Building record 428/1/1 - Church of St. Andrew

Church built in the 14th century and restored in 1866. Now redundant. Built of squared coursed lias and limestone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof. The church consists of a nave, chancel and west tower.

{1} Church, now redundant. C14, restored 1866 by E.F. Law. Squared coursed lias and limestone with ashlar dressings and slate roof. Nave, chancel and west tower. Chancel: South elevation of 3-window range of 2-light Decorated windows with Reticulated tracery. North elevation, similar, of 2-window range with C19 lean-to vestry between. Gabled roof with ashlar parapets, kneelers and finial. Nave: South elevation of 3-window range of 2-light C19 traceried windows. South porch to left is C19 with double-chamfered arch with nook shafts; ashlar gable parapets and finial. North elevation of nave, similar to south, of 2-window range. Gabled roof has ashlar cornice, gable parapets with kneelers and finial. The buttresses between the window range of nave and chancel C19. West tower, probably C14 of 3 stages with short ashlar spire. 2-light bell-chamber openings in third stage with plain ashlar parapet above. The spire has one tier of lucarnes. Interior: C19 double-chamfered chancel arch and C19 roof structure. The interior fittings have now been removed.

{6} The nave of the church is clearly of 19th century construction and, together with the south porch and vestry, can be attributed to the 1866 renovations.While Timmins has voiced the suggestion that these renovations involved refacing the nave walls rather than their complete rebuilding, this is hard to sustain from the evidence. The interior faces are of a different constructional technique to the outer faces, being of irregularly faced coursed rubble rather than neatly coursed blocks, but there is no evidence of any earlier features within them. This is particularly significant because Flesher's illustration of 1813 and clark's of 1840 clearly show the original nave windows to have been large- larger than the chancel windows. After the renovation the reverse was the case, and there would have been evidence for the earlier large nave windows had the original fabric been retained.
The 14th century chancel appears to have remained as a core to later modifications. The east wall had extensive modifications in the 19th century and perhaps previously. The ast window is a 19th century insertion and detail of the stone voussoirs is similar to those of the external elevation of the nave. The surrounding fabric, as well as the gable and the roof itself, would appear to be of similar date, although it is difficult to be sure where the fabric is joined. The two southern buttresses are also 19th century additions, while the south-eastern corner buttress was the subject of remedial work in 1992. The interior has also had some post-medieval alterations including the floor and plastering below the windows and the 14th century piscina has been reset.
The west tower and the spire are considered to be 14th century in date, belonging to Thomas de Astley's extensive rebuilding of the church between 1320 and 1340. There are difficulties with accepting this, although, as Timmins remarks, there is no means of knowing how much of the original, pre-14th century building was retained at this time. The tower is, however, rather squat and of simple design compared with that at Crick, whose 12th century core was refaced and buttressed in the early decorated style by Nicholas Astley (1300-1320). One would perhaps expect the tower at Clay Coton, whose spire is thought to have been modelled on that at Crick, to have been built in a similar fashion by Thomas. Indeed, it would have been less wasteful to have retained and refaced the existing tower, rather than build anew, unless demolition were necessary for other reasons. If the towere were Thomas' construction, it was not a resounding success, as indicated by the later strengthening from at least the 19th century, which includes steel strappings and more recently the concrete ring beams and the steel H girders.From this perspective it seems likely that the 14th century rebuilding may have limited to the addition of the belfry and spire, constructions which the original tower was not entirely equipped to support in the long term. As a further point it is noteworthy that the pre-19th century nave roof line can be seen to cut the rudimentary buttresses on the south eastern corners, suggesting that this roof was not originally integral to the tower, although it is impossible to know whether this was the 14th century roof or a later one.
Modifications to the tower include the blocking of a doorway on the southern side. Again there is no evidence for the date of this, but it probably took place in the post-medieval period.


{7} Excavation exposed original medieval footings of ironstone blocks and a large ironstone slab was also revealed. Evidence of C19th renovations of the butresses was also identified.

{10} Undated photo.

{11} No longer in use for public worship and in a bad state of repair. See photograph.

{13} The medieval glass from the church was removed for safekeeping in about 1970 by G King & Son of Norwich, when the church was faced with demolition. At the time of writing (1995) it is still in the firm's possession. [The firm closed in 2003- present location of glass unknown]

<1> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 6/9 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<2> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G03 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN44900.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, (unchecked) (Series). SNN77383.

<4> Pevsner N.; Cherry B., 1973, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.150 (unchecked) (Series). SNN1320.

<5> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.549-50 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<6> Mudd A.; Stevens C.; Soden I., 2003, St Andrews Church Clay Coton: Building Analysis, (checked) (Report). SNN103410.

<7> 1992, SMR Report Form, (unchecked) (SMR Report Form). SNN48872.

<8> Richmond H., 1988, Survey of Northamptonshire Parish Churches, (unchecked) (Unpublished Report). SNN1195.

<9> Steadman, S, Archaeological recording at St Andrews Church, Clay Coton, Northants, January 1992 (Report). SNN75406.

<10> Photographs of buildings in Clay Coton (Photographs). SNN112087.

<11> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, F1 JB 07-FEB-69 (Note). SNN111452.

<12> Historic England, St Andrew's Church, Clay Coton (Archive). SNN114860.

<13> Marks R., 1998, Stained Glass Of Northamptonshire, p. 38-9 (Book). SNN101533.

Record last edited

Dec 13 2024 2:42PM