St Andrew, Shalford
St Andrew, Shalford
St Andrew’s is a Grade I parish church on The Street (Braintree Road), Shalford, Essex, in the Diocese of Chelmsford and the Pant Valley Churches benefice.
- Location
- Shalford, Essex
- Country
- England
- County
- Essex
- City / town
- Shalford
- Address
- The Street, Shalford, Essex, CM7 5HH
- Postcode
- CM7 5HH
- Built
- Mainly C14 (nave and aisles c.1330, chancel c.1340); tower possibly C12 origin, rebuilt later C14
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Andrew
- Diocese
- Chelmsford
- Parish
- Shalford
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Decorated and Perpendicular Gothic
- Materials
- Flint rubble, partly cement rendered, with limestone and clunch dressings; lead and handmade red clay tile roofs
- Grid reference
- TL 723 292
- Opening hours
- The church is open daily from 10am to 4pm (at least).
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England describes a mainly fourteenth-century church restored in the nineteenth century. The nave and north and south aisles date from about 1330, altered later in the century; the chancel is about 1340. The west tower may be of twelfth-century origin, rebuilt in the later fourteenth century; clasping buttresses on the lower tower are cited locally as evidence of that earlier phase. A south porch is later fourteenth-century. A combined north vestry and organ chamber is nineteenth-century. Fabric is flint rubble, partly cement rendered, with limestone and clunch dressings, roofed in lead and handmade red clay tiles.
The chancel has a restored five-light east window of about 1340. The fourteenth-century chancel arch is two-centred with wave-moulded orders; a plain squint with shallow ogee head sits south of it. The parish council notes three fourteenth-century canopied tomb recesses among the finest in Essex, and original glass in the east window conserved in 2020. The church is open daily and serves a village of about 750 people.