St Andrew

About

St Andrew's is the Grade I listed Anglican parish church of Pickworth, a small village in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, about 8 miles south of Sleaford and 8 miles east of Grantham. Like Newton and several neighbouring parishes, it sits within the Church of England parish of South Lafford, in the Diocese of Lincoln.

The church is renowned for its exceptional 14th-century wall paintings, one of the finest surviving schemes of medieval church art in England, and for its beautifully carved and restored medieval rood screen.

History

The Domesday Book records Pickworth as having forty households and a church in 1086. The oldest identifiable parts of the present building date from the 12th century, including the tower and the circular tub font on its octagonal base.

The church was substantially rebuilt in the Decorated Gothic style in 1358 (some sources give 1356), most likely funded by the Pickworth family, after whom the village is named. This rebuild gave the church its broach spire, clerestoried nave, aisles and chancel, most of what stands today. The south door, rood screen and pews all date from this 14th-century campaign. Over the chancel arch survive wall paintings of around 1380, and a statue of Mary Magdalene from the same period — recovered headless, having been hidden from the iconoclasts before being re-erected in the 19th century.

The rood screen survived the Reformation-era iconoclasts, though it lost its decorative canopy and upper loft. A new canopy was made for the screen in 1966, marking the 400th anniversary of that destruction, the work of Mr J. H. Palin.

The church's celebrated wall paintings were rediscovered in 1947, having lain hidden beneath layers of limewash and plaster. St Andrew's was designated a Grade I listed building on 20 September 1984, and Prince Charles visited the church on 23 November 1988. Surviving parish registers date back to 1538.