St Andrew, Pickworth, Lincolnshire

I Location

Site Location
Pickworth
National Grid Reference
TF 044 334
County
traditional: Lincolnshire
now: Lincolnshire
Diocese
medieval: Lincoln
now: Lincoln
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St Andrew
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

Exterior, general view of church

Exterior, general view of church

Interior, wall paintings above N arcade

Interior, wall paintings above N arcade

Church consists of W tower, four-bay nave with N and S aisles, and a chancel; somewhat of a rarity in that all this dates from one period, the 14thc. The S porch was rebuilt in 1659. There is a small, round-headed window reset in the second stage of the W tower that is of the 12thc. as is the font inside the nave.

III Exterior Features

2. Windows

(i) W tower, second stage

Exterior, W tower, W wall, reset window, detail

Exterior, W tower, W wall, reset window, detail

Small, round-headed, splayed window with a chamfered label.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

Font

Font

The font is located in the nave and on the S side of N aisle pier 3. It sits on a post-Romanesque polygonal base and stem This is a wonderfully lopsided drum-shaped font carved on a smooth, tight-grained stone of tan colour. No carving. Bottom of the bowl is chamfered with the chamfer given a slight polygonal form The bowl has been cracked horizontally all the way around. The top of the font has had segments fall off at places where iron dowels were at one time driven into the stone - that is on the N, S, and SE sections. Top of bowl is plain; round basin is lead-lined with a central drain.

Dimensions
h. of bowl 0.48 m
int. diam. 0.50 m
ext. diam. 0.725 m

VII History

Domesday Book records a church here in 1086 and one half of it was in the possession of the Bishop of Durham

VIII Comments/Opinions

Though the tower is primarily of the 14thc., the walls of the first stage of the tower appear to contain some 12thc. ashlar sections; the small 12thc. window in the reset second stage of the tower may have originally been located in the first stage level. As for the font, the polygonal chamfering of the bottom of the bowl may be re-carving executed at the time the later polygonal base and stem were first put into service. It is notoriously difficult to date such fonts as this one at Pickworth. Given the simple, rather crude, form of the font, one suspects that it must indeed be its antiquity that has favoured its survival.

IX Bibliography

  • Domesday Book: Lincolnshire. 3.33.
  • N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire. London 1990, 600-1.