2016

SO3164 : Church of St Andrew, Presteigne

taken 8 years ago, near to Presteigne, Powys, Wales

Church of St Andrew, Presteigne
Church of St Andrew, Presteigne
The south aisle looking west. The buttress attached to the tower indicates the line of the outer wall of the 14th century aisle, and the corbels above the arcade supported the upper edge of its roof. The original clerestory windows are now below the roof line and simply open from the nave into the aisle.
Church of St Andrew, Presteigne

An impressive church, befitting a town which was an important local centre and later a county town where Assizes were held.

It consists of nave with north and south aisles, chancel with Lady Chapel on the south side as an extension of the south aisle and tower at the south western corner.

There are traces of pre-Conquest structure in the eastern part of the north aisle wall, this church being sacked and burnt in the 11th century by Gruffydd ap Llewellyn. A post-Conquest church was rebuilt on the same site incorporating the remains. This comprised the traditional aisleless nave and chancel. The first stage of expansion came in the 12th century when the nave was extended westwards to its present length and a separate tower built.

Major expansion occurred in the first half of the 13th century when the current nave was built, with north and south aisles. The north wall of the north aisle included the existing Norman nave wall, but the arcade was sited roughly down the middle. An extended chancel, aligned with the new nave, was built at the same time. The south aisle was built up to the tower.

The last major stage of construction occurred between roughly 1460 and 1520. This involved widening and raising the south aisle, the rebuilding of the chancel and the erection of a new Lady Chapel. The widening of the aisle effectively incorporated the tower into the body of the church.

Three periods of restoration, in 1854-5, 1889-91 and 1927-8 brought renewal of the fabric, but not substantive change to any of the medieval work. As usual much of the furnishing was renewed, including for example the chancel screen by Pearson in 1889-91.

There are a number of interesting wall monuments in the church, but pride of place has to go to the Flemish tapestry in the north aisle. This depicts the entry of Christ into Jerusalem and dates from around 1510. It was gifted to the church in 1737 by Richard Owen.

The church is Listed Grade I.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Religious sites City, Town centre Period: 14th Century 16th Century other tags: Parish Church Church Interior South Aisle Grade I Listed Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · St Andrew [83] · Nave [8] · South Aisle [8] Title Clusters: · Church of St Andrew, Presteigne [22] ·
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SO3164, 618 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Alan Murray-Rust   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Tuesday, 26 April, 2016   (more nearby)
Submitted
Saturday, 30 April, 2016
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SO 3156 6455 [10m precision]
WGS84: 52:16.4893N 3:0.2695W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! SO 3158 6455
View Direction
West-northwest (about 292 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Supplemental image
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