St Andrew's Church is a
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
located in the
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
of
Mells in the English county of
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
. The church is a grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
History
The current church predominantly dates from the late 15th century and was built in the
Perpendicular
In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...
style with mid 19th century
restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
, although a previous church stood on the site for centuries. In 1292 it belonged to
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.
The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It wa ...
and was valued at 35 marks.
The tower is from 1446,
has a clock from the 17th century
and a
ring of 8 bells hung for
change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in which the ringers commit to memor ...
, the earliest of which dates from 1716. That bell, the fourth of the ring, and the seventh (1717) were cast by the first Abraham Rudhall of the bellfounders
Rudhall of Gloucester
Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 cast more than 5,000 bells.
History
There had been a tradition of bell casting in Gloucester since before the 14th century. ...
. Two more (the third and eighth) were cast in 1745 by Thomas Bilbie, and the sixth (1788) by William Bilbie of the
Bilbie family
The Bilbie family were bell founders and clockmakers based initially in Chew Stoke, Somerset and later at Cullompton, Devon in south-west England from the late 17th century to the early 19th century.
Their importance to the local economy and in ...
of bellfounders. The other three bells, (the first, second and fifth) were cast in 1869 by Mears & Stainbank of the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry
The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...
. There is also a
sanctus bell hung in the roof of the chancel which dates from around 1325 which is on the national database of historically important bells.
The church has close connections with the local
Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...
family and the
Horner
Horner is an English and German surname that derives from the Middle English word for the occupation ''horner'', meaning horn-worker or horn-maker, or even horn-blower.
People
*Alison Horner (born 1966), British businesswoman
* Arthur Horner (dis ...
s who lived at
Mells Manor
Mells Manor at Mells, Somerset, Mells, Somerset, England, was built in the 16th century for Edward Horner, altered in the 17th century, partially demolished around 1780, and restored by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 20th century. The house, along with ...
.
Notable burials
*
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
*
Ronald Knox
Ronald Arbuthnott Knox (17 February 1888 – 24 August 1957) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic priest, Catholic theology, theologian, author, and radio broadcaster. Educated at Eton College, Eton and Balliol Colleg ...
*
Sir Maurice Bonham Carter
*
Violet Bonham Carter, Baroness Asquith
*
George A. Birmingham
George A. Birmingham was the pen name of James Owen Hannay (16 July 1865 – 2 February 1950), Irish clergyman and prolific novelist.Taylor, Brian (1995). ''The Life and Writings of James Owen Hannay (George Birmingham) 1865-1950.'' (Studies ...
aka James Owen Hannay
*
Christopher Hollis Christopher Hollis may refer to:
* Christopher Hollis (politician)
Maurice Christopher Hollis, known as Christopher Hollis (2 December 1902 – 5 May 1977), was a British schoolmaster, university teacher, author and Conservative politician.
Life
...
*
Katharine Asquith
Katharine Frances Asquith (; 9 September 18859 July 1976) was an English landowner and patron of the arts. During the First World War, she served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. She was the wife of Raymond Asquith and the daughter-in-law of ...
, widow of
Raymond Asquith
Raymond Herbert Asquith (6 November 1878 – 15 September 1916) was an English barrister and eldest son of British prime minister H. H. Asquith. A distinguished Oxford scholar, he was a member of the fashionable group of intellectuals known as ...
*
Reginald McKenna
Reginald McKenna (6 July 1863 – 6 September 1943) was a British banker and Liberal politician. His first Cabinet post under Henry Campbell-Bannerman was as President of the Board of Education, after which he served as First Lord of the Admiral ...
(in the McKenna family grave)
*
Lt. Col. Simon Fordham OBE
Features
The interior includes a
reredos
A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images.
The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
made from white marble, and a marble altar in various colours with a
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
. There are also several
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
windows dating from around 1850.
Other notable features and fittings include:
* a stained-glass window by
William Nicholson
* a white
gesso
Gesso (; "chalk", from the la, gypsum, from el, γύψος) is a white paint mixture consisting of a binder mixed with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or any combination of these. It is used in painting as a preparation for any number of substrates suc ...
plaque of 1886 by
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...
to
Laura Lyttelton
Laura Lyttelton (née Tennant, 1862 – 1886) was a British society figure who appeared in two paintings by Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones and fascinated London society, marrying politician Alfred Lyttelton, ...
. (Burne-Jones created a gilded copy of the memorial now in the
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
.)
* a tapestry after Burne-Jones by Lady Horner
* a stone tablet listing the names of the village's dead from the two world wars
* a bronze wreath designed by Sir
Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
, with lettering by
Eric Gill
Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
, to Raymond Asquith (Lutyens also designed
Mells War Memorial) and
* an
equestrian statue of Edward Horner by Sir
Alfred Munnings
Sir Alfred James Munnings, (8 October 1878 – 17 July 1959) was known as one of England's finest painters of horses, and as an outspoken critic of Modernism. Engaged by Lord Beaverbrook's Canadian War Memorials Fund, he earned several prest ...
(on a base by Lutyens): Horner fell at the
Battle of Cambrai in 1917. The quality of the statue led to a commission from the
Jockey Club
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amo ...
for Munnings to create a bronze of the racehorse
Brown Jack
Brown Jack (1924–1948) was a Thoroughbred racehorse that raced over hurdles and then on the flat. He was a "stayer" – a horse specialising in longer races. He won the second Cheltenham Champion Hurdle in 1928, but his main claim to fam ...
.
*a bronze plaque to Captain Stanes Geoffrey Bates of the
7th Queen's Own Hussars
The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in ...
, killed in action near Ypres in the First World War
Organ
The church has a two manual pipe organ dating from 1880 by
Vowles. A specification of the organ can be found on th
National Pipe Organ Register
Gallery
Image:StAndrews_Mells4.JPG, View along New Street
Image:St_Andrews_Mells3.JPG, Church entrance
Image:StAndrews_Mells2.JPG, Rear view
See also
*
References
{{Reflist
Mells
Mells, St Andrew's Church
Grade I listed buildings in Mendip District
Mells, Somerset