---
title: "St Andrew, Aycliffe"
description: "Located in Aycliffe, County Durham. Built Anglo-Saxon nave fabric; Transitional work c.1190; south aisle c.1220; restored 1881–82. Diocese of Durham. Grade I. Anglo-Saxon and Early English style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","County Durham","Aycliffe","Grade I","Anglo-Saxon","Early English","Ewan Christian"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-andrew-aycliffe"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:13:45.120Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-07T20:33:08.407Z"
location: "Aycliffe, County Durham"
country: "England"
county: "County Durham"
town: "Aycliffe"
address: "High Street, Aycliffe, County Durham, DL5 6NA"
postcode: "DL5 6NA"
built: "Anglo-Saxon nave fabric; Transitional work c.1190; south aisle c.1220; restored 1881–82"
architect: "Ewan Christian (1881–82 restoration)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Andrew"]
diocese: "Durham"
grade: "I"
style: "Anglo-Saxon and Early English"
materials: "Stone, incorporating in-situ Anglo-Saxon nave walls and quoins"
website: "http://www.aycliffehistory.org.uk/"
openingHours: "Open April to September."
parish: "Great Aycliffe"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322806"
gridReference: "NZ 283 221"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas"
---

# St Andrew, Aycliffe

St Andrew’s is a Grade I parish church at Aycliffe Village, County Durham, in the Diocese of Durham, with extensive Anglo-Saxon fabric revealed in the restoration of 1881–82.

## Overview

Historic England and the Heritage Gateway record an Early English church that retains the outer walls of an Anglo-Saxon nave and original west quoins, visible inside the later aisles, with a square-sectioned Saxon string course above the nave arcades. Transitional nave and chancel work of about 1190 is followed by a south aisle and refaced upper tower stages of about 1220; the belfry is fifteenth-century. Ewan Christian’s restoration of 1881–82 added a new north aisle, organ chamber and vestry and rebuilt the chancel south wall. The south porch of 1835 conceals a c.1220 inner doorway under a two-order pointed arch.

The north arcade is semicircular on alternating octagonal and round piers; the south arcade is pointed. Fittings include two late tenth-century cross shafts, an early fourteenth-century cross-legged knight effigy, a plain early Norman font, and mid-seventeenth-century balustraded pews, pulpit, altar table and reredos. Great Aycliffe Town Council notes that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records synods at Aclea in 782 and 789. After plaster was stripped in 1881–82, the Rev. J. F. Hodgson wrote that ‘the silence of a thousand years was broken’.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1322806](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1322806)
- [Great Aycliffe Town Council: St Andrew’s Church](https://www.great-aycliffe.gov.uk/about/st-andrews-church/)