Church Heritage Record 601254

Tower and sanctuary, with adjoining hall/nave not formally part of church. Adjacent vestry and entrance lobby demolished 2015.

The site has low archaeological potential.

The first church in the parish was built soon after 971 AD. The foundations of this Saxon church lie beneath the floor of the crypt of the present day parish church.

In medieval times Walcot was a hamlet outside the walls of Bath. It was taken within the enlarged city boundary in 1590.

The Saxon church was badly damaged by storms in 1739. John Wood, the architect who led the astonishing expansion of Bath in the mid C18, put forward plans for a replacement, but a design by the then Churchwarden, Robert Smith, was selected instead. This church, completed in 1742, was soon swamped by the rapid growth of Georgian Bath’s elegant ‘Upper Town’, and John Palmer (architect of Lansdown Crescent) was commissioned to build a new one, consecrated in 1777. Within ten years it also became too small, and Palmer extended it eastwards by two bays. A classical spire, added in 1790 to the existing tower, completed his design.

Four daughter churches (St Saviour’s, St Stephen’s, Holy Trinity and St Andrew’s) were built during the C19 to accommodate the growing population of the parish. All except St Andrew eventually became independent parishes.

The first church of St Andrew was built by George Gilbert Scott in 1870-73 in an ‘Early Decorated’ style (according to the report in The Architect) for some £12,000 with west tower, nave and chancel. A spire was added in 1878. It was bombed in 1942, ‘happily ruined’ (Pevsner), and eventually demolished c. 1960. It was on the triangular land between the mews houses and Julian Road.

The new St Andrew was constructed in 1961-64 by Hugh Roberts, the architect of several widely-disliked apartment blocks – Rosewell Court (1961) and St Patrick’s Court (1966, with his practice) also in Bath. He also carried out restoration work on Ralph Allen’s Cottages (originally c. 1737) with Graham & Stollar, and reconstruction work on the Royal Crescent (Royal Crescent Hotel, 13-18, 1949; 2 Royal Crescent, 1948). Roberts was an important local figure, becoming mayor of Bath. The nave was constructed to also act as a church hall. It is perhaps significant that, although modernist in design, the building is constructed in stone and of dimensions that help it to fit in with a typically ‘Bath’ residential street, showing Roberts’ feel for local historic architecture. The tower is less compromising, however.

St Andrew’s Church of England Primary School was built c. 1990 to the north and east of the church, using the nave as a dining hall during the week. The church stopped using the building for worship in 2008, since when the nave has been in permanent use as a hall and the sanctuary, although consecrated, for storage, music lessons, and other similar purposes. The hall has aisles and a clerestorey, but does not have a strong ecclesiastical feel, allowing it to be used as a dining hall.

The exterior of the parish church was cleaned and repaired in the 1990s. Major restoration of the interior in 2008/9 provided a light, airy worship space which respects Palmer’s original designs, linked by a new staircase to the fully redeveloped crypt. Together they form the hub for continuing Christian witness to the local community.

The sanctuary has a low pitched roof with a shallow gable end. The plan of the east wall is angled slightly, creating a point that is barely visible on the exterior. The east wall has no windows, and is constructed from coursed rubble, some apparently taken from the G. G. Scott church that it replaced, with a concrete parapet and cornice that contrasts with the rougher textures of the wall below. A large relief cross is built into the centre of the east wall.

The sanctuary has stained glass windows of three lights that run from the floor to the roof on the N and S, and ‘clerestorey’ windows above. An organ chamber projects to the N, although the organ has been removed.

The tower is a simple cuboid with a barely visible cornice, and large rectangular bell openings containing metal railings. It is surmounted by a large cross. The new proposals include glazing these bell openings.

During the site visit the remains of the vestry was visible to the S and show that it was a single room structure.

The east wall of the sanctuary is slightly angled and lit attractively by the stained glass windows to N and S (as well as by electric lighting in the ceiling). The angle is barely visible but would be more pronounced when the large altar cross (currently in the hall) was hung across the angle. It has a suspended ceiling, and parquet and carpet floors. Above the windows are horizontally laid ‘clerestorey’ windows with clear glass.

The door that formerly linked to the entrance hall is to the S and the organ chamber to the N, where it retains the original attractive screen. A folding screen runs just inside the west of the sanctuary where it separates it from the nave/hall.

The interior of the tower was not accessible.