Church of St Andrew

Details

QUATT MALVERN

823/29/41 QUATT 09-MAR-70 CHURCH OF ST ANDREW

GV II* Village church sited opposite the early C18 former dower house of the Wolryche family, whose monuments dominate the church. C12 origins; C15 N arcade, thorough rebuilding of 1763, including nave, outer wall of N aisle and tower. N chapel largely rebuilt in the 1950s to the designs of Stephen Dykes Bower, who also designed altar rails, pews and an organ loft. Chancel rubble masonry, some squared, NE chapel ashlar, the 1760s phase Flemish bond brick with rusticated stone quoins; tiled roofs. Plan of nave, chancel, N aisle, NE chapel, W tower/porch including stair to the organ gallery.

EXTERIOR: The chancel has angle buttresses and a 3-light E window with Perpendicular style tracery. Two 3-light S windows to the chancel with cusped lights. The S side of the chancel has a narrow round-headed doorway and evidence of a blocked round-headed window. The NE chapel has a NE buttress flush with the N wall of the church and a 1950s E window; 2 Decorated style traceried windows and a tall 3-light window with cusped lights to match those on the S side of the chancel. The remainder of the church is brick with windows with freestone frames with keyblocks and sill brackets. The N aisle and S side of the nave have opposed blind doorways to the W. 2 round-headed windows to the N aisle and the nave, the N aisle has a W end oculus window. The W wall of the aisle has a platband that extends round the tower, which is 3-stage with a moulded stone eaves cornice below the parapet which has pinnacles with ball finials. There are oculus belfry windows to each face, a clock face on the N side and a combined doorway/round-headed window on the W face with a plain oculus above.

INTERIOR: Rich in fittings of different periods and dominated by monuments of the Wolryche family. Plastered walls. Plain, narrow 1760s round-headed chancel arch on responds with capitals and similar arch from the N aisle into the N chapel. 3-bay N arcade with hollow chamfered octagonal piers with capitals and double quadrant mouldings to the 4-centred arches. The easternmost pier, which has been cut back and reduced in width has a curious abutment with the chancel W wall to provide a hagioscope between the nave and the NE chapel. 4-bay 3-truss king post and truss nave roof. This is very substantial with 2 tiers of purlins and no ridge and looks surprisingly early for 1763. Very fine chancel roof dated to the C14 in the church guide. It is uncollared with deeply-moulded rafters, a moulded wallplate and divided into panels by moulded cross ribs and into very small sub-panels by moulded sub-ribs. The lean-to roof of the N chapel is also medieval. The N aisle has a flat plastered ceiling. Reredos made up of pieces from a late medieval rood screen. Late C17 communion rails with turned balusters. 1860 encaustic tiles to the chancel. The choir has a dado of C17 panelling. C19 choir stalls with poppyhead ends and traceried frontals. Large C12 font with a circular bowl and a cable moulding above the stem. Early C17 polygonal pulpit with a carved text and carved blind round-headed arches. There is a freestanding timber lectern made up of Jacobean woodwork including an inscription and date of 1639. Good quality 1950s nave benches and fine Neo-classical W gallery with a frontal of fielded panels. Fine monument to Francis Wolryche, d. 1614 and his wife on the N side of the chancel. This has recumbent effigies in alabaster on a chest decorated with kneeling children. Spectacular monument in the N aisle to Mary Wolryche, d.1678 with a reclining female figure holding a lute on a chest below an inscription panel flanked by barleysugar columns and an open segmental pediment. 2 large stone chests with black marble lids in the N aisle commemorate Sir Thomas Wolryche, d. 1668 and Sir Francis, d.1689. c. 1707 marble Wolryche monument in the NE chapel with an inscription panel under a sarcophagus, crowned with a pediment. Unusual c. late 1920s plaque in the chancel to Henry Bazeley Wolryche-Whitmore, inspired by illuminated manuscripts and framed with gilded gesso. There are numerous other wall plaques to the family. Stained glass includes a Kempe window in the choir, an E window by Clayton and Bell and 2 matching early C20 window in the nave with classical detail to match the architecture of the windows.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: St Andrew's is of more than special interest primarily for the richness and quality of its fittings and monuments in a church that, externally, combines some early fabric, plus a major 1763 brick phase including tower and N aisle walls.
Sources Labouchere, R., Swift, K., The Parish Church of St Andrew, Quatt, 1995.
Pevsner, Shropshire, 1958, 233-234.

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