Architectural Features
the present church is principally C14
C15, with C19 alterations.
C14 buttressed and embattled west tower.
North vestry of C16, extended 1934 to form two vestries.
Gargoyles to north and east aisles, and tower.
Small carved figure on south face of tower, by top of eastern buttress.
/ Through various toils, at length to Britain came / Espous'd, so Heaven ordain'd, an English dame, / And followed Christ: their hope two infants dear. / But one, a hapless Orphan, slumbers here. / To bury her the village children came, / And dropp'd choice flowers, and lisp'd her early fame: / And some that loved her most, as if unblest, / Bedew'd with tears the white wreath on their breast: / But she is gone and dwells in that abode / Where some of every clime shall joy in God.' INTERIOR: Aisled nave with C14 arcades of seven bays, with octagonal piers.
Clerestory C15.
Chancel C15, but much reconstructed in 1842-4
Floor of chancel with polychromatic tiles.
C15 painted Doom over chancel arch, extending into east bays of clerestory: much detail remaining, as well as portions of later painting, including, to left and right of arch, a rose and thistle.
In the west tower a door to C15 staircase, the staircase itself corbelled out on a lion bracket.
Stained glass: east window 1897
TL4659 : St Andrew, Chesterton - Stained glass window
other glass of 1803, 1872, 1873, 1875, and 1884.
Monuments: in chancel, a pair of black and white marble wall tablets in the form of chest tombs, to William and Anne Wiles, , made by A. Swinton of Cambridge.
Carved benches, most with poppyhead ends, two with standing figures
some C15, some copies.
Chesterton Tower (q.v.), a listed mid-C14 domestic building, is a little further east.
HISTORY: The church at Chesterton is first recorded c.1200.
In 1217 the church and living were presented to the papal legate, Cardinal Guala, by Henry III, in gratitude for Guala's efforts at reconciliation during England's domestic unrest at the end of the reign of King John.
In 1273 it was directed that 'all priests celebrating in the church are to obey the abbot's procurator and also the vicar, who has the governance of the church on account of the English tongue, and they are to do principal reverence to the procurator and secondary reverence to the vicar.' A vicarage was ordained in the 1273 to the south of the church
In the mid C14 a house was built near the church, thought to have been for the procurator.
In 1436 Henry VI seized the advowson of Chesterton from the Abbey of Vercelli and gave it to King's Hall, Cambridge.
Equiano joined the anti-slavery campaign, writing to Queen Charlotte 'on behalf of my African brethren' in 1788, and became associated with leading abolitionist figures - Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, and William Wilberforce.
VCH Cambridgeshire, vol. II, 150 REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Church of St Andrew, Chesterton, is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * It is a large church of mainly C14
C15 date. * It contains C15 wall painting which is detailed and well-preserved * It has group value with the large churchyard and wall, the Old Manor House, the vicarage, and Chesterton Tower, all listed * Through a plaque commemorating his daughter, there is historical association with Olaudah Equiano, freed slave and prominent anti-slavery campaigner.