Church of St Andrew

Details

CHIPPENHAM

ST9273SW MARKET PLACE 930-1/10/115 (East side) 25/04/50 Church of St Andrew

GV II*

Parish church. C12 origins; mostly rebuilt in C15, including the ornate south (or Hungerford) chapel built in 1442 for Walter, Lord Hungerford, Lord High Treasurer to Henry VI; C14 base to tower, which was rebuilt in Gothic Survival style in 1633; restored and enlarged 1875-78 by R Darley. MATERIALS: limestone ashlar and coursed rubblestone with a slate roof. PLAN: 5-bay aisled nave with west tower, south (Hungerford) chapel and 1907 vestry to the north-east. EXTERIOR: the church is surrounded by a coved string course below the castellated parapet and a moulded plinth (except the chancel). The C19 rubblestone chancel has a 5-light Perpendicular-style east window above 3 plain off-set buttresses up to the weathered sill and plain eaves. The C19 vestry to the north-east corner, has finely-detailed leading to 3-light windows to east and north; the west front has a crocketed niche to the gable over a projecting rectangular porch with a swept, hipped stone slate roof supported by C13-style engaged columns below curved corbelling to a cornice and oak gutter. The planked door, set in a 2-centred basket-arched architrave, has Art nouveau-style ornamented wrought-iron hinges. The C19 5-bay north aisle has a castellated parapet, off-set buttresses articulating pointed-arched 4-light windows and a gabled doorcase to the west end. The tower to the west end of the C19 nave is in 3-stages, rebuilt except for the C14 lower stage in 1633. It has clasping buttresses, lancet windows to the returns of the lower stages, 2-light pointed-arched louvred bell openings, a pierced parapet with crocketed finials and an octagonal spire with gablets to the centre of each facet. The 3-bay C15 Hungerford Chapel (baptistry) has a richly moulded plinth and string course; 4-light Perpendicular windows; 2 to the south and one to each return; diagonal and central buttresses each with 2 elaborately panelled and crocketed finials to the weatherings and tops. The planked-and-studded south door is set in a shallow pointed-arched architrave in a flat-arched moulded surround. The sill of the window to the east of the door was lowered in C19 to accommodate a large memorial window. The right return has a flat-arched 3-light window with label mould and diagonal square stops which would have lit the area below the former gallery.To the south-east corner is a head gargoyle. The 3-bay C15 south-east chapel (Lady Chapel) has a richly carved parapet of square quatrefoiled panels with foliate bosses to the centres and carved heads to the string course. Each merlon to the castellation has a similar larger panel, the finial to east gable end is a lion 'sejant affronte'. In the angle with the chancel is a small pointed-arched door. INTERIOR: the roof was raised and the clerestorey inserted in 1875-8 and church was re-roofed in 1902. To the north chapel is a repositioned Norman chancel arch with chevron moulding and scalloped capitals to paired engaged columns; to the east of the arch is a reset C12 window, from the north wall of the nave. To the south wall is an arched recess, the moulding articulated by bosses, possibly housing a former tomb. The early C18 altar rail has barley-sugar-twist balusters, moulded rail and plinth; diagonally-laid slate and limestone flagged floor, possibly early C18. 5-bay nave arcades in Perpendicular style with thin piers; arch-braced king-post roofs on head corbels. The 1752 organ by Seede of Bristol, repositioned to the east end of the north aisle, has a fine carved oak Baroque case with crowned trumpeting angels flanking a segmental pediment and pulvinated frieze. Leaded windows to the north aisle. C19 stained glass to the south aisle; the 1902 screen to the east end was carved from timber of the former roof. The square baptistry at the centre of the south aisle, rebuilt in 1442 by Walter, Lord Hungerford, has a 4-centred arch higher than the wallplate of the aisle. A plan of 1787 shows it to have been formerly floored to form the women's gallery. The sill of the window to the east of the south door was lowered in the late C19 to accomodate a large stained-glass memorial window. It houses the chest tomb, dated 1570, of Andrew and Sir Edward Baynton of Rowden who for a time commanded the Parliamentary forces in Wiltshire during the Civil War. On the east wall are 6 inscribed marble panels dating from 1631 to 1689. Fronting the chancel arch is an elaborate c1920 medieval-style wooden rood screen of 3 semicircular arches below ribbed vaulting, framed by slender reeded columns and lintel. It is a memorial to parishioners who died in the 1914-18 war. To the east end the pitch of the former roof is visible in the stonework. MEMORIALS: include a fine memorial at the west end of the south aisle to Sir Gilbert Pryn Knight d1627 who married Mary, the eldest daughter of Jayne Davies. 2 kneeling figures face each other; the lower section has 5 kneeling children carrying skulls; 2 daughters with ruffs kneel on a projecting platform. The monument is flanked by pilasters and obelisks supported by putti. An entablature is crowned by a shield and helmets flanked by urns. 2 long inscriptions below. 4 memorial panels in the tower date from 1664 to 1718. In the south-east corner is a repositioned medieval relief carving of figure (origin unknown) approx 2m high. HISTORY: the restoration of 1875-78 included extending the chancel 6m, adding a clerestory, rebuilding the nave and repositioning the Norman arch and the organ. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N & Cherry B: Wiltshire: London: 1967-1975: 167-8).

Listing NGR: ST9228273223

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

462329

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1975), 167-8

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.