On one of the hottest days of the summer we enjoyed a concert by I Fagiolini in St Andrew's Church, in Sedbergh. The music was wonderful, as was the venue of St Andrew's Church.
St Andrew's Church is the oldest building in Sedbergh, it is believed that the present building dates from 1130 and was subsequently enlarged adopting its present shape in 1350 when the tower was added. The inner north doorway is probably the earliest surviving part of the church and this suggests that there has always been a north aisle. In the late 1800s a major restoration was carried out under the architects Paley and Austin.
The Victorian restoration raised the roof and evidence of this can be seen in the blocked up clerestory windows on the north side of the nave and redundant corbels in the aisles. At the same time that the roof was raised the nave was lowered to give the chancel more presence.
The windows are thought to date from the 15th and 16th centuries, but the stained glass is almost all Victorian, including the east window by Victor Milner. The window depicts the calling of Christ to Peter and Andrew and fills all of the east wall.
In the south aisle there is a relic from a yew tree under which George Fox, the Quaker, preached when he visited Sedbergh in 1652.