St Andrew's Church, Plymouth | |
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Minster Church of St Andrew | |
Tower of St Andrew's Church
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Location | Royal Parade, Plymouth, PL1 2AD |
Country | England |
Denomination | Church of England |
Previous denomination | Roman Catholic Church |
Churchmanship | Evangelical |
Architecture | |
Status | Active |
Functional status | Parish church |
Administration | |
Parish | St. Andrew Plymouth |
Deanery | Plymouth City |
Archdeaconry | Archdeaconry of Plymouth |
Diocese | Diocese of Exeter |
Clergy | |
Rector | The Revd Joe Dent |
Vicar(s) | The Revd Leon Sim |
Asst Curate(s) | The Revd Lawrence Braschi The Revd Leon Catallo |
Laity | |
Director of music | Jonathan Hurdle |
Churchwarden(s) | Angela Thomas and Mac Forsyth |
The Minster Church of St Andrew, also known as St Andrew's Church, Plymouth is an Anglican church in Plymouth. It is the original parish church of Sutton, one of the three towns which were later combined to form the city of Plymouth. The church is the largest parish church in the historic county of Devon and was built in the mid to late 15th century. It was designated as a Minster Church in 2009 and it continues to operate as the focus for religious civic events for the city and as a bustling evangelical church.
It is likely to be on the site of the original Saxon church and was once attached to the abbey of Plympton.
The church existed at least as early as the beginning of the 12th century, possibly established in the 8th century but by the 15th century it needed to be enlarged because of the growth of the town. A Purbeck marble effigy tomb now located in the north transept is the only remaining feature of the earlier church. The principle building of Plymouth blue-sky limestone and Dartmoor granite corner buttressing in the Perpendicular style, took place between 1430 and 1490. with a plaque on the tower dating to 1460. It is known to have been restored three times, in 1824 by John Foulston, in 1875 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, and by Sir Frederick Etchells after extensive bomb damage in World War II. The Resurgam Door is a commemoration of this. The length is 185 feet (56 m) and the width 96 feet (29 m). There are two aisles on each side of the nave and one each side of the chancel. The arcades are of the type which is standard in Cornwall at the period. The tower is 136 feet (41 m) high and was funded by Thomas Yogge, a prosperous merchant, c. 1460. who lived in the wrongly-named Prysten House immediately located to the south of the Church.