St. Andrew's Church, Letcombe Regis
St. Andrew's Church in Letcombe Regisconsists of chancel 28 ft. by 18 ft. 6 in. with north vestry and organ chamber, nave 46 ft. 6 in. by 22 ft., south porch 7 ft. square, and west tower 12 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft., all these measurements being internal. The two lower stages of the tower date from c. 1195. The priest's doorway on the south side of the chancel is 14th-century work, but with this exception the whole of the remainder of the building, where not modern, appears to belong to the 15th century. Some portion of the chancel walls may be contemporary with the doorway, but the moulded plinth suggests an entire rebuilding of the chancel in the 15th century, at which time also the upper stage of the tower was added and probably the nave entirely reconstructed. The extent of the original 12th-century church can only be surmised. In the 14th century a new chancel appears to have been built, and the jambs of the chancel arch may belong to this rebuilding. In the 15th-century reconstruction the priest's doorway only survived, and the building then assumed more or less of its present aspect. There were the usual internal changes in the 18th century, a west gallery containing an organ being erected. The pulpit and desk were in the south-east corner of the nave and the squire's pew on the north side of the chancel. A leaded roof was erected in 1737. In 1863 the church was restored, new roofs of higher pitch erected, the gallery and fittings removed, and the porch constructed. The church is built of coursed rubble, originally rough-casted, and the roofs are covered with red tiles. The rough-cast has been stripped from the chancel and the south wall of the nave, but remains on the north side and on the tower. The chancel has a four-centred east window of three cinquefoiled lights. In the north wall is a square-headed window of three cinquefoiled lights near the east end with four-centred rear arch, and in the south wall two similar windows, one on each side of the doorway. The doorway has a pointed arch with plain chamfered head and jambs. The west end of the north wall is open to the organ chamber by a modern arch and there is a doorway to the vestry. The chancel arch is modern, resting on older jambs of two chamfered orders. The walls are plastered inside and the roof is a modern boarded one of three bays. The lower part of a 15th-century chancel screen standing 3 ft. 10 in. high, with fourcentred traceried panels on each side of the opening, has been preserved. The nave has two pointed windows in the north wall, one at each end, of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil in the head, of early 15th-century date, and above each is a square-headed two-light window high up in the wall. Parker, in 1849, describes the nave as having 'two tiers of small windows, but this feature now exists only on the north side. The windows in the south wall are modern. Externally the nave is divided into three bays by buttresses of two stages, and the walls are plastered inside. The north doorway has a four-centred moulded arch without label, but is now built up, though the old oak door remains externally, where there is a mutilated stoup on the east side. The south doorway is modern. The porch has a timber front and gable with stone side walls. There were formerly seven steps down to the nave. The tower is of three stages with diagonal buttresses at the western angles and square ones facing north and south on the east side. There is a string below the later belfry stage, but the two lower stages are externally unmarked. The parapet is embattled and has iron ornaments at the angles and gargoyles north and south. In the middle stage there are original windows on the north, south and west sides, each of two pointed lights divided by a shaft with carved capital and moulded base. The windows facing north and south have continuous chamfered heads and jambs, but that on the west has an impost moulding at the spring of the arch. The west window in the lower stage consists of a single lancet without label, widely chamfered outside. The acutely-pointed tower arch is of a single order chamfered towards the nave and springing at a height of 9 ft. 6 in. from chamfered imposts. There is no vice, access to the belfry being by a ladder. The font is of 12th-century date and consists of a circular tub-shaped bowl with scalloping round the top between two round mouldings and stands on a circular moulded base without stem. It has a flat 17th-century wooden cover. The pulpit and other fittings are modern.
In the vestry is a small brass of a lady, the head gone, bearing the inscription, 'Hic jacet Alicia Estbury filia Johis Estbury et Agnetis . . .,' and there are also mural tablets to Anne Grove (d. 1669) and Martha (d. 1694) and Margaret (d. 1698), daughters of the Rev. John Hunsdon, vicar. In the nave is a mural monument erected in 1731 to Alexander Fettiplace (d. 1712), his wife, two sons and a daughter, with the arms of Fettiplace impaling Head, and another to Francis Pigott (d. 1756) and other members of the Pigott family. There are also a number of early 19th-century tablets, one exhibiting a pedigree of the Goodlake family. There are remains of paintings on the walls of the nave, including the figures of a man with a scythe and a woman with a sheaf. There is a ring of six bells: the oldest (fifth) was cast by Joseph Carter of Reading in 1599; the third and tenor are by Henry Knight of Reading, 1620 and 1621 respectively; the fourth by Oliver Cor of Aldbourne, 1726; and the treble and second by James Wells of Aldbourne, 1805. The bells were rehung in 1905. The plate consists of an Elizabethan cup and cover paten, the former inscribed 'Letcombe Regis in Com. Berks,' and a flagon of 1720 given by Mrs. Theodosia Fettiplace. The registers before 1812 are as follows: the first volume, which was for a long time lost, contains baptisms and marriages from 1547 to 1697 and burials to 1698; there are also some entries of baptisms and marriages in 1536; the second contains baptisms 1697 to 1794, marriages 1697 to 1754, and burials 1698 to 1798; and the third baptisms and burials to 1812. To the south of the church are two fine yew trees and a monument to George King Hipango, a Maori chieftain, who died at Letcombe Regis in 1871, aged nineteen years Historical information about St. Andrew's Church is provided by 'Parishes: Letcombe Regis', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4, ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 222-228. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp222-228 [accessed 6 March 2023]. St. Andrew's Church is a Grade II* listed building. For more information about the listing see CHURCH OF ST ANDREW, Letcombe Regis - 1368706 | Historic England. For more information about St. Andrew's Church see Parishes: Letcombe Regis | British History Online (british-history.ac.uk). |