Church of St Andrew, Backwell, North Somerset

Description

ST 46 NE BACKWELL CHURCH LANE (north-west side)

6/21 CHURCH OF ST ANDREW
11.10.61
G.V. I

Parish Church (Anglican). C12, altered and enlarged C13, C15; altered C16 and
repaired C17. West tower, nave, north and south aisles, south porch, north and
south chapels; chancel. Coursed, squared rubble with freestone dressings,
ashlar tower; lead and stone slate roofs with coped raised verges. West
tower: C15, restored 1928; 4 stages with setback buttresses which terminate in
clustered pinnacles on the 3rd stage, clustered and setback pinnacles on the 4th
stage, terminating in square turrets set diagonally, surmounted by openwork
spires; projecting stair turret to north-east which is square on the first stage
and half-octagonal above; blocked 2-light windows on second and third stages,
cusped heads to tracery and hoodmoulds with lozenge stops, the mullion of the 3rd
stage windows has a pierced quatrefoil in a circle at the base (inscription to
the left of the 2nd stage window on the west wide); two single-light windows to
bell chamber, pierced quatrefoils in arches, 4-centred heads to the windows which
are both under a single ogee hoodmould which breaks through the parapet; 5-light
west window (restored) with cusped heads to the tracery; west door in moulded
surround; south-east buttress bears plaque which reads: "I.B./I.C./C.W./1713".
South aisle and chapel: plain parapet; 3 windows all in a Perpendicular style
(restored), 4-lights to west and 3-lights to east window; projecting square rood
stair turret with embattled parapet; east window has cusped 4-centred heads to
the tracery and daggers above; relieving arch over blocked window immediately
east of porch; carved gargoyles empty into downpipes with hoppers dated
"EIIR/1953". Nave: sanctus bellcote over east gable, crocketed pinnacles.
South porch: circa 1300 with embattled parapet and diagonal buttresses; south
doorway of 5 orders, ovolo moulding alternating with chamfers - roll moulded
hoodmould on small fluted corbel to west. Chancel has angle buttresses and
3-light windows; priest's door in heavy roll moulded surround, hoodmould with
carved head stops; restored 3-light Perpendicular style east window. Rodney
Chapel: embattled parapet, east gable with trefoil headed window; 3-light
restored Perpendicular style window; north doorway in chamfered surround with
depressed 4-centred head. North aisle: plain parapet; four 2-, 3- and 4-light
windows, all in Perpendicular style; cusped ogee heads to two 4-light westernmost
windows; north door in chamfered, 4-centre headed surround. Interior. South
porch: blocked door to left (now missing) has a chamfered surround and pointed
head, corbel with leaf ornament to right; stoup to right of door with pointed
surround; plank and cross battened south door of late C15. Nave: 5 bay
arcades, the westernmost part dying into the later west wall, octagonal piers and
caps and chamfered, pointed arches. C15 tower arch of 2 wave mouldings.
Chancel arch rests on thickened east piers of arcade: sharply pointed arch;
carved heads on piers and square squints through piers. Restored Perpendicular
style roofs, those of the arcades rest on carved corbel heads; arch-braced roof
to nave, with a 2-light dormer window at the south-east corner (possibly to light
the rood); two blocked doors to rood stair turret, the lower one has an ogee and
hollow moulded surround. Single bay to north and south chapels but no capital
to east pier. Single bay chancel: triple sedilia with colonnettes and pointed
arches under a linked hoodmould on carved stops, piscina of similar details but
with an outer roll moulding which has a fillet; ogee headed niche to left of
piscina; two shallow niches on east wall; in the north-east corner is a door
with a double ogee moulded surround and a 4-centred head. Rodney Chapel:
inscribed and dated 1536, resto red 1933; 3 bay screen of depressed arches with
a doorway to the left and two 3-light cusped lights to the right, above are arms
and everything is surmounted by a crocketted gable with pinnacles; 2-light
trefoil headed squint to right with fragment of C11 carving; inside is a cusped
rere-arch to the screen and a roof of 5 cusped transverse ribs. Pulpit is late
C19. Font; C12, restored 1907, circular bowl with cable moulding, circular
stem with foliate moulding on base. The pews are all 1933. The rood screen is
early C16: blank arcaded base with cusped tracery and quatrefoils in circles;
pierced tracery to upper part, decorative heads; pointed 4-centred heads to
doorways. Brass chandelier, dated 1786. Monuments. Rodney tomb: the effigy
is that of Sir Walter Rodney, died 1466 but the tomb chest is mid-C14; 5-bay
blank arcade of cusped, ogee headed niches, angels bear arms, band of fleurons
above. Rodney Chapel: Elizabeth Harvey, early C17, aedicular with a small
obelisk finial; Rice Davis, died 1638, brass and marble plaques, flanked by
ashlar terms, moulded frieze and cornice with arms above. North aisle: Joseph
Whitchurch, died 1792, by Tyley of Bristol, inscribed marble plaque, a weeping
woman rests on an urn; Anthony Biggs, died 1752, marble, broken pediment on
brackets; Joseph Hitchman, died 1765, classical marble plaque. South aisle -
two to the Simmons family, the lower one 1835, a marble plaque with a draped urn,
the upper one with a weeping woman; Charles Biggs, died 1775, marble tablet,
flanked by urns. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England : North Somerset and
Bristol, 1958).

Listing NGR: ST4931168337

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British Listed Buildings

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Church of St Andrew

A Grade I Listed Building in Backwell, North Somerset

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