St Andrew's Church, Chew Magna

St Andrew’s Church stands in the Somerset village of Chew Magna, its 12th-century origins still visible in the Norman font and wide rood screen. The 15th-century pinnacled sandstone tower rises above the nave, its clock installed in 1903 marking the hours with a verse of a hymn. A peal of eight bells hangs in the tower, two of them cast by Thomas Bilbie in 1735 and rung for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1898. The church holds memorials to local people and notable families. Wooden plaques list nineteen villagers who died in the First World War and seven in the Second. Bronze and limestone effigies show Sir John de Hauteville in 15th-century armour and Sir John St Loe, over seven feet tall, carved from Dundry limestone. A brass in the chancel commemorates Gabriel Goodman, dean of Westminster, with painted heraldry and decorative motifs. The churchyard contains Grade II listed monuments, including a cross and the grave of a Royal Air Force officer from the Second World War. Nearby Chew Court was once the bishop’s palace, and a plaque marks the baptism of Thomas Minor in 1608 before he sailed to America. The church remains linked with St Michael’s in Dundry and Holy Trinity in Norton Malreward, serving the same benefice.