Church Heritage Record 646083

3-bay nave with north porch and north tower with spire, and north aisle. Chancel with boiler room to south.

Coursed gritstone rubble and ashlar, stone slate roof.

The name Blubberhouses may have come from the word bilberry or blueberry. A local tale suggests it came from nearby ‘blubbering’ factory children – a work house was built on land north of the site in the 19th century – but the name existed before then. In the Middle Ages, land belonged to Bridlington Priory, but following the Reformation it came into the possession of William Frankland.

St Andrew’s was built as chapel of ease to Fewston by Lady Louisa Frankland Russell of Thirkleby Hall, who inherited her husband’s estate on his death in 1849. It was intended to serve a scattered community and was consecrated in 1856. The architect was Edward Buckton Lamb [1805-1869] who Edwards describes as an ‘unusual and quirky, but clever, man’. He worked in an idiosyncratic Gothic style meaning that his buildings stand out from others of a similar period. Blubberhouses features typical mannerisms of his style, for instance for Lamb the pulpit formed the key focus and clear views were vital. By doing away with a north aisle wall and instead using a beam as a wall-plate and a single column with corbels supporting principal trusses, Lamb achieved 100% visibility in the church. This form of column was subsequently reused at Aldwark.

The nearby landscape is characterised by several reservoirs which were constructed in the 1870s on land that was compulsory purchased by the Leeds Corporation. Construction saw a temporary influx of workers which would have enlarged the congregation at that time.

The North Yorkshire HER reveals many records within the locality including a Neolithic or Early Bronze Age perforated stone axe and Neolithic polished stone axe, standing as evidence for early settlement of the area. There are also records for a number of sandstone quarries. The course of an old Roman Road is marked on ordinance survey maps passing to the south-west of the church. To the north are a number of records relating to the former 19th century West House Mill Complex. Only some workers cottages and accommodation remain. Also to the north is Blubberhouses Hall (Grade II) built in the mid-19th century for Lady Frankland, possibly also designed by Lamb. A Grade II listed sundial, dated 1742, is located to its south.

The archaeological potential of the site is low. There are no known designations relating directly to the ecology of the plot, though it is designated within the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and the Pennine Dale Fringe National Character Area.

St Andrew’s is a compact, robust little church, purposefully positioned on raised ground above a road, with dramatic landscape rolling out beyond it. Lamb’s design drew upon common features of his style. The church employs the use of large quoins, oversized coping stones and kneelers, exaggerated edges and buttresses, and stone cross finials to each gable.

A short north-west tower with squat broach-like spire, is made more dominant by the situation on such as steep site. The porch is built into the west side of the tower with buttresses rising up beyond it. Paired louvred lancets pierce each elevation.

The west elevation has a single full-height buttress up the centre with tall lancets to either side. A continuous stone sill leads around the elevation and ventilation grates are positioned low in the external walls. Buttresses mark each bay between paired lancet windows. In the chancel, where the roofline is lower than the nave, a north window is set high in the wall. Three lancets pierce the east elevation. To the south a boiler room projects, with three steps rising to a door in the east face. A small quatrefoil window is positioned in the south side. At the east end of the north aisle is a quatrefoil window and a small trefoil headed window sits high at the east end of the south aisle.

The interior is accessed from the north-west porch, inside which is a small doorway upto the bells in the tower, a solid oak door provides access to the nave. The small nave has a level stone flag floor seated with fixed oak benches either side of the aisle. Carpet is laid over the stone flags. The pews have painted Roman numerals to their ends and were relocated from the old church at Thirkleby which Lamb rebuilt for Lady Freeland in 1851 in memory of her late husband. The walls are of painted plaster with exposed stone surrounds to the double lancet windows and their deep surrounds, north aisle and chancel arch. The roof is composed of a hammer-beam roof with king posts with the trusses resting on stone corbels between each bay. This was an experimental roof structure, part of Lamb’s play with form. Round lights are suspended from the trusses.

A north aisle sits beneath the continued roof slope and is separated from the nave by a single pillar which supports the roof structure rather than an arcade as is usual. A vestry area is marked out at the east end behind an organ and separated by a curtain.

A high chancel arch rises above a single step at the east end. The chancel roof is lower than the nave and constructed with arch-braced trusses. There are no choir stalls. A door in the south wall leads to a lower boiler room, with an external door in the east wall. The altar is raised by another step. The chancel walls are panelled to dado height, carried out in 1938.