Details
ALLER CP
ST32NE
4/4 Church of St Andrew
17.4.59
GV II*
Anglican Parish Church. Saxon origins; work of C12/13, C15, major restoration 1861-62 by John Norton. Local lias stone
cut and squared, Ham stone dressings; Welsh slate roofs with clay sawtooth ridge between coped gables. Three-cell plan
of 2-bay chancel, 3-bay nave and north aisle, with north and south porches and west tower, and north east vestry.
Chancel mostly C13; plinth, angled corner buttresses; 2-light Curvilinear traceried east window, much restored, under
which a 1680 memorial tableti on north wall a small curved lancet window with restored head, and projecting 1861
vestry, which has a coped gable, a circular chimney and a 2-light cusped lancet window; south wall has two small
buttresses flanking narrow pointed arched doorway, now blocked, and on either side a 3-light C15 window with ogee head
light under flat arch, in recesses with no labels. Nave has a south east buttress; upper part of walls a C19 rebuild;
south wall has a 3 light C15 window set in a 4-centre arched hollowed recess; projecting south porch, C15 origins, has
side butresses, chamfered pointed outer arch now blocked. North aisle a C19 addition; plinth, bay buttresses; 3-light
east and west windows and 2-light north windows in a C13 style: north porch has double chamfer outer arch and hollow
chamfered inner arch, the whole a C19 addition. Tower of late C19; 3 stages, with string courses, and lower stage
offsets under stone slab roofs to north and south sides; angled south west corner buttress to full height, north west
octagonal stair turret capped with spirelet: lowest stage has 3-light west window of C15 tracery in hollowed pointed
arched recess, square stopped label; on north side a 2-light cusped lancet, almost plate tracery; stage 2 plain save
for rectangular window on west side; Stage 3 has 2-light C15 traceried windows with louvre baffles, under plain arched
labels; top of tower has battlemented parapet and corner gargoyles. Inside, chancel has C19 rib and panel vault ceiling
and mostly C19 fittings, but a small C18 aumbry in south wall, and a reredos by J D Sedding; in north wall an elaborate
cusped niche in a rural style with effigy of a knight, probably Sir John of Clevedon, d 1373; C12 style chancel arch,
mostly recut/rebuilt. Nave arcade and roof C19, former in an early C13 style. The under-tower space unusual - it seems
to be originally designed as a crossing tower, with arches to north, east and south, and flying arched braces to nave
walls; C20 screen across base. In south porch, accessible only from nave, a probably C11/12 doorway almost Saxon in
proportions, and on South side chevron decorated doorway. Fittings include an elaborate pulpit dated 1610, timber on a
C19 stone base; two fonts, one a lead-lined tulip bowl on plain turned shaft, probably C12, the other octagonal, with
keyed panels, deep undercoving and twist base, dated 1660. Memorials include a Keinton stone plaque in chancel, with
ornamental stone surround of 1639, traces of colour remain but memorial damaged; several C17 floor slabs; another
defaced effigy in north aisle, possibly Sir John of filler, died c1272. C17 Altar table stolen since last listing. (VCH,
vol III, 1974; Pevsner, Buildings of England South and West Somerset, 1958).
Listing NGR: ST3963228805
