St Andrew's Church is a ruined church located above

Church Ope Cove Church Ope Cove is a small secluded beach on the sheltered eastern side of the Isle of Portland in Dorset, southern England, and is part of the Jurassic Coast. It is found close to the village of Wakeham. The beach has many unusual features for t ...

on the

Isle of Portland The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. St Andrew's was Portland's first parish church and remained as such until the mid-18th century. It is now one of the island's prime historical sites, and is a Grade II* Listed Building and a Scheduled Monument. The southern retaining wall of the churchyard is also Grade II Listed, as are three remaining churchyard monuments, approximately 7 metres south of the church.

History

It is believed that the site was once occupied by a Saxon church. Later,

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

bestowed Portland to the

Benedictine Monks The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, the ...

of St. Swithin of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

in 1042, who in turn built a new church over the old Saxon foundations in 1100. In 1340 and 1404, French raiders landed at Church Ope Cove and torched St. Andrews, but both times the church was rebuilt. Around 1470–1475 a tower was added and the church was dedicated to St. Andrew. In 1625 a wall was built to shore up the land after a landslip had damaged the church, and threatened the collapse of half the cemetery. Another major landslip in 1665 caused further damage. The church was replaced by St George's Church, Portland, St George's Church, built at Reforne between 1754 and 1766, following the Great Southwell Landslip of 1734–35. The church site, which was first excavated by J. Merrick Head in 1898, suffered some bomb damage during World War II. The church ruins were tidied and consolidated by the Portland Field Research Group in 1968–1973, with further conservation and excavation works in 1978–1982. Today, the barest ruins now remain of the church, while some stones are preserved in the garden of Portland Museum, Dorset, Portland Museum; they were moved there by volunteers in 1979 and 1980. St Andrews Church portland stones

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portland, Saint Andrews Church Isle of Portland, Saint Andrew Church ruins in England Grade II* listed ruins Grade II* listed churches in Dorset