Penrice Church of St Andrew

Description

Medieval & later parish church, first mentioned 1230: cruciform in plan, comprising nave, chancel & W tower, with S porch & N trancept; the round-headed, presumably Norman, chancel arch is treated with stucco in a 17th C. style, in keeping with alterations to the chancel. (Coflein–ref. Glynne)

Towered church suggested as defensive by Harrison. Part of a group of Gower churches that Harrison suggests where fortified against the welsh but what protection such churches had was likely to be against pirate raids and it is arguable if such protection can be considered as 'defensive' or 'fortification'. It should also be noted it was standard for all churches to use martial symbols like battlements to represent God's dominion on earth and that church towers are structure which have to hold heavy, moving and vibrating bells and which need to be strongly built for this reason, particularly in places, like much of Wales, where mortar is of poor quality. This church, and a number of others in Gower, were controlled by the Knights Hospitaller, a military monastic order for whom martial symbols of God's dominion would have had particular resonance.