range of 2-light square-head windows. A north doorway in the right bay has a 2-centred arch head and moulded surround. Single-stage clasping buttresses sit at the corners, supporting a lean-to roof with ashlar parapets. The aisle has 2-light east and west windows, the west window square-headed. The nave clerestory features a range of two 2-light square-head windows. Its shallow gabled roof has a plain ashlar parapet with a corbel table.

The west tower is built in regular coursed rubble with three stages. Ashlar clasping buttresses sit at the western corners of the lower two stages. A late 12th-century west doorway has one order of shafts with scalloped capitals and a semi-circular arch decorated with zig-zag. A niche above contains a carved bracket and a 19th-century statue of St Andrew, with a small single-light window above. The lower two stages have no divisions on the south and west faces; the lower stage on the north face is rendered. The 13th-century bell-chamber openings have two lights with plate tracery, one order of shafts and central shafts. The Perpendicular castellated ashlar parapet is decorated with panels. Blocked openings are evident in the south wall of the tower.

The interior contains a two-bay nave arcade of early 13th-century date with double-chamfered arches, circular piers and octagonal capitals. A double-chamfered chancel arch and tower arch both have semi-circular responds; the tower arch has nailhead decoration to its capitals. The original chancel ceiling, following a shallower pitch than the gabled roof above, has moulded beams with five carved bosses. The nave and aisle roofs are 19th-century additions. A piscina and triple sedilia to the right of the altar have ogee-head openings with carved label stops and crocketing. An ogee-head niche stands to the left of the altar. The doorway to the vestry shows traces of paintwork on its hood mould and originally gave access to the College buildings. Stone benches line the aisle walls, and a coffin lid forms a bench end to the left of the south doorway. Squints flank the chancel arch. A carved bracket stands to the left of the north aisle east window.

The stained glass includes fragments of medieval glass in the north-east window of the north aisle. Nineteenth and 20th-century glass fills the centre and east windows of the north aisle, the south-east and east windows of the south aisle, and the belfry window. A Perpendicular octagonal font is decorated with elaborate cusping.

The monuments include a defaced effigy in the tower, probably of a 13th-century Canon. Robert Wintringham, Canon of Lincoln, died in 1420 and is commemorated by a brass effigy within an architectural surround featuring tall pinnacles. John Sinscare, died 1760, is remembered by a monument by Edward Bingham of Peterborough. An inscribed tablet in the tower has flanking tapered pilasters and an obelisk above, with a naval still-life below. Various 18th and 19th-century inscribed tablets are located in the tower.

The Chantry College was founded by John Gifford, Canon of York, for a provost and twelve Canons. It was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, the Blessed Apostles, St Andrew and All Saints, and was dissolved in 1536.