St Andrew, Cranford, Northamptonshire

I Location

Site Location
Cranford
National Grid Reference
SP 924 773
County
traditional: Northamptonshire
now: Northamptonshire
Diocese
medieval: Lincoln
now: Peterborough from 1539
Dedication
medieval: St Andrew 1240
now (or name of monument): St Andrew
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

Exterior from S

Exterior from S

St Andrew's has a nave with a N aisle, the plain three-bay arcade dating from c.1200. A N transept was added in 1847 to house a Robinson family pew. The chancel has chapels to N and south; the N now housing the organ, and the S monuments of the Robinsons. The W tower is late-13thc. in its lower parts, including an elaborate W doorway and the bell-openings. It was heightened and battlements added in the 14thc. Only the N arcade is described below. The two Cranford churches were united under a single rector in 1841, and in 1954 St Andrew's became a chapel-of-ease to St John's. It passed into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust in 1996.

IV Interior Features

2. Arcades

c. Nave

(i) N arcade
N nave arcade from SW.

N nave arcade from SW.

N nave arcade, pier 2 capital.

N nave arcade, pier 2 capital.

Three bays, round-headed. The arches are of two plain orders to N and S with no label. Both piers are cylindrical and the capitals circular in plan with a chamfered lower bell below a plain abacus with a groove towards the bottom. Impost blocks are circular and plain chamfered, and neckings are plain rolls. The E and W ends of the arcade are carried on corbels with a tapered polygonal lower part below a circular concave bell with a plain cuboidal block and a chamfered impost supporting the arch springers.

VII History

The manor was held by Robert from the Abbot of Peterborough in 1086, with further small holdings in the hands of Godric (held from the king), and Odelin (held from Guy de Raimbeaucourt). No church or priest was recorded at this time. Despite Peterborough's holdings here, the abbey never seems to have held the advowson of the church, which was in the hands of the lord of one of the two manors of Cranford by 1240.

The Church is niw in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Dalton dates both St Andrew's and St John's to 'the time of King Henry II, when St Hugh of Avalon was Bishop of Lincoln.' If true this would date both churches between 1181 and 1189, which seems over precise in view of the lack of any evidence.

IX Bibliography

  • J. Bridges, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, Compiled from the manuscript collections of the late learned antiquary J.Bridges, Esq., by the Rev. Peter Whalley, Oxford, 1791, II, 227-29.
  • C. Dalton, St Andrew's Church Cranford, Northamptonshire, London (Churches Conservation Trust), 2003.
  • J. H. Parker, Architectural Notices of the Churches of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, London and Oxford, 1849, 167-70.
  • N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, Harmondsworth, 1961, rev. by B. Cherry, 1973, 167.
  • RCHME Report, uncatalogued.
  • Victoria County History: Northamptonshire, III (1930), 188f.