St Andrew

In 1146 Empress Maud, daughter of Henry I and mother of Henry II gave the original church to the Abbey of St Nicholas of Angers. The moiety of the church was passed to the Knights Templar by Simon de Clancy in 1212. By 1546, the Suttons, a mercantile family, were granted possession of the manor and part of the church and appear to have continued undisturbed possession for several generations. In 1566 the rood screen was destroyed during the Reformation. Between December 1793 and January 1794 the church was demolished with the chancel being the only part of the church to be retained during rebuilding, of which most was carried out by village craftsmen. This new church was a typical George III church with a gallery at the West end and box pews. Sadly these have been swept away with the subsequent Victorian restoration in 1888, leaving behind the church seen today. It still however contains some interesting features including a fine medieval chancel arch and a vamping horn or church megaphone measuring six feet high! It is the second largest extant in England and is said that it can be heard 1 mile away! On the north wall is a tomb of a merchant, Nicholas Sutton who died in1602. The back wall together with a rhymed inscription are the remaining parts of this Jacobean stone omb. Tradition says that Nicholas Sutton committed sacrilege by robbing Willoughton church and was executed in the spot, his head being built up within the wall of the chancel immediately above his tomb, where it seems it was actually visible until recent years. The origin of the story no doubt lies in the insertion of an older skull in the niche over the tomb (now missing), as a Memento Mori.