St Andrew's Church

For St Andrew’s website, please visit: https://www.standrewsoakington.co.uk/

There has probably been a church in Oakington since sometime in the mid Anglo-Saxon period, perhaps from around the 8^th century, although no traces of a church building from that time survive. Most of the current building dates from the 13^th century, with later alterations and repairs.

St Andrews Church in the medieval period (1066–1485)

There was probably a much smaller building on the site of the current church in the years following the Norman invasion of 1066. The oldest parts of the current building date from the Norman period, and include the font (a bowl used for infant baptism), which is probably 12th century although mounted on a 15th century base. Parts of the nave (the central aisle) are also Norman, including the round pillars on the south side. The octagonal pillars on the north side may be slightly later. The base of the tower may also be 12th century.

Initially, the church had a rector – a priest who had charge of the church and its administration, and who received all of the church tithes from the parish. However, in 1220 the church was appropriated, or annexed, by Crowland Abbey (near Peterborough), which was the major landowner in the parish and whose abbot was the lord of Oakington’s principal manor. Under appropriation, the abbey now received the income from church tithes, took over the land and buildings previously held by the rector, and in return was obliged maintain the chancel (the east end of the church near the altar) and to provide a vicar, employed by the abbey, who would carry out the priestly duties in the parish. The vicar was assigned the former rector’s house, which stood to the southeast of the church on the site of the current vicarage house, from about 1225. The first recorded vicar was Walter, recorded in 1279.

Most of the current church building dates from around this time, when the church was substantially remodelled. Limestone blocks, which were used in the restoration in the 13th century, came all the way from Barnack, near Peterborough by water. They were unloaded onto horse wagons at a dock, traces of which are still visible, by Oakington Brook, to be transported to the church. The tower was heightened around 1300, and the chancel (the part of the church at the east end near the altar) was widened sometime in the 1300s.

Residents of Westwick began attending Church in Oakington, instead of in Cottenham, by the late 13^th century, and by 1315 were attending all church services in Oakington and having their children baptised there. Besides the vicar, at least four chaplains were recorded in 1315, two in 1379 and one in 1406. Between about 1370 and 1420 most vicars only stayed for an average of about 4–5 years before moving on. Only one vicar died in office. One vicar, who was a fellow of Michaelhouse Cambridge (which later merged with Kings Hall to form Trinity College), was apparently granted a 10-year leave of absence for study. Things changed somewhat from around the 1450s, with vicars over the subsequent hundred years staying for 15–25 years until their death and probably being resident in the vicarage during this time.

The church roof was probably still thatched in 1380, and the position of the original high-pitched roof can be seen on the eastern side of the tower. The windows in the chancel were glazed by around 1400, and stalls in the chancel were repaired in about 1450. Work on the chancel throughout the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th centuries was paid for by Crowland Abbey, while the parish would have been responsible for the nave.

The church was known named St Andrew’s by 1490. Prior to that there is a mention of St Laurence in 1458.

St Andrew’s church in the Tudor, Stuart and Georgian periods (1485–1837)

The windows in the south aisle of the church are Tudor in style, although they contain some modern glass. This part of the church was once a side-chapel and was used for washing holy vessels. It was probably rebuilt sometime after 1500.

Crowland Abbey was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1539, and its land seized by the Crown. Its Oakington manor, and accompanying right to appoint vicars to Oakington church, was sold to Queens’ College Cambridge by around 1560, although the manor tenant, Thomas Halfhead, nominated the vicar in 1564 and 1570.  Vicars around this time included Emery Daude (vicar c.1559 –1563), who was resident in Oakington but was later deemed incompetent to preach, and Lewis Yellaton (vicar 1570–1610) who lived in Girton but still claimed to provide all the required services in Oakington. In 1603 the villagers complained that he spent two hours preaching on Sundays.

From 1616 to 1840, Queens’ College appointed current or former Queens’ fellows as vicars of Oakington. Most did not stay in the position for more than a few years, and most were not resident in Oakington, living in Queens’ College in Cambridge instead. One vicar, c.1730, made villagers come to Queens’ College chapel in order to get married. Many also left the priestly duties in Oakington to their curates. Daniel Chandler (vicar by 1638) left to join the royalist army in the English civil war in 1643, leaving a substitute in charge, and even Thomas Webster (vicar 1809–1840) who did come to live in the village still left the parish mainly to his curate. The number of churchgoers receiving holy communion (held three times a year at that time) was recorded as about 15 in 1728, only 8 in 1807, and 27 in 1836. The state of the church building was often poor during this period. During the reign of Charles II (1660–1685) it was said to be greatly neglected and full of rubbish. Torrell Jocelyn, who was the tenant of the Queens’ College manor in the 1620s, had installed new glass (including his own coat of arms) in the east chancel window, but this had mostly gone by 1774. In 1783 the church was recorded as being in poor repair, especially the roof and windows, and by 1840 the roof was pushing apart the arches and pillars on which it rested.

Victorian period (1837–1901)

Queens’ College continued to appoint vicars, who were generally former members of the college. George Whittaker arrived as vicar in 1840 and set about repairing the church. He had the roof replaced and the windows repaired, demolished the old south porch, and also organised benefit clubs and started a monthly communion. By the time he left in 1851 the congregation had grown to around 140 people at the morning church service and even more at the evening one. W. G. Searle (vicar 1858–1893) continued to hold several services each Sunday and regular communions. He also carried out further repair work, at a cost of £1000, mostly at his own expense, in the 1880s under the direction of architect W. Fawcett, including relevelling the floor and installing new seating. A new south porch was built in 1890, and the current organ installed in 1891.

The figures in the east window of the chancel are, from left to right:

1. St Margaret of Antioch, the favourite saint of Queen Margaret of Anjou (wife of King Henry VI) who founded Queens’ College in 1448.
2. St Andrew, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus.
3. St Etheldreda, who founded the Abbey of Ely in 673. She is pictured here holding Ely Cathedral.
4. St Bernard of Clairvaux; Queens’ College was formed from an student hostel known as St Bernard’s and owned by Andrew Dokett vicar and later rector of St Botolph’s Cambridge c.1436–39; the full name of Queens’ is the Queen’s College of St Margaret and St Bernard .

The figures are modelled on the family of W. G. Searle (vicar of St Andrew’s 1858–1893). The window was enlarged during the 1880s by W. G. Searle, and was restored in 1995.

20th century

Queens’ College sold part of the land associated with the former Crowland manor to Chivers Ltd in 1924 and part to the Ministry of Defence in 1940 for the construction of RAF Oakington. As owners of the land, Chivers and the Air Ministry subsequently took over responsibility for paying for any maintenance of the church chancel. However, Queens’ College retained the advowson (the right to present vicars).

Further repair work was carried out on the church in the 1970s. The leaning walls were straightened in 1971, and repairs were made to the tower in 1973. Work was also done on the exterior walls.

The current vicar, James Alexander, arrived in 1972. The position was sponsored by sponsored by Queens’ College at which James had previously studied. A church hall was built in 2009 and dedicated by the Bishop of Ely in December of that year. James celebrated 50 years as vicar of Oakington in 2022.

Additional photos

Sources include:

• St Andrews Oakington
• St Andrew’s Parish Church Oakington, Dulo and Goodden, St Andrew’s Church, 2024
• ‘Oakington: Church’, in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 9, Chesterton, Northstowe, and Papworth Hundreds, ed. A P M Wright, C P Lewis( London, 1989), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol9/pp205-208 [accessed 20 September 2024].
• https://www.ourfamtree.org/records/rectors.php
• Oakington.indd (scambs.gov.uk)

If you have any information or photos of St Andrew’s Church, please leave a comment below.

See also: | Martyrs’ Graves | Vicarage

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