The Church of St Andrew is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church record ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities ...

in the centre of Rugby, in Warwickshire, England. It is a

grade II* 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 ...

. It is unique in having two peals of bells hung in separate towers and is part of the

Major Churches Network The Major Churches Network, founded in 1991 as the Greater Churches Network, is a group of Church of England parish churches defined as having exceptional significance, being physically very large (over 1000m2 footprint), listed as Grade I, II* ( ...

History

The first record of a church at the site was from 1140, originally as a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

of the mother church at nearby

Clifton-upon-Dunsmore Clifton-upon-Dunsmore is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire in England on the north-eastern outskirts of Rugby, approximately from Rugby town centre. The population of the parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,304 ...

, until Rugby became a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

in 1221. Nothing remains of the original church, as it was rebuilt in either the 13th or 14th century. The oldest surviving part of the church is the high west tower, which is unusual in that its appearance and construction bears strong resemblance to that of a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified ...

tower, meaning it was likely built to serve a defensive as well as religious role. According to a local legend, the tower was built from stones from a castle at Rugby, which had been demolished on the orders of Henry II, who forbade private fortifications without royal approval, however there was no prohibition against

fortified church A fortified church is a church that is built to serve a defensive role in times of war. Such churches were specially designed to incorporate military features, such as thick walls, battlements, and embrasures. Others, such as the Ávila Cathedr ...

es, and so the tower may have been constructed, nominally as an addition to the church, but in reality as a way to provide a place of defence, while still conforming to the statute. The west tower is usually dated to the 14th century, but was possibly built during the reign of Henry III (1216–1272), and is Rugby's oldest building. The church has other artefacts of medieval Rugby including the 13th-century parish chest, and a medieval

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 ...

. In order to cater for the growing population of the town, the church was extensively rebuilt on a much larger footprint in the 19th century, to the designs of

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

, retaining only the tower and nave arcade from the medieval church. These works were carried out between 1877 and 1879. From 1895 to 1896, further additions were made to the church by

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

to Butterfield's original designs, including a new east tower, added in 1895 which has a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

high. Very unusually, both of the church towers have ringable bells, the main peal of bells (all cast in 1896 by Mears & Stainbank,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

) being located in the eastern tower, and the old peal (all cast in 1711 by Joseph Smith of

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family ...

) located in the western tower. On 11 October 1949, the church was designated a

Architecture

The church is built from Bath stone with some detailing in red Alton stone, and is set under a grey slate roof. It has been described as representing "a competent Victorian design with distinctive elements and style strongly influenced by early medieval English architecture." The design of the church's east tower and spire bears resemblance to Butterfield's other works, such as Adelaide Cathedral.

Present day

St Andrew's stands in the liberal catholic tradition of the

Notable clergy

* Robin Gill, theologian, served his curacy here from 1968 to 1971 *

Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy (27 June 1883 – 8 March 1929) was an English Anglican priest and poet. He was nicknamed "Woodbine Willie" during World War I for giving Woodbine cigarettes to the soldiers he met, as well as spiritual aid ...

, known as "Woodbine Willie", served his

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

here before the First World War.

Gallery

St Andrew's Church from Regent Street, Rugby, 3.21.jpg, The east tower spire seen from Regent Street St Andrew's Church, Rugby (1825 drawing).jpg, Drawing of the church from 1825, prior to its expansion and addition of the second tower St Andrew's Church 3.21.jpg, The church seen from the south Old tower St Andrews Church, Jan 2006.jpg, Close up of the Medieval west tower Interior of St Andrew's Church, Rugby (2) 10.21.jpg, Interior

References

External links

Church website

A Church Near You entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugby, Saint Andrew Grade II* listed churches in Warwickshire 14th-century church buildings in England William Butterfield buildings Buildings and structures in Rugby, Warwickshire Church of England church buildings in Warwickshire Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Warwickshire Fortified church buildings in England