PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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MINSTER CHURCH OF St ANDREW
On the basis that the sites of churches are normally dedicated in perpetuity, it is believed that this must have been the site of the first church in Saxon times. The vicar was appointed by the Prior of Plympton and the earliest recorded vicar is Ealphege, who officiated at the time of King William II. This places its date as before 1100, when King William died. A William de la Stane was the vicar in 1264 and the church is mentioned in a survey of Western Churches made in 1291 on the orders of Pope Nicholas. The only other churches in the area at that time were at Egg Buckland, Stoke Damerel and Tamerton Foliot. The crypt beneath the present chancel is said to date from that time. With the growing prosperity of the township came the enlargement of the Church to take the increasing population. The south chancel aisle, built by Mr John Edenes and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was built around 1380-85. The north aisle, dedicated to St John the Baptist, was started in 1440, just after Plymouth received its first borough charter. The tower, which is more decorated than the main body of the Church, dates from 1460/61, when the Town provided the materials and a wealthy local merchant named Thomas Yogge paid for the labour to build it. He also financed the building of the Lady Chapel on the north side of the Church. By this time, around 1482, the vicar of St Andrew's, John Stubbs, was appointing the priests of four outlying chapels-of-ease, at St Katherine's -upon-the Hoe, St George's at Stonehouse, St Budoc at St Budeaux and St Pancras at Pennycross. These were not, as yet, separate parishes. One famous visitor to St Andrew's Church was Katherine of Aragon. After a perilous passage across the English Channel she landed at Plymouth on October 2nd 1501 and promptly made her way in procession to the Church to give thanks for her safe arrival. She then departed for London to marry Prince Arthur, the brother of King Henry VIII, whom she married in 1509 after the death of her husband. King Henry's attempts to divorce her led to the break with the Roman Catholic Church and the reformation as the Church of England, with Henry at its head. When King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in 1536-39, the revenues from St Andrew's went to the King along with those of the Plympton Priory.
Had there been bells in the Church tower on that day they would surely have been rung but the first mention of them occurs in the 'Black Book' in 1594: 'This yere were fyve newe belles cast at the Townes only charge.' It is not clear from the reference to 'newe belles' whether these were the first ones or replacements for earlier ones. But trouble was brewing. In 1634 King Charles I asserted his right to appoint the vicar of St Andrew's and, not surprisingly, his choice, Doctor Aaron Wilson, was a Royalist. When the Civil War broke out in 1642 Doctor Wilson was imprisoned, first on Drake's Island and later at Portsmouth, and the Town appointed a Puritan vicar. After the Restoration of King Charles II, the Townsfolk feared Royal intervention in the appointment of vicars to St Andrew's and petitioned for a new Church to which they could appoint their own choices. They cunningly named it Charles' Church. The organ was originally built by Mr James Parsons and formally brought into use on December 7th 1735. It was funded by subscriptions amounting to £391 16s. The salary of the organist, Mr John Evans, is recorded as being £14 per year. It has been much enlarged and improved since then. It had just been rebuilt by Messrs John Hele and Company when the Church was bombed in 1941. Read more about the subscribers to the organ.......... St Andrew's Church has been restored three times, first in 1826 by the noted local architect Mr John Foulston, who sadly removed much of the old woodwork and the finely carved screen (which was sold at auction for £134), closed the archway beneath the tower, and installed high pews. The Reverend John Hatchard was the vicar of St Andrew's for a remarkable 45 years from 1824 until his death in 1869. In 1836 the advowson of St Andrew's Church was sold by the Corporation and eventually ended up with the Church Patronage Society. [EDITORIAL NOTE: Doubt is now cast upon this historical statement by the information contained in the potted biography of the Reverend John Hatchard as the advowson must have been already sold when he became the vicar of St Andrew's in August 1824.] The old, unsightly, wooden pulpit, known by some, it would seem, as the "tub-thumper", was removed on the morning of Monday May 1st 1871. In its place, ready for use on the following Sunday, was erected a fine new one designed by Mr John Hine. The base was of Cornish granite from the quarry of Messrs Freeman & Sons at Penryn. Dartmoor granite was used for the stem while the octagonal, main section was of Bath stone from Corsham, in Wiltshire. The panels, columns and angles were of red Devonshire marble, from Ipplepen, relieved by well-marked veins of a cream colour. A figure of St Andrew with his unique X-shaped cross faced down the length of the Church from a central panel in the pulpit. The carving was carried out by Mr Harry Hems, sculptor, of Exeter. The work cost about £130. Improvement work then started on the Church's burial ground. On Thursday June 15th 1871 Mr Pethick's men started on removing the high wall around the graveyard at the top of Catherine Street. Most of the work was done during the night so it came as a surprise to many residents on the Friday morning. The burial ground was reduced in size by removing some of the remains to the Westwell Street Burial Ground. A new dwarf wall was erected, once again designed by Mr Hine. The lower level was of limestone, after which came a red band of Dartmoor granite. The upper layer was of Cornish granite and the whole was completed with Portland stone piers and capitals carved by Mr Harry Hems and his staff. Railings were then placed on top of the wall by Mr Joseph Murch, of Stoke, and an ornate lamp supplied by Mr Marshall, ironmonger, of Plymouth, was placed on top of each pier. Unfortunately the notorious "mound" in front of the Church remained. A more careful restoration of the Church followed in 1874-75 under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott FSA. In February 1873 the contract for the restoration was awarded to Mr John Finch, builder. The high oak pews (referred to as 'horse-boxes') dating from 1826 were swept away as were the great teak staircase and the spacious galleries with their flights of stone steps both inside and outside the Church. The arch below the tower was opened up again and the vaults were filled in and covered with charcoal. New oak pews exquisitely carved by Mr Harry Hems were installed. St Andrew's was re-opened for worship on March 31st 1875. In 1878 a fine carillon and chimes were given to the Church by Mr Charles Norrington in memory of his son, Mr C H Norrington, who was a member of the Devonshire Guild of Ringers. The Mayor and Corporation attended a special service on July 6th 1878, when the carillon was formally opened. Read more about the St Andrew's Church carillon.......... The "Mound" was finally removed in 1884 and in its place was later erected a memorial cross, St Andrew's Cross. That landmark was badly damaged in the Blitz of March 1941 and later removed for safety. The chapel on the north side was fitted up in 1912 as a memorial to Archdeacon Wilkinson, who was vicar from 1870 to 1902. Until the Second World War, when it was destroyed, the Chapel contained an organ presented by Doctor Moreton in memory of his son, Lieutenant Cecil H Moreton, who was killed in action at Queant in 1918. When his body was sent home it was found that his personal effects included two organ pipes from the ruins of a French church. These were incorporated into one of the stops on the organ, which was opened in 1920. To the south of St Andrew's Church is what is known as the Abbey Hall. Its exact link with the Church is unknown but it was possibly a priests' house. It was purchased for £8,800 in 1920 and reconstructed at a cost of a further £12,000 to become the Parish Hall and a parochial Memorial to those who lost their lives during the Great War. During the air raid of the night of March 20th/21st 1941 the Church was, as Twyford described, 'mauled but not beyond repair'. The main building had been saved although it was not easy to gain entrance as there was fairly extensive damage outside the doorway. But that relatively happy situation was not to last. During the following night the Church was laid to ruin and on the Saturday morning (22nd) only the walls and tower were left standing. The carillon of bells in the tower was damaged as were the north and east faces of the clock. The church bells themselves were undamaged. The four-manual organ was totally destroyed. At this time, when spirits were low, a board was fixed over the north porch door upon which was carved the one word "Resurgam" - 'I will rise again'. The ruins were laid out as gardens and services were once again held in what became known as the Garden Church. Normal services were held at St Catharine's Church in Lockyer Street, which had formerly been a chapel-of-ease to St Andrew's. On January 15th 1949, during the incumbency of the Reverend Norman Clarke, a special service was held to inaugurate the rebuilding of St Andrew's and on October 22nd a commemorative stone was laid by HRH the Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II. The Church was re-roofed and restored by Mr (later Sir) Frederick Etchells FRIBA. It was re-consecrated at 3pm on November 30th 1957, St Andrew's Day, by the Lord Bishop of Exeter, assisted by the Bishops of Liverpool and Plymouth, and in the presence of HRH the Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, and the Lord Mayor. St Andrew's Church is built of stone in the Perpendicular style and consists of chancel, nave, aisles extending the whole length of the building, transepts, north and south porches, and a lofty embattled western tower with pinnacles. The aisles are separated from the nave and chancel by a series of lofty pointed arches springing from clustered shafts, with carved foliated capitals. The tower contains a clock and a peal of 10 bells, numbers three to nine of which were cast in 1749. The clock used to chime and there used to be a public house nearby called "The Chimes". The eastern portions of the aisles form chapels and under the chancel is a crypt said to communicate with the nearby "Prysten House". The heart of Admiral Blake is buried in St Andrew's Church. He was returning from the defeat of the Spanish Armada, when, on August 15th 1657, he died just as his flagship, the "Saint George", was entering Plymouth Sound. His body was originally given a state burial at St Margaret's Church, Westminster, but upon the Restoration it was removed and thrown into a pit beneath the Tyburn gallows along with those of Cromwell. St Andrew's has the distinction of being the largest parish church in Devon, measuring some 184 feet in length and 69 feet in width, except at the transepts where it is 95 feet wide. The tower is 136 feet tall. It has already been mentioned that seven of the present bells date from 1749. In that year eight of the bells were cast by Mr Thomas Bilbie on the site where the Guildhall now stands from previous bells made in 1594, 1631 and 1709. They were described as more deep-toned than usual with the tenor bell weighing some two and a half tons. The heaviest of those bells unfortunately cracked in 1839 and the following year it was recast by Mr Thomas Mears of London. It weighed 35 cwt 14 lbs. Two more bells were donated in 1874 by Mr Edward Bates, the local Member of Parliament. There are apparently only two sets of bells in Devon that are heavier than those in St Andrew's: they are in Exeter Cathedral and Buckfast Abbey. There were two St Andrew's Mission Chapels, one in Lower Lane/Palace Street, and another in Willow Street. I am indebted to Mr Jason Smart of Plympton, a member of the Plymouth & District Organists' Association, for drawing my attention to the fact that the new organ installed during the post-war restoration is still the largest organ west of Bristol, bigger even that those in Exeter and Truro Cathedrals. It was designed by Doctor Harry Moreton, who had been the organist at St Andrew's since 1885, and Doctor William Lloyd Webber (father of the present Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber) and Doctor O H Peasgood. It was constructed by Messrs Rushworth and Dreaper Ltd of Liverpool, and apparently it vies with the organ of Guildford Cathedral as their masterpiece. This organ was played at the dedication service by Doctor Moreton, who retired in March 1958 at the grand old age of 93 years. At 10.30am on Sunday November 29th 2009 The Bishop of Exeter, the Right Reverend Michael Langrish, conferred Minster status on St Andrew's Church in recognition of the very great esteem in the Church and its record of service was held by the City of Plymouth. The Rector was the Reverend Nick McKinnel. [1] The parish registers, which begin in 1581, are held at the Plymouth & West Devon Record Office in Clare Place, Sutton Road, Plymouth. Principal Sources (incomplete):
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