St Andrew
East Hagbourne, Oxfordshire
Hagbourne parish church was built, or rebuilt, at the beginning of the 12th century, and consisted then of a nave and chancel, now only a few walls remain from this time.
The current building replaced a 9th century wooden church, which is referred to in Domesday. The church appears to have been entirely rebuilt in the 14th century. The chancel was rebuilt as it is today in around1320, and the nave, aisles and, and western tower between 1390 and 1410; this is all of the late Decorated period. The southern porch was added in 15th century. Little alteration has been made in the structure since that date. The roof was partly renewed in the 17th and 18th century. A careful restoration was done in 1929.
The church is entirely of Decorated period, and consists of a three bay aisled nave, and a two bay chancel with nice, steeply gabled buttresses. The nave’s arcade of three bays have octagonal piers and double chamfered arches. The church is of ashlar stone plinth, with a moulded top to the south aisle porch and tower. The walls have an irregular flint and chalk mixture as well as some brick. The nave roof is of the trussed rafter type, ceiled and having three massive tie beams. The chancel has a braced collar truss common rafter roof, which is plain tiled.
There are many medieval encaustic slipware tiles of simple design in the chancel and centre and south nave aisles. Some of the tiles may have come in the 18th century from Sparsholt Court Manor, after it was destroyed in 1721. On the porch and on the south buttress at the corner of the chancel are three (one above another) and by the door of the chancel, there are scratched rough sundials, or 'mass dials'.
The north aisle has a late 14th century east window of two lights under a square head. The north wall has two late 14th century windows of two lights, and between them, at the transept, there is a sealed up doorway which is pointed and chamfered.
