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St Andrew, Ansford, Somerset

Location
(51°5′39″N, 2°31′5″W)
Ansford
ST 638 329
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Somerset
now Somerset
medieval St Andrew
now St Andrew
  • Robin Downes
08 December 2005

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Feature Sets
Description

Ansford parish adjoins the market town of Castle Cary on its N side in the SE of the county, seven miles S of Shepton Mallet. The two villages stand on rising ground on the S bank of the river Brue, with Ansford closer to the river. Ansford stands near the crossing of major road routes running NW-SE and SW-NE; the former, now the very busy A371, runs through the village of Ansford. At the foot of the hill to the N of the village and S of the Brue river runs the principal railway line between London and the South-West Peninsula; just NW of Ansford the railway to Weymouth on the English Channel branches away from the main line. Castle Cary station is just E of the junction. The church is in the centre of the village and consists of a 3-bay nave with a N aisle and S porch, a chancel and a W tower. The church was declared too small in 1859 and demolished in 1861 all except for the 15thc W tower. It was rebuilt to designs of C. E. Giles and reopened in 1862. The tower is of local lias ashlar, while the remainder is of Cary stone ashlar. The only feature described here is the font.

History

The manor was held by Ketel before the Conquest, and by Wulfric from Walter of Douai in 1086. It consisted of five hides of which three were in demesne, along with 20 acres of meadow, 20 of pasture and woodland four furlongs by a furlong and a half. The sub-tenancy had lapsed by 1280 from which time it was held by the Lovels with Castle Cary.

The church was first recorded in 1218, and its dedication to St Andrew in 1253. The advowson went with the manor from 1219.

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

The font bowl is probably 12thc, although it is described by NMR as “a plain tub, possibly C13.” The font is not mentioned in Pevsner.

Bibliography

Somerset County Council, Historic Environment Record 52078.

EH, English Heritage Listed Building 261961.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: South and West Somerset, Harmondsworth 1958, 77.

VCH, Victoria County History: Somerset Texts in Progress (Ansford) Mar 2007.