Church of St Andrew

Details

ST04SW OLD CLEEVE CP

1/93 Church of St Andrew

22.5.69

GV I

Parish church. Some C12 work, chancel rebuilt and south chapel added or altered C13, aisle and porch mid C15, nave and aisle extended probably early C16, tower circa 1533, singing loft added 1764 and removed in C19, chancel restored circa 1844 and organ chamber added 1885. Red sandstone and blue lias random rubble chancel, squared and coursed red sandstone tower, rest blue lias random rubble buttressed in red sandstone, some herringbone masonry in North wall, slate roofs, coped verges. Plan: chancel, north organ chamber and vestry, 4-bay nave with South chapel and South aisle, South porch and West tower. Crenellated 3 stage tower, set back stepped buttresses rising full height to string courses with gargoyles, 3-light bell openings with Somerset tracery, blocked 3-light below, string courses of quatrefoil decoration, empty niche on South face, large 4-light West window with hoodmould, 4-centred arch West doorway with square hoodmould partly renewed in Ham stone, decorated spandrels, ribbed door, polygonal crenellated North West stair turret; to right 2 tier 3-light West window to South aisle, diagonal buttress one 3-light mullioned window with unusual cusped heads left, and 2 right of South porch, diagonal buttresses, gable end renewed in red sandstone, barrel vault roof, C19 moulded arched entrance, inner doorway Tudor arched head with remains of painted decoration and inscription in the spandrels, patterned pebble floor dated 1647/1 which should perhaps read 1847/1; end bay, South chapel, breaks forward slightly, diagonal buttress, chancel 2-light window and lancet with moulded blocked C13 doorway left and blocked lancet right, 3-light East window; North wall of nave two 3-light and one 2-light mullioned windows with cusped heads, gabled C19 heating chamber. Interior: rendered. chancel arch, 4-centred chamfered tower arch, standard Perpendicular arcade with disappointing capitals and hagioscope at East end. Chancel, moulded ribbed barrel vault with wall plate, similar C16 barrel vault roof with bosses to nave, South chapel 3 cambered beams, chamfered with step and runout stops, moulded arch to South aisle with monopitch moulded rafter roof with bosses and elaborate wallplate. Change in floor levels between second and third bays of nave, rich Minton tiled floor in nave and chancel, Medieval tiles set around font and in plaque hanging on North wall. Ogee headed moulded recess in North wall containing Beer stone effigy of civilian circa 1425, the animal at his feet said to be a cat playing with a mouse. Perpendicular octagonal font with handsome Victorian cover raised by a pulley, probably incorporating Medieval woodwork; Art Nouveau brass lectern by Dear Ramsden and Alwyn Carr dated 1911 with the name of the donor (Conrad von Hochburg of Croydon Hall) erased; communion rails 1791; 2 Medieval bench ends set in panelling behind altar; brass chandelier inscribed and dated 1770; Poor Box dated 1634; brass bound box in porch perhaps C17; tower screen by Rachel Reckett and Jane Horrobin circa 1975; good selection of Victorian stained glass by Morris and Co., Henry Holiday and Kempe with 1953 window by Comper. A fine interior. (Photographs in NMR; Pevsner, Buildings of England South and West Somerset 1958; VCH Somerset, Vol 5, forthcoming).

Listing NGR: ST0409541916

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

264851

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, (1958)
Dunning, R W, The Victoria History of the County of Somerset, (1985)

End of official list entry

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