The Gatehouse website record for Penrith Church of St Andrew

In the civil parish of Penrith. In the historic county of Cumberland (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

Medieval parish church with fortified west tower. Built in the 12th and 13th centuries and altered in the 15th century. The church was rebuilt and the west doorway inserted in 1720-22. Restoration work was carried out at various times between 1863 and 1922. Apart from the stones of the Giant's Grave in the churchyard, there are two Anglian cross-shafts of 10th century date built into the fabric of the church. (PastScape)
The church tower is considerably thicker than the walling of the rest of the church, and clearly reveals that it was fortified to resist the Scots. (PastScape–ref. Perriam and Robinson)
With respect to Perriam and Robinson this conclusion is not clear. Bell towers are often more thickly walled as they need to be stronger because of the greater weight of masonry from a taller tower, the weight of the bells and the problems from the vibration of the bells. The many reports of collapsed medieval bell towers show this was a distinct difficulty. I suspect defences was a part of the reason for the design of this church tower but that, as a town with more wealth than most village churches, a collection of larger bells also played a part.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is NY51653016

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 12301
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 4477 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.