Listed Building record MDO9563 - Church of St Andrew, Gussage St Andrew, Sixpenny Handley

A chapel of ease build in the twelfth century with thirteenth-century and later additions and alterations. The nave is of twelfth-century date, with a fourteenth-century roof, and the chancel thirteenth-century with a nineteenth-century roof. The chapel contains a 12th century font and wall paintings dating to the 13th or 14th centuries. The walls of the building are flint and ashlar covered with render and it has a tiled roof.

(ST 97611425) St Andrew's Church (NAT). <1>

St Andrew's Church, Gussage St Andrew, has flint walls with ashlar dressings, in part rendered, and a tiled roof. The 12th century nave has 13th century wall paintings. The chancel dates from late in the 13th century. <3>

Church of St Andrew Chapel of Ease, C12 nave, C13 chancel with alterations of the C14, C16, C18 and C19. Grade I (see list for details). <4>

Additional reference. <2>

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

<2> Newman, J, and Pevsner, N, 1972, The Buildings of England: Dorset, 219 (Monograph). SWX1290.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1975, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume V (East), 65-66, No 2, Plan & Photos (Monograph). SDO129.

‘(2) ST. ANDREW'S CHURCH, Gussage St. Andrew (97611425), some 2¼ miles S.W. of (1), has flint walls with ashlar dressings, in part rendered, and a tiled roof. The Nave, of 12th-century origin, has 13th-century wall-paintings (Plates 7, 24). The Chancel dates from late in the 13th century. Although small, the building has good 12th and 13th-century features and is of considerable interest.
Architectural Description—The gabled E. wall of the Chancel has two restored 13th-century lancet windows; the N.E. and S.E. corners have ashlar buttresses of two weathered stages. The eastern window in the N. wall is of 13th-century origin, restored in 1857. In the S. wall the easternmost window is of the late 13th century, with two trefoil-headed lights and a quatrefoil spandrel light under a two-centred head with a moulded label; the two-centred hollow-chamfered rear-arch also has a moulded label. The jamb and sill contain an original piscina and recess. The adjacent S. doorway, contemporary with the window, has a sunk-chamfered two-centred head and continuous jambs with roll-moulded stops; the rear-arch is segmental-pointed and chamfered.
The Nave has a 14th-century N. doorway with a chamfered two-centred head and chamfered jambs. Adjacent on the W. is a round-headed 12th-century window with wide splays and a semicircular rear-arch. The S. wall of the nave has two brick buttresses of c. 1700 flanking a window of two square-headed lights, probably of the same date. Further W. is a window of 1857 with two trefoil-headed lights, and immediately E. of this are the chamfered jambs of a blocked doorway, perhaps 13th century. Still further W. is a blocked 12th-century doorway with an unchamfered round head and a semicircular rear-arch.
The W. window, of three trefoil-headed lights in a square surround with a chamfered segmental rear-arch, is of the early 16th century. The N.W. and S.W. corners of the nave have 14th-century diagonal buttresses of one weathered stage.
The nave Roof is of the 15th century and has five rough tie-beam trusses with chamfered and cambered ties and curved struts; the trusses rest on chamfered wall-plates.
Fittings—Chandelier: of brass, with three tiers of scrolled brackets and ball pendant, early 18th century. Communion Rails: of oak with spirally turned balusters, early 18th century, restored. Communion Table: of oak, with turned legs and enriched rails, 17th century. Floor-slabs: In chancel, beneath communion table, (1) of William Williams, Purbeck marble slab (Plate 11) depicting coffin surrounded by emblems of mortality and inscribed 'Gulielmus Williams de Woodcotts Generos. extremum suum diem clausit Novemb. ye 17th 1725, Aged 100'. In nave, (2) of John Lush, 1722, and Mary his wife, Purbeck marble slab with symbols of mortality. Font: of Purbeck stone, with plain tub-shaped bowl and moulded stem, 12th century; spurred octagonal stone base, mediaeval. Glass: In central S. window, roundel with crown, 15th century.
Niche and Piscina: In jamb of E. window of S. wall, rectangular niche with chamfered trefoil head; in sill of same window, corbelled piscina with eight-lobed basin, moulded underneath; both late 13th century.
Plate: includes cup of usual Elizabethan form with donor's inscription of Henry Alye, late 16th or early 17th century; also stand-paten with maker's mark VG. Pulpit: of oak, with four panelled sides with chip-carving, late 17th century. Royal Arms: crudely painted on panel, of George III, after 1801.
Tables of Creed etc.: Reset on W. wall, two square-headed wooden panels with moulded surrounds, with Lord's Prayer, Creed and Decalogue in gilt lettering, and 'Benjamin Biles, chapel-warden, 1811'. Wall-paintings: In nave, on N. wall (Plate 24), ashlar ruling probably late 12th century; superimposed figures late 13th century; black-letter texts, illegible, probably 17th century.’

<4> DOE (HHR), 1986, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest: Wimborne District, 36 (Scheduling record). SDO18076.

<5> The church of Gussage St. Andrew (Monograph). SDO18275.

<6> The church of Gussage St. Andrew's, Minchington (Monograph). SDO18276.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 210113 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 16 2025 5:04PM