St Andrews Church, Sevenhampton
St Andrews church stands on a high ridge in the north Cotswolds, looking across the beautiful Coln valley. The church is set back from the road, approached by a path lined with colourful flowers in summer. St Andrews dates to the Norman period, with the addition of a striking 15th century central tower and Perpendicular transepts. The tower has an external octagonal staircase, which is rather unusual for the Cotswolds, and is supported by three 13th century pilaster buttresses. The tower is inserted in the fabric of the church in a very odd way, due to the fact that the chancel is narrower than either the nave or transepts, requiring extra buttresses to hold the structure upright. Carved into the exterior wall of the south transept is an ancient sundial, while on the north nave wall is a blocked Norman doorway and trefoil window. The porch is entered through a Tudor arch, and the lintel over the south doorway has Norman chevron carvings. The chancel was probably built in the 13th century, then lengthened in the 14th century, it has simple lancets in the west walls, yet the large east window has a Decorated Gothic tracery, suggesting a later date. In the chancel, set on the south wall, is a memorial brass to John Camber (1497). Camber was a wool merchant of Worcester, who bequeathed 100s to repair and rebuild the church.
Other memorials in the chancel include several to the Lawrence family of Whittington Court.
Unusually, there are two fonts inside the church. One is Carolean (late 17th century) and stands on a slender baluster. Records in 1863 describe it as 'wretched and modern', which perhaps accounts for the presence of a second font the gift of Agatha Lawrence in 1891/2. Opposite the Victorian font, against the north wall of the nave, is n endowment tablet recording the gift of Thomas Longford, who in 1770 gave £1 annually to be distributed among the poor of the parish. To the west of the font, on the south wall, is a royal coat of arms to Charles II. One very unusual feature is an extremely old trowel on a plaque against the wall. This trowel was discovered inside the stonework of the west wall during restoration work in 1893. We don't know how old it is, but it could well be medieval. Presumably it was left behind accidentally by a mason centuries ago and never recovered.
The church is part of the Coln River group of Prishes www.colnriver.org.uk
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