St Andrew, Bolam

St Andrew’s is a Grade I parish church at Bolam, Northumberland, in the Diocese of Newcastle: a late Saxon tower church with a largely Norman interior.

Overview

Historic England lists a late Saxon tower and nave west wall with quoins, and twelfth-, thirteenth- and fourteenth-century work with some eighteenth-century windows. Fabric is squared stone under stone slate, Welsh slate and lead roofs. The plan comprises west tower, nave and south aisle, south porch, north vestry, south chapel and chancel. The tower has deeply splayed Saxon ground-floor window heads, original first-floor lights, and two-light openings with baluster mullions at the second floor. The south arcade of about 1200 has quatrefoil keeled piers and stepped round arches.

The chancel arch has round triple responds with cushion capitals, those on the north carved with faces at the corners. Responds of a former apse arch, removed when the chancel was lengthened in the thirteenth century, remain with reset voussoirs above. Fourteenth-century sedilia and piscina survive. The south chapel holds a fourteenth-century knight’s effigy, perhaps Robert de Reynes of Shortflatt. Co-Curate notes that a German bomb lodged under the chapel in the Second World War without exploding; a leaded window records the event. The church is open from 9am to 5pm all year.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1304102
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Andrew, Bolam
• Co-Curate: Church of St Andrew, Bolam