24
Jun

Lyddington – St. Andrew.

   Posted by: churches   in Leicestershire, Rutland

St Andrew - Lyddington St Andrew - Lyddington

The parish church of St. Andrew stands next to the Bede House which in 1602 housed 12 bedesmen (those employed to pray for the soul of their benefactor) and two women, all free of lunacy, leprosy or the French pox. The house itself is C15 and a former Palace of the Bishops of Lincoln.

St. Andrew is C14 and was rebuilt in C15 . Stylisticly it is Perpendicular with a Decorated tower.

West door, St Andrew - Lyddington Medieval stone coffin lid, St Andrew - Lyddington Acoustic jar, St Andrew - Lyddington

Inside the west door there are two medieval stone coffin covers. The curch also has some rare acoustic jar made of clay that are inserted high up in the wall of the chancel.

Brass monument, St Andrew - Lyddington Brass monument, St Andrew - Lyddington Jacobean altar rails, St Andrew - Lyddington

The floor of the chancel has two brass monuments. The earliest is a 2ft 7in memorial to Helyn Hardy (d1486). She wears a veiled head-dress, mitten sleeves, belt and cordon, which was the habit of a widow who has taken vows of chastity.

Next to it is a memorial with two 3ft figures dedicated to Edward Watson (d1520) and his wife. Edward Watson was Surveyor-General to the Bishops of Lincoln, and his descendants became owners of Rockingham Castle.

Following the Reformations churches were permitted to place the altar at the east end of the church or, as the puritans preferred, in the centre of the chancel or nave.

In 1633 Archbishop Laud decreed that the altar should be at the east end and railed off from the chancel.

The altar rails at St Andrew are dated 1635 and surround the altar on all four sides – a compromise between the two factions.

St Andrew - Lyddington Painted screen, St Andrew - Lyddington

The south wall of the chancel has a three seat sedilia and piscina. The C15 wooden chancel screen has painted flowers and traces of painted saints on lower panels.

East window, St Andrew - Lyddington East window, St Andrew - Lyddington

East window, St Andrew - Lyddington East window, St Andrew - Lyddington
The east window is dated 1870 and is a memorial to John and Elizabeth Clarke. The central four panels have representations of the Nativity, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension. The lower panels are from the old testament.

Font, St Andrew - Lyddington Font, St Andrew - Lyddington

The square font is made from the local ironstone and sits on a modern base. The font covering is Jacobean and early C17.

Tags: , , ,

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 9:45 pm and is filed under Leicestershire, Rutland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

One comment

 1 

Great to see all these photos with family connections.

C
Toronto

August 22nd, 2012 at 3:43 am