---
title: "Plymouth Minster"
description: "Located in Plymouth, Devon. Built Mid to late C15 on an older site; restored 1826 and 1875; rebuilt 1949–57 after Blitz damage. Diocese of Exeter. Grade I. Perpendicular Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Devon","Plymouth","Grade I","Perpendicular","Minster","George Gilbert Scott","Frederick Etchells","John Piper"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/plymouth-minster"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:31:55.323Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T18:58:41.507Z"
location: "Plymouth, Devon"
country: "England"
county: "Devon"
town: "Plymouth"
address: "Royal Parade, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2AD"
postcode: "PL1 2AD"
built: "Mid to late C15 on an older site; restored 1826 and 1875; rebuilt 1949–57 after Blitz damage"
architect: "John Foulston (1826); Sir George Gilbert Scott (1875); Frederick Etchells (1949–57)"
denomination: "Church of England"
diocese: "Exeter"
grade: "I"
style: "Perpendicular Gothic"
materials: "Plymouth limestone rubble with granite dressings; dry slate roofs"
website: "https://www.standrewschurch.org.uk/visit-us/history/"
openingHours: "Monday to Friday: 9am to 4pm. Saturday: 9am to 1pm."
parish: "St Andrew Plymouth"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1130012"
gridReference: "SX 479 543"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby"
---

# Plymouth Minster

The Minster Church of St Andrew on Royal Parade is a Grade I parish church, the largest in historic Devon, in the Diocese of Exeter. It was granted minster status in 2009.

## Overview

Historic England records a large mid- to late-fifteenth-century parish church on an older site. The tower was paid for by the merchant Thomas Yogge in 1460; John Dew worked on the south aisle in 1481–82 and John Andrew on St Mary’s aisle in the same years. John Foulston restored the church in 1826 and Sir Gilbert Scott in 1875. It was much damaged in the Plymouth Blitz and restored in 1949–57 by Frederick Etchells (the list spelling is Eschells). Fabric is Plymouth limestone rubble with granite dressings and dry slate roofs. The plan is nave, chancel, north and south aisles, chapels and porches, and a four-stage west tower 136 feet high with embattled parapet and crocketed pinnacles.

Six-bay nave arcades have standard A (Pevsner) piers and depressed arches; roofs are post-war wagons. Wartime fittings were destroyed; a 1661 font was later found in a garden, and post-war altar furnishings are by Colin Shewring. Surviving monuments include a twelfth- or thirteenth-century recumbent figure, the Sparke monument of 1635, and busts by Chantrey. East and west windows of 1958 were designed by John Piper and made by Patrick Reyntiens. After the 1941 bombing the word RESURGAM appeared above the north entrance.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1130012](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1130012)
- [St Andrew’s Church, Plymouth](https://www.standrewschurch.org.uk/church-building)