St Andrew's Church, Aikton

St Andrew’s Church stands beside the village of Aikton in Cumbria, built mainly of red sandstone blocks taken long ago from Hadrian’s Wall. The nave and south aisle form a four-bay rectangle with a gabled porch, while the two-bay chancel has its own gabled vestry on the north side. A double bellcote crowns the west gable, and the roofs are covered with Welsh slate over the chancel and sandstone slates over the nave. Inside, the east window has two lights and lancets pierce the north wall and vestry, while a blocked window remains in the west wall. The church began in the 12th century and grew through the 13th, 15th and 18th centuries, with a major restoration in 1869 costing more than £400. The open timber roof, dating from the 15th century, rests on four king-post trusses with side struts, and the Norman chancel arch frames the sanctuary. A 14th-century font with trefoil carvings and plain rounded panels stands near the entrance, and a steeply pointed trefoiled piscina is set into the aisle wall. Visitors find the porch holds a 13th-century coffin lid carved with a sword, and the organ by J. Charles Lee of Coventry occupies a corner of the south aisle. Outside, the churchyard contains a War Memorial listing parish servicemen who died in the First World War. The building is recognised as a Grade I listed structure on the National Heritage List for England.