Last time I stopped to look at this church it was locked. Same again this time. But… after leaving the porch to look around outside, I heard a voice. Returning to the door, I found a lady had opened it.
There was a choir group inside who’d just finished a rehearsal, and were leaving. Could I look around? Yes. Fab!
Like most English churches that predate The Reformation, this one was vandalised at that time. With the result that the stained glass is, as is often the case, a hodge-podge of later additions/renewals. Many, here at St Andrew’s, in quite simple and basic style. Such as the above.
And, as a result of this post Refornation practice, some of the glass here is quite unusual, in places. Such as the above mix of plain grid functionality with ‘old-fashioned’ figuration.
The choir were practicing at the end of the nave, just to the right of the above partition. And they were exiting the church via a door at left, behind or through the curtain. This sort of Victorian or later addition, which you see a lot, creating extra ‘rooms’ in old churches, can look a bit clunky, aesthetically. But it’s easy to see why, from a practical point of view, it’s done so often.
The rather nice light above is hidden away somewhat in the ‘room’ created by the partitioning already referred to.
I can’t recall if the above is the altar or not. If it is, it’s remarkably plain! Almost austere.
Church roofs are usually worth a heavenwards glance. Even the plainer ones. Such is the case here.
I’m not sure when it became a normal practice, but a great many churches have screen-doors, in what look very clearly like later additions. I wonder what started this practice? Maybe church porches filling up with dead wind-blown leaves, at certain times of year?
Church windows are interesting from many points of view. One is that they reveal – by virtue of puncturing the skin of the building – the thickness of walls. Which tend, in older churches, to be be almost castle thick.
One last snap, as I return to the car. At which point it started to rain again.
There’s a sweet little ‘park’ type rest or picnic spot, adjoining the church. It’s just out of camera on the right, in the above photo. I think I might’ve even snapped it on a previous visit to this church? If so, I’ll link to it… yep, here it is.
Glad to revisit St. Andrew’s, and this time get a look around inside.