Parish Church of St Andrew

Details

TL 64 SE HELIONS BUMPSTEAD CHURCH HILL 2/28 Parish Church of 21/6/62 St. Andrew

GV II*

Parish church, C13 and later. Plastered flint rubble with dressings of limestone and clunch. W tower, S porch and vestry of red brick roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Chancel mid-C13, Nave possibly older but date uncertain, S arcade mid-C14, S aisle rebuilt early C16 and repaired in C19, clerestorey early C16, W tower, S porch and vestry early C19. The Chancel has a C15 E window of 3 cinquefoiled lights with restored mullions and tracery under a 2-centred head with drip-mould; the external reveals are hollow-moulded. At the W end of the N wall is a mid-C13 lancet window, rebated and chamfered externally, with chamfered rear-arch. In the S wall are 3 similar windows; the sill of the easternmost is carried down to form a seat; the westernmost is a low-side window of which the lower part is blocked. Between the 2 westernmost windows is a doorway of uncertain date with chamfered jambs and 2-centred head, plain ledged door and draw-bar holes. There is a piscina with chamfered jambs, 2-centred head and hexagonal drain, probably C13. The 2-centred chancel arch is mid-C13, restored; it is of 2 moulded orders with keeled attached shafts, moulded capitals and bases. The N wall of the Nave has 2 windows, each of 2 cinquefoiled lights and tracery, restored, with 2-centred head and rear-arch. Further W is the late C15 N doorway, now blocked externally; it has hollow- chamfered jambs and 2-centred rear-arch. The S arcade is of 4 bays, mid-C14, altered in the early C16 when the S aisle was rebuilt; the 2-centred arches are of 2 chamfered orders, the piers octagonal with moulded capitals and bases; the E respond is obscured by plaster below the moulded capital, and the W respond has a semi-octagonal attached shaft with a moulded capital and no base. The clerestorey has on both sides 4 early C16 windows each of 2 uncusped lights with Y-tracery under a 4-centred head; the middle 2 on each side are blocked. The S aisle retains a little mid-C14 structure at the W end but was largely rebuilt in the early C16 and substantially rebuilt in brick in the early C19. The early C16 S doorway has moulded jambs and 2-centred arch under a square-head, with segmental-pointed rear-arch. W of it is a blocked window forming an internal recess. In the W wall is a C20 window with segmental-pointed rear-arch. The Nave roof is plastered, semi-elliptical; the aisle roof is C19. The W tower was built in 1812, but the tower-arch is circa 1400, 2-centred, of 4 chamfered orders. The responds have semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases; the W half of the arch has C17 graffiti and is cut off by the C19 wall. There is a consecration cross on the NE buttress of the Nave, incised cross formy, reworked. The font is octagonal, the bowl and stem with cusped panels, C15. C15 woodwork is re-used in the C19 pulpit, S door, and seating. There are 8 bells and a clock-bell, the third by Miles Graye, 1647, the fifth by Miles Graye, undated, and the sixth by Miles Graye, 1641. On the N wall of the Chancel there are monuments (1) to Devereux Tallakarne, 1627, and Mary (Steward) his wife, tablet with terminal figures, entablature and oblisks, 3 shields and defaced inscriptions, (2) to William Gardner, 1667, and Margaret his wife, 1683, marble tablet with Ionic pilasters, cleft pediment and shield of arms. There is a floor-slab in the Chancel to William Sharpe, 1692. C18 painted texts are partly revealed above the tower arch and high on the nave walls.

Listing NGR: TL6513641664

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

114099

Legacy System:

LBS

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