St Andrew's Church, Shotley, is a
redundant Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church standing in an isolated position at a height of on Greymare Hill in
Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
, England. It is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...
as a designated Grade II
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
,
and is in the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
History
The church was built in 1769 to replace an earlier church on the site.
[ It was superseded in 1837 by St John's Church, ]Snods Edge
Snods Edge is a small hamlet in South Northumberland, about from Consett. The name is thought to have derived from "snow's edge", referring to the hamlet's close proximity (about 5 km or 3 mi) to the North Pennines.
History
...
, Shotley Bridge, several miles to the south. In the 19th century St Andrew's suffered from subsidence
Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...
due to mine workings, and it was remodelled in 1892. St Andrew's was declared redundant on 29 October 1971, and was vested
In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property are acquired by some Legal person, person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vest ...
in the Trust on 13 April 1973.
Architecture
St Andrew's is constructed in coursed rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...
with a slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
roof. Its plan is cruciform
A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...
with four equal arms, having a nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
and chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
, and north and south transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
s. Attached to the south transept is a gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
d porch. Above the porch and on the sides of the nave and transepts are single-light round-headed windows. At the west end of the church is a pointed window over which is a plain arched bellcote
A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...
. In the chancel there are paired lancet window
A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...
s on the sides, and a two-light east window. Attached to the walls of the church are 18th-century headstones. Inside the chancel are a 19th-century credence table
A credence table is a small side table in the sanctuary of a Christian church which is used in the celebration of the Eucharist (Latin ''credens, -entis'', believer).
The credence table is usually placed near the wall on the epistle (south) sid ...
and a piscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...
. On the walls are memorial tablets. The fittings date from the 19th century and these include a screen across the north transept. In the vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
is a small 18th-century fireplace. There are stone benches in the porch.[
]
External features
In the churchyard, to the northeast of the church, is the Hopper Mausoleum, which is a Grade I listed building. Also in the churchyard are three Grade II listed buildings; these are a hearse house, the Chatt headstone, and the Gibson headstone.
See also
* List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in Northern England
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shotley, St Andrew's Church
Grade II listed churches in Northumberland
Churches completed in 1769
18th-century Church of England church buildings
Churches completed in 1892
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust