Church Of St Andrew

The Church of St Andrew is an Anglican parish church largely dating to the 13th and 15th centuries, with a major restoration in the 19th century. It is built of rubble, some coursed and squared, with freestone dressings, and has tile roofs with fishscale banding, coped verges, and cruciform finials. The architectural style is a mix of Early English and Perpendicular, reflecting the different periods of construction and subsequent restoration in a neo-Early English manner.

The church consists of a nave, chancel, a large, mid-19th century south transept, a south porch, a small, lean-to north vestry, and a west tower. The embattled three-stage tower has set-back buttresses, pinnacles on its corners, large gargoyles, and broad two-light bell-chamber windows with louvres. A large clockface with gilded numerals and hands is positioned on the east side of the tower. It also features blank quatrefoils below the parapet and blank two-light windows on the ringing chamber stage, with a stair-turret to the north. The west front has a large four-light transomed window with fine cut tracery and a doorway in an emphasised moulded surround flanked by triangular shafts.

The nave has two bays, with two-light Perpendicular windows to the north and low buttresses. The transept is a single bay with triple lancet windows and low buttresses. The porch has a front-facing gable, buttresses, and both Perpendicular inner and outer doorways. The chancel also has two bays, with two and three-light windows featuring Decorated tracery, most of which has been renewed. A priest’s door is located on the south side, and two 18th century memorials are set into the wall.

The interior is mostly plastered, with some scraping to the chancel. A lofty, panelled Perpendicular tower arch leads to the tower, and simple double-chamfered arches define the transept and chancel. The tower has a panelled ringing-chamber floor. The nave and transept have simple braced collar-beam roofs while the chancel has a panelled wagon roof. Rere-arches are present to the chancel windows. The chancel contains a stepped group of a piscina and sedilia with continuous mouldings dating to the 13th century. A Norman tub font with cable banding is complemented by a 19th-century cover with fine wrought-iron decoration.

Jacobean woodwork survives, including a restored pulpit, fragments of carving incorporated into a reader and choir stalls, a chair, and a chest. Other furnishings include High Gothic decalogue plaques, altar rails, an altar, and a chair. Simple pine pews are present. Two 17th century memorials are located in the chancel, along with a memorial to the Great War. The windows feature simple diamond-paned leaded lights and some clear glass.