- St Andrew's Church, Sapiston
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St Andrew's Church, Sapiston 
St Andrew's Church, Sapiston, from the southLocation in Suffolk
St Andrew's Church, SapistonCoordinates: 52°19′58″N 0°49′02″E / 52.3328°N 0.8172°E OS grid reference TL 921 743 Location Sapiston, Suffolk Country England Denomination Anglican Website Churches Conservation Trust Architecture Functional status Redundant Heritage designation Grade I Designated 14 July 1955 Architectural type Church Style Norman, Gothic Specifications Materials Flint, with some ragstone
Tiled roofsSt Andrew's Church, Sapiston, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Sapiston, Suffolk, England (grid reference TL921743). It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building,[1] and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[2] It stands at the end of a track to the south of the village, adjacent to Grange Farm and near to a ford crossing the Black Bourne stream.[3] The church served what became a deserted medieval village[2][4]
Contents
History
The oldest part of the church is the Norman south doorway which dates from the 12th century.[1][5] The remainder of the nave, the chancel and the tower date from the 14th century.[2] The church underwent a restoration in 1847.[5] The parish of Sapiston was combined with that of Honington in 1972.[6] Two years later St Andrew's was declared redundant and was vested in the Redundant Churches Fund (the forerunner of the Churches Conservation Trust).[5]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is constructed in flint, with some ragstone. The steeply pitched roofs are tiled. Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, separated by string courses, without buttresses. It has an internal staircase and an embattled parapet. In the top stage are two-light bell openings with Y-tracery. The south porch dates from the 15th century, and has a plain doorway and two two-light windows in each side wall. It is floored with medieval coffin lids.[1] The south doorway has two orders of columns, and three orders in the round-headed arch. The inner order of the arch is plain, and the outer two orders are decorated with acanthus leaves, which is an unusual motif in Suffolk.[1][5] Above the arch is a weathered stone carved with the image of a face, probably human.[5] Along the south wall of the church are two two-light windows with Y-tracery, and another two-light window with a Tudor arch. In the south wall of the chancel is a single-light window, and a doorway with pointed arch. The east window has three lights with reticulated tracery.[1]
Interior
Inside the church, on the north wall of the nave, are the remains of an Easter Sepulchre. Above this are traces of a wall painting.[1] This depicts the martyrdom of Saint Edmund.[4] Around the walls are benches, two of which are smaller with low seats, which were probably intended for children.[1] The octagonal font dates form the 13th century; it is plain and has a damaged Jacobean cover.[1][2][4] In the chancel is a piscina with an ogee head, and a blocked south window.[1] The church contains a memorial to the poet Robert Bloomfield, and the royal arms of George II.[4] The four bells have been dismounted; three of them are dated 1591, 1608 and 1730.[1]
See also
- List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in the East of England
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Church of St Andrew, Sapiston", Heritage Gateway website (Heritage Gateway (English Heritage, Institute of Historic Building Conservation and ALGAO:England)), 2006, http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=284063&resourceID=5, retrieved 11 January 2011
- ^ a b c d St Andrew's Church, Sapiston, Suffolk, Churches Conservation Trust, http://www.visitchurches.org.uk/Ourchurches/Completelistofchurches/St-Andrews-Church-Sapiston-Suffolk/, retrieved 25 March 2011
- ^ Sapiston, Streetmap, http://streetmap.co.uk/grid/591927_274303_120, retrieved 11 January 2011
- ^ a b c d Sapiston, St Andrew's Church, Britain Express, http://www.britainexpress.com/attractions.htm?attraction=4131, retrieved 11 January 2011
- ^ a b c d e Baxter, Ron (2008), St Andrew, Sapiston, Suffolk, Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/crsbi/search/county/site/ed-sf-sapis.html, retrieved 11 January 2011
- ^ Welcome to the Blackbourne Team Website, Blackbourne Team, http://blackbourneteam.btck.co.uk/About%20us/Honington%20with%20Sapiston, retrieved 11 January 2011
External links
Categories:- Grade I listed buildings in Suffolk
- Grade I listed churches
- Church of England churches in Suffolk
- Norman architecture
- English Gothic architecture
- 14th-century architecture
- Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust
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