Church Of Saint Lawrence

Church of Saint Lawrence

A parish church in Thornton Curtis, principally dating from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, with significant later medieval additions and substantial 19th-century restoration. The building stands on the east side of Main Street.

The church is constructed of limestone, ironstone and chalk rubble and squared blocks with ashlar dressings, except for the south porch which is entirely of ashlar. The aisles have lead roofs whilst the remainder of the building is slate-roofed. The plan comprises a west tower, a 4-bay aisled nave with south porch, and a 3-bay chancel.

The west tower is in two stages. It has a moulded plinth, angle buttresses to the first stage, and quoins to the second. The tall first stage contains a west lancet, a cill string course, a small lancet to the south, and a clockface to the west, with a moulded string course below. The second stage features tall twin belfry openings with polygonal shafts set in pointed chamfered reveals with shaft-rings. Above is a corbel table and embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles restored in the 19th century. The tower parapet dates to the 15th century, while the main tower structure is 13th century.

The north aisle has a stepped chamfered plinth, buttresses at angles and between bays, and a cill string course. A pointed double-chamfered doorway (13th century) retains ornate early-to-mid 14th-century wrought-iron strap-hinges, though the door itself is 19th-century. The windows are pointed 3-light openings with reticulated tracery and hoodmoulds.

The south aisle has a chamfered plinth with buttresses to centre and angles; the buttresses feature ogee-headed trefoiled niches below their set-offs. It has pointed 3-light windows with curvilinear tracery, hoodmoulds and headstops. The aisle walls incorporate a 12th-to-13th-century child's inscribed coffin lid and fragments of others.

The chancel dates from the late 12th to early 13th century. It has a chamfered plinth, single pilaster buttresses to the west, and 14th-century buttresses with set-offs to the east bay and angles. The north side contains a round-headed chamfered doorway in an outer shafted order with restored stiff-leaf capitals, roll moulding and hoodmould, set within a splayed pilaster buttress. There are two round-headed windows, one with a hoodmould, and a 19th-century lancet. The south side has a pointed 2-light Y-traceried window and two round-headed windows, one re-cut as pointed. The east window is a pointed 4-light opening with intersecting tracery, hoodmould and 19th-century foliate stops, accompanied by a 19th-century oculus in the gable. A 12th-century corbel table runs across the chancel, mostly plain-moulded with some weathered heads.

The south porch is constructed of ashlar. It has buttresses and a restored pointed shafted outer arch with a blind arcade of round arches in the gable above. Inside is a 2-bay pointed vault with chamfered ribs springing from restored stiff-leaf capitals. The fine pointed inner arch is composed of three orders: two shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, dog-tooth moulding between, and an arch with roll, bead and billet mouldings. The fine oak door bears ornate wrought-iron strap and C-hinges of about 1200, and traceried wooden ribs to its inner face.

In the interior, a wide pointed triple-chamfered tower arch on triple-shafted responds opens into the nave; the responds feature a filleted inner shaft flanked by thin 19th-century central shafts. The arcades consist of pointed double-chamfered arches with hoodmoulds and foliate stops. The north arcade has keeled quatrefoil piers with shafts between the foils, plain moulded capitals, bases and circular plinths. The south arcade has quatrefoil piers with rich stiff-leaf capitals, moulded bases and circular plinths; the central pier and responds have dog-tooth mouldings between filleted shafts and dog-tooth moulded abaci. Low pointed chamfered recesses appear in each bay of the north aisle wall.

An ogee-headed trefoiled piscina in the south aisle has a mutilated bowl. The chancel opens directly from the nave. Its south side contains a pointed shafted niche with roll moulding and a round-headed shafted piscina with similar mouldings and a scalloped bowl. The north side has a voissoired door and a pointed chamfered door with restored hoodmould and foliate stops. A good 19th-century ceiled pine waggon roof with carved angel corbels covers the chancel.

A very fine 12th-century black Tournai marble font stands in the nave. It has a square top with opposed pairs of carved animals to the sides, supported on a cylindrical column with shafts at each corner on a square base.

Monuments include a grave slab of about 1300 featuring a recessed bust in a rounded-trefoil surround, and an ornate marble wall tablet to William Skinner dated 1626 with pilasters flanking a bust in a circular niche and a broken pediment supporting arms and crest.

The church retains a restored 17th-century carved oak panelled pulpit, a fine 17th-century oak altar table with bulbous legs, and a 17th-century balustrade to the tower gallery with turned balusters.

The building was substantially restored in 1884 by J. Fowler of Louth, when the south porch was rebuilt and new nave and chancel roofs were provided.

A drawing by C. Nattes from 1796 survives in the Banks Collection, Lincoln City Library.