Castlefacts³

Penrith Church of St Andrew

Has been described as a Certain Fortified Ecclesiastical site

There are major building remains

Name	Penrith Church of St Andrew
Alternative Names
Historic Country	Cumberland
Modern Authority	Cumbria
1974 Authority	Cumbria
Civil Parish	Penrith

Medieval parish church with fortified west tower. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries and altered in the 15th century. The church was rebuilt and the west doorway inserted in 1720-22. Restoration work was carried out at various times between 1863 and 1922. Apart from the stones of the Giant's Grave in the churchyard, there are two Anglian cross-shafts of 10th century date built into the fabric of the church. (PastScape)

The church tower is considerably thicker than the walling of the rest of the church, and clearly reveals that it was fortified to resist the Scots. (PastScape–ref. Perriam and Robinson)

Gatehouse Comments

With respect to Perriam and Robinson this conclusion is not clear. Bell towers are often more thickly walled as they need to be stronger because of the greater weight of masonry from a taller tower, the weight of the bells and the problems from the vibration of the bells. The many reports of collapsed medieval bell towers show this was a distinct difficulty. Gatehouse suspects defences was a part of the reason for the design of this church tower but that, as a town with more wealth than most village churches, a collection of larger bells also played a part.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number

Historic England Listed Building number(s)

1145048

Images Of England

72923

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)

12301

County Historic Environment Record

maps.cumbria.gov.uk/eggp/eggp.aspx?dept=Environment&scriptname=1%20Historic%20Environment

OS Map Grid Reference	NY516301
Latitude	54.6641006469727
Longitude	-2.75146007537842
Eastings	351650
Northings	530160