The Parish Church of St Andrew, in the Dorset village of Fontmell Magna, is a much loved building and symbol of Christian witness. It is the principal building of the village. It is used for regular Sunday worship and for weddings, funerals and baptisms as well as concerts and other events. The church is also used regularly by the nearby Church school for services.

The Church is a Grade I listed building. St Andrew’s Church was re-built in 1862, to the designs of G.Evans of Wimborne. It incorporates the lower 15th Century stages of the west tower, as well as 15th Century windows, which were re-set into the walls of the North Aisle. The building is generally of coursed Greensand ashlar stone, with elaborate openwork parapets and crocheted pinnacles. The 19th Century building is entirely of the Perpendicular Gothic style.

There is evidence of reused carved stones within the parapets of the North Aisle. The re-building of the ashlar masonry in the Victorian period evidently incorporated ferrous metal cramps, particularly within the delicate pierced stone parapets. In the North Aisle, the delicate stonework is cracking and a section of stone has spalled to reveal a ferrous metal cramp behind. During the quinquennial inspection in November 2022, it was evident that the condition of the North Aisle parapet had deteriorated over the previous 5 years. The cracking stonework could now also be seen at the base of the decorative pinnacles, with one at the centre leaning outward quite noticeably. Lead flashings at the back of the parapet are also becoming affected by the deterioration of the parapet above and there is water ingress becoming apparent. The scope of these repairs intends to make the stone parapet structurally stable, as well as removing ferrous metalwork to halt ongoing movement and make the roof structurally sound and watertight.

The 2022 Quinquennial also highlighted the age of the church roof as a looming problem and recommended that the roof be monitored closely for leaks. This applies to the Nave and Chancel roofs as well as the North and South Aisle. This became a matter of urgent attention however in the autumn of 2023 during bad weather, with serious ingress of water firstly in the South Aisle and later in the North Aisle. The serious ingress of water in the South Aisle led to the Church Architect reporting to the PCC: “It is therefore my recommendation that the lead [on the South Aisle roof] be replaced entirely”.