St Andrew's - History

compiled from Mary Townsend's draft

A church in the Priestwood area of Bracknell has existed since 1888. It was constructed of red brick, with an apse and a red tiled roof, a small spire at the west end and a wrought iron cross on the east. It came under the jurisdiction of the Rector of St Michael's Easthampstead as a Chapel of Ease. There was a corrugated iron building next to the church, used each Sunday by the Sunday School. By 1950 the church had become obscured by tall conifers and the adjoining land had been turned into allotments. The interior had deteriorated and dry rot was spreading. At this time the church was transferred from St Michael's to Bracknell Parish. As the years passed the condition of the building worsened, becoming a target for vandals. Windows were broken, the roof leaked and dry rot took a firm hold. The last service was held there on 2 October 1966. It continued to have a secular use by the Art Guild until 1975 when it was demolished. The wrought iron cross was rescued by a local resident and many years later was installed on the present building.

The Foundation Stone for the second St Andrew's Church was laid by the Duke of Edinburgh and dedicated by the then Bishop of Oxford in April 1955. It was ten years later, in 1965, that building the new church started. It was entirely in the modern style with a 90 foot fibreglass spire. Internally there were concrete pillars separated by opaque glass screens rising up to the full height of the building. Very unconventionally, the alter faced north-west rather than east.

The dedication was conducted by same Bishop of Oxford in 1967. The striking interior of the church attracted many visitors from all over England and continental Europe. It was the venue for Songs of Praise in 1973. Three years later, John Budgett, a Scottish artist, executed a series of paintings of the Stations of the Cross which, again, attracted many visitors. These paintings were later transferred to the third Church of St Andrew's.

Sadly, this second church was as plagued by vandalism as the first had been. Lead was removed from the roof, dislodging tiles in the process. Buckets and bowls had to placed to intercept the rain which passed between the tiles; consequently the pattering of raindrops competed with the services taking place. Broken windows had to be boarded up and to add to the problems the heating that had been installed in the new building was found to be quite inadequate to warm it in a typical British winter. Repairs would have been very expensive and thus, regretably, demolition and the building of a new church had to be contemplated.

The laying of the Foundation Stone of this the third church took place in 1990, with the building being completed in the November of that year. Thus it comes about that St Andrew's church has the most recently built building in the team. It has about 77 on the Electoral Roll drawn mainly from the Priestwood district. It has very close relations with the nearby Methodist Church which has a representative on the District Committee. Worship is in the style and tradition of Anglo-Catholicism; vestments are worn.