The church of St Andrew's, Hornchurch, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

religious building in

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...

in England. It is a Grade I

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 ...

History

During the Anglian

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

around 450,000 years ago, the ice sheet reached The Dell, a few metres south of the current location of the church. It has been claimed that this is the furthest south reached by any ice sheet in Britain during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

epoch, however the Anglian icesheet is known to have extended as far south as the north coast of Cornwall and to

Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point, and has the souther ...

. There has been a church on this site since at least 1163, when it was given by Henry II to the

Hornchurch Priory Hornchurch Priory was an alien priory in Hornchurch, now in the London Borough of Havering. It was founded in 1158/9 on land donated by Henry II. The priory later amassed additional land holdings. For over 200 years the priory dominated the spirit ...

. The tower and the north porch were added in the 15th century. The tower contains 10 bells hung in a clockwise ring. The tenor is 18cwt (2016 lb or 914 kg) in Eb (622.0 Hz) dating from 1779. The bells were augmented from six bells to eight in 1901, then from eight to ten in 2001. On Monday May 27, 1912 a band of ringers led by William Pye rang a

peal In campanology (bell ringing), a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality. The definition of a peal has changed considerably ...

of 15,264 changes of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Surprise major in 9 hours and 49 minutes. This was at the time the longest length rung in any surprise method.

Design

The current church is an example of late

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

. It was designated as a Grade I

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

in 1955.

Interments

St Andrew's contains a number of funereal monuments and memorials to local families and dignitaries. Among these are memorials to the daughters of William Blackborne, who lived at Hornchurch and who was related to Abraham Blackborne, the long-serving rector (58 years) of

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

, as well as Levett Blackborne,

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

barrister and grandson of Sir

Richard Levett Sir Richard Levett (1629 – 20 January 1711) was an English merchant and politician who was elected Lord Mayor of London in 1699. Born in Ashwell, Rutland, he moved to London and established a pioneering mercantile career, becoming involved w ...

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

.Essex Review: An Illustrated Quarterly Record of Everything of Permanent Interest in the County, Vol. 5, Published by E. Durant and Co., 1896
/ref> In addition to the Blackborne memorial, there is also a stone tablet incised with verses proclaiming it as the resting place of the "Right Hon. Thomas Clutterbuck, treasurer of the Navy, and one of his Majesty's (king George II) most honourable privy council," who died 1742.The History of Essex: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time
Elizabeth Ogborne, Printed for the Proprietors and sold by R.H. Kelham, London, 1814, retrieved 14 March 2015 The churchyard contains the

war graves A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of 37 Commonwealth service personnel of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and four of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.
CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown obtained from casualty record.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hornchurch, Saint Andrew Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Havering Grade I listed churches in London 15th-century church buildings in England

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

History of the London Borough of Havering