Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is a parish church dating back to the 14th century, with significant additions and alterations in the 15th and 19th centuries. It is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with lead and slate roofs, and features coped verges with cruciform finials. The church comprises a nave with a south porch and a south chapel, a west tower, a north aisle, and a chancel with a vestry. The architectural style is primarily Perpendicular.

The south chapel likely dates to around 1315 during a period of rebuilding, and contains a two-light south window with cinquefoiled heads, and two cinquefoiled tomb recesses, although the effigies they originally housed have been removed. The south doorway and door, presumed to be early 14th century, were reused in the porch, alongside a contemporary stoup with a finial. The late 14th-century tower has set-back buttresses, battlements, a top stair turret, two-light bell chamber windows, and a four-light West window. The tower arch, and the arch to the south chapel, have wave mouldings. The nave, also from the late 14th or early 15th century, was remodelled and features three bays with three-light windows. A five-bay north aisle was added in 1838, featuring galleries, a parapet with battlements, and designed in a Perpendicular style. The chancel arch was rebuilt in 1838, and the chancel itself was remodelled in 1878, with two-light windows and a three-light East window.

A notable interior feature is the remains of the Whitehall Altar, commissioned in 1686 by James II from Grinling Gibbons and Quellin for the Chapel Royal at Whitehall Palace. It was removed to Westminster Abbey around 1710 and later moved to Burnham in 1820. In the late 19th century, it was dismantled and used to create a reredos; three cherubs were removed to the north aisle, and the large flanking angels are now positioned on pedestals beneath the tower. The church also contains a heavily remodelled Jacobean pulpit, 18th-century branches, 19th-century pews, choir stalls, a font, and an altar rail. An organ from 1885, made by Vowles of Bristol, is also present. A memorial tablet from 1598 is located under the tower, dedicated to Austin Bord, and there are five further 19th-century wall monuments, the most elaborate being dedicated to the Reed family in the nave. The north aisle has a lean-to roof, the nave a barrel roof, and the chancel an arch-braced roof. Some medieval glass remains in the South-West window of the nave, with the remainder of the stained glass dating from the 19th century. A pre-Reformation altar stone, uncovered in the 19th century, is now used as a gravestone in the south chapel. Three painted plaques in the vestry commemorate local charities from the 17th and 18th centuries. Further Jacobean furnishings include a communion table and a chair. A C18 painting of Christ is located in the north aisle.