St Andrew's Church - Church Walk, Enfield, London, UK
N 51° 39.173 W 000° 04.928
30U E 701838 N 5726464
St Andrew Enfield church, dating from the 12th century, lies to the north of the Market Place and is surrounded by a graveyard.
Waymark Code: WMJC85
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/28/2013
Views: 1
The church's website tells
us of the history of the church:
Certainly for well over 800 years, possibly for nearly
a thousand, Christian worship has continued on this site and at every point
we are faced with the work of our predecessors. You will surely rejoice at
the faith which led our ancestors to build this place with such skill and
beauty.
People often ask, "How old is St Andrew's?" Nobody knows. Two clues,
however, do exist which point to there being a Parish Church in Enfield at a
very early date. We find the first clue in William the Conqueror's Domesday
Book of 1086 where a priest is mentioned as holding about 30 acres of land
in Enfield. If a priest was ministering in Enfield in 1086, he presumably
ministered in a church. A fainter though even earlier clue lies in the name
of a Saxon Manor in Enfield - the name was Churchbury. Of any church that
may have existed in Saxon or Norman times, however, nothing is known.
The first written evidence of there being a Parish Church in Enfield dates
from 1136, when St Andrew's, along with a number of other neighbouring
parishes was endowed to the Monastery at Walden in Essex, now Saffron
Walden. In 1190, Abbot Reginald of Walden appointed Robertus to serve as the
first Vicar of Enfield.
The earliest known parts of St Andrew's date from the years immediately
following the appointment of Robertus. Part of the east wall of the church
and the south wall of the sanctuary date from this period, including the
lancet-shaped unglazed window in the south wall of the sanctuary, opening
today into the Artillery Chapel. Originally, of course, this south wall
formed the external wall of the church and there are even traces in this
window aperture of the sockets for the iron framework of the glass.
It was around 50 years later when Bartholomew was Vicar that Godfrey de
Beston gave "to God and the Church of St Andrew, Enfield and Bartholomew
Vicar of that Church and all Vicars who succeed him" some two acres of land
with the vicarage house upon it to the east of the Church. There is little
doubt that the oldest part of the present vicarage, that which fronts Silver
Street, formed the original Parsonage House. English Heritage have confirmed
that part of the timbering at this end of the vicarage almost certainly
dates from the 13th Century. The second picture below shows the view from
the south.
The 14th Century saw much restoration and major enlargements to the Church,
including the construction of the north and south aisles (although the south
aisle was much lower than the north, being raised to its present height only
in 1824). The church tower is also 14th Century although much restored and
altered in later years. The arches in the nave date from this same period.
The pitch pine pews were installed after much argument and dispute in 1853;
the oak clergy and choir stalls in 1908 as a memorial to Prebendary Hodson,
Vicar of Enfield from 1870 - 1904, and the painting over the Chancel arch in
1923 as a memorial to the men of Enfield who died in the First World War.
The church is Grade II* listed with the entry at the
English Heritage website telling us:
DATES AND ARCHITECTS: C12 origins; C15-16; 1824
restoration by W.C Lochner; 1852-3 restoation by J P St Anbyn; 1866-7 works
by Sir George Gilbert Scott; further restoration by J O and CMO Scott, early
C20.
MATERIALS: An eclectic mix of materials including rubble with stone
dressings, several types of C18 and C19 brick, and some flint. The medieval
fabric is largely uncoursed rubble masonry with stone dressings, with some
knapped flint in the N aisle. The S aisle and chapel, the nave E gable wall,
the NE vestry and the N aisle parapet are brick, and there are patches of
brick repairs in the N aisle. The S porch is part brick, part stone. Traces
of render and limewash still adhere in places, and the E half of the vestry
has modern render. Interior is plastered and painted, except for nave walls
above arcade, which are painted over stripped stone and brick.
PLAN: Rectangular, with aisled nave and chancel of equal length. Nave with
5-bay N and S arcades continuing into 2-bay arcades for the chancel chapels.
Nave has W tower, S porch, polygonal N rood stair and a probable blocked N
door. NE porch and vestry to NE of N chapel. Gallery, now organ loft, over W
end of nave.
EXTERIOR: A grand town church, both high and long. Unbuttressed W tower with
high plinth and a string course with weathered heads below the parapet; the
tower windows are late C14 of two traceried lights. The tower S door is C19
and is accessed by a short flight of external stairs. There is no stair
turret, which, with the lack of buttresses, suggests an early original date
for the tower.
The long nave is embattled and has N and S clerestories of the C16 (c.1522)
with very depressed headed windows of 3 plain lights. The nave E gable wall
was rebuilt in brick in the late C18.
The S aisle, S porch, S chapel and E part of S clerestory rebuilt in brick
by W C Lochner in 1824 on the original foundations. Both aisle and chapel
are much higher than their medieval predecessors, the lower part of which
survive. Large 3-light late Perpendicular-style windows and a tall, false
blocked lancet to the W of the porch. S porch partly brick, partly stone
rubble and intended, like the aisle, to be rendered, has an octagonal
plaster vault.
N aisle has very late C15 or early C16 windows with three foiled lights and
hood moulds. Depressed-headed former N door blocked with brick, and a single
cross in knapped flint in the centre of the N wall. Contemporary rood stair
is polygonal and has stone dressings on the angles. There is a late medieval
door with a 4-centred arch and modern, concrete jambs, possibly reset, at
the W end of the N aisle, now converted to disabled use.
NE chapel has one window like those in the aisle, the other smaller with a
square head and largely hidden behind the vestry. N chapel parapet in C18
brick. Chancel E end heavily restored, the E window C19 in a C14 Decorated
style, 3 lights with a large cinquefoil, ogees and mouchettes, possibly
based on the medieval E window shown mostly blocked in early engravings.
INTERIOR: The interior is spacious and lofty. The internal core of the
church is C14, but the windows are late medieval or C19. The roofs were all
redone in the mid C19.
A blocked late C12 window is visible inside the tower and also high in the W
wall of the nave behind the organ. No tower arch is visible behind the W
gallery, and there is further blocking and a modern door below the gallery.
The ground floor of the tower has been panelled, but the upper floors have
exposed stonework and very heavy timber framing on stone corbels. The W
gallery, originally the organ loft, subsequently used for seating, and now
again the organ loft, is late C18 in origin. Of timber on iron columns, it
has Gothick panelling of shouldered arches on the N and S sides and probably
C19 panelling (possibly 1850s, like the pews) with plain, framed panels on
the front.
The nave arcades and chancel arch are of late C14 form, with quatrefoil
piers, moulded arches, capitals and bases. The chancel chapel arcade piers
are very similar, but the capitals are slightly less complex, suggesting
different campaigns of work. The nave clerestory was paid for by Sir Thomas
Lovell c.1522, and several of his carved wing and rose badges remain high on
the nave walls. A partial, blocked opening in the NE corner of the nave
above the E respond capital of the N arcade by the chancel arch may be the
remains of a former window from an unaisled nave. The upper and lower doors
for the former rood stair are visible in the N aisle wall; there is an
additional door towards the E end of the aisle to the C19 vestry. The S
aisle retains the angel corbels from a medieval roof of a different pitch
than the present roof. Both N and S aisles retain corbels for former
galleries. The N and S aisle walls are panelled to dado height with C19
tiles in a polychrome, geometric pattern, but these have been painted over;
there is painted mid C19 panelling in chapels.
The chancel has a C13 trefoil-headed lancet at the E end of the S wall that
now opens into the S chapel. Its presence indicates that the church had
reached its present length by that date. The C19 sedilia are larger than the
medieval sedilia they replace. The chancel ceiling is covered with very
unusual C19 decoration printed on paper. The E arch to the N chancel chapel,
beyond the arcade, is partially blocked by the large monument to Lady
Tiptoft (d. 1446), but the head of arch remains above the canopy of the
monument. There is a blocked S door in S chancel chapel, and a blocked
opening that may have been a squint between the chapel and the chancel.
Services are listed at the
church's website:
Sunday
8.00am Holy Communion
10.00am Holy Communion
6.30pm Evening Service
Wednesday
10.00am Holy Communion (first in the month)
Active Church: Yes
School on property: No
Date Built: 01/01/1200
Service Times: See the detailed description
Website: [Web Link]
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