Church Of Saint Andrew

Church of St Andrew

An Anglican parish church with Saxon origins and later medieval development, substantially restored in the 19th century. The building is constructed from local lias stone, cut and squared, with Ham stone dressings. The roofs are covered in Welsh slate with clay sawtooth ridge tiles between coped gables.

The church follows a three-cell plan comprising a two-bay chancel, three-bay nave with north aisle, north and south porches, a west tower, and a north-east vestry. The architectural phases span the 12th to 19th centuries, with work documented in the 12th and 13th centuries, the 15th century, and a major restoration undertaken in 1861–62 by John Norton.

The chancel is predominantly 13th-century in origin. It has a plinth and angled corner buttresses. The east window is a two-light Curvilinear tracery design, much restored. On the north wall sits a small curved lancet window with a restored head, beneath which is a 1680 memorial tablet. A projecting vestry, added in 1861, has a coped gable, a circular chimney, and a two-light cusped lancet window. The south wall features two small buttresses flanking a narrow pointed arched doorway (now blocked), with a three-light 15th-century window with ogee head light under a flat arch on either side, set in recesses without labels.

The nave has an upper section substantially rebuilt in the 19th century. The south wall contains a three-light 15th-century window set in a four-centre arched hollowed recess. A projecting south porch of 15th-century origins has side buttresses and a chamfered pointed outer arch now blocked.

The north aisle is a 19th-century addition with a plinth and bay buttresses. It features three-light east and west windows and two-light north windows executed in a 13th-century style. The north porch, also a 19th-century addition, has a double chamfered outer arch and hollow chamfered inner arch.

The tower dates to the late 19th century and comprises three stages with string courses. Offsets under stone slab roofs project to the north and south. An angled south-west corner buttress extends the full height, while a north-west octagonal stair turret is capped with a spirelet. The lowest stage has a three-light west window of 15th-century tracery in a hollowed pointed arched recess with a square stopped label, and a two-light cusped lancet window on the north side with almost plate tracery. The second stage is plain except for a rectangular window on the west side. The third stage features two-light 15th-century traceried windows with louvre baffles under plain arched labels. The top is crowned with a battlemented parapet and corner gargoyles.

Internally, the chancel has a 19th-century rib and panel vault ceiling and predominantly 19th-century fittings. A small 18th-century aumbry survives in the south wall, and a reredos by J D Sedding is present. An elaborate cusped niche in rural style in the north wall contains an effigy of a knight, probably Sir John of Clevedon, who died in 1373. The chancel arch is in 12th-century style but has been mostly recut and rebuilt.

The nave arcade and roof are 19th-century work, the former executed in an early 13th-century style. The under-tower space is unusual in its design and appears to have originally been intended as a crossing tower, with arches opening to the north, east, and south, and flying arched braces to the nave walls. A 20th-century screen now spans the base.

The south porch, accessible only from the nave, contains a probably 11th or 12th-century doorway of almost Saxon proportions and a chevron-decorated doorway on its south side.

Fittings include an elaborate pulpit dated 1610 with timber work on a 19th-century stone base. Two fonts are present: one with a lead-lined tulip bowl on a plain turned shaft, probably 12th-century; the other octagonal with keyed panels, deep undercoving, and twist base, dated 1660.

Memorials include a Keinton stone plaque in the chancel with ornamental stone surround of 1639, showing traces of colour but now damaged; several 17th-century floor slabs; and a defaced effigy in the north aisle, possibly Sir John of Filler, who died circa 1272. A 17th-century altar table was stolen between listings.