Church Of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence

Parish church dating from around 1434 to the end of the 15th century, with late 17th-century additions and major restoration works carried out between 1873 and 1879. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble and limestone ashlar with some red brick. It features plain tiled roofs with stone coped gables and 19th-century cross finials, along with some pantiles.

The church comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, a north porch, and a rectangular chancel.

The late 15th-century west tower has a plinth and two richly moulded lower string courses. Three-stage diagonal buttresses flank the west side. The west doorway has a pointed moulded head (partly restored in the 19th century), broad chamfered jambs, and a hood mould running into the upper string course. Plank doors hang from this opening. Above sits a large pointed window with an incipient bowtell moulded surround, featuring three cusped lights with vertical tracery above. On the south side are slit stair turret lights and a clock. Bell openings on all four sides each have a pointed head with two pointed cusped lights, vertical tracery, hood mould and head label stops. An angular shaft rises between the two lights of each bell opening, extending to the base of the central pinnacle. Moulded eaves support large projecting corner gargoyles. Battlements crown the tower above eight ornate pinnacles.

The mid-to-late 15th-century north aisle has a plinth and moulded string course with regularly placed two-stage buttresses. The west window has a four-centred head with three pointed cusped lights, an incipient bowtell moulded surround and hood mould. A 17th-century porch on the north side features a coped gabled pantile roof with kneelers. Its doorway has a shallow pointed head and raised keystone, with the porch interior flanked by benches. The 15th-century inner doorway has a four-centred moulded head, moulded jambs, plank door and hood mould. Three windows to the east all have four-centred heads with three pointed cusped lights, incipient bowtell moulded surrounds and hood moulds. The east end of the north aisle contains a similar window. Moulded eaves run along the top.

The brick chancel dates from around 1434. A small pointed window to the west has a rectangular moulded brick surround and brick hood mould. A large ashlar-dressed window to the east features a four-centred head with three round-headed lights and hood mould. A pointed doorway to the east has a rectangular brick moulded surround, brick hood mould and plank door. A two-stage buttress to the east has ashlar set-offs and an ashlar string course continuing eastward. Brick moulded eaves sit above. The east end has diagonal two-stage buttresses with ashlar set-offs and an ashlar string course. A large ashlar-dressed window with a four-centred head contains five narrow lights with triangular heads and vertical tracery with some crenellated detailing, topped by a hood mould. A brick diamond panel containing a quatrefoil sits in the apex of the moulded-brick gable. The ashlar string course continues around the south side of the chancel. The south side features an ashlar-dressed window with a four-centred head with three round-headed lights and hood mould. An ashlar-dressed two-stage buttress to the west flanks a small ashlar-dressed window beyond it, which has a shallow pointed head containing two pointed lights with central mullions above and a hood mould.

The mid-to-late 15th-century south aisle has a moulded plinth and string course. The east window has a four-centred head with three pointed cusped lights, an incipient bowtell moulded surround and hood mould. Three similar windows occupy the south side, with a doorway to the west flanked by remnants of an earlier porch. The doorway has a centred head, moulded surround in one section, hood mould and plank door. A window beyond has a four-centred head with three pointed cusped lights, incipient bowtell moulded surround and hood mould. A similar window appears in the west front of the aisle. Moulded ashlar eaves crown the top.

The interior features a tall pointed double-chamfered late 15th-century tower arch, with the inner order supported on polygonal responds with moulded polygonal capitals and broached plinths. Tall five-bay late 15th-century north and south arcades have double-chamfered pointed heads, octagonal piers, moulded octagonal capitals and tall broached plinths. A tall late 15th-century chancel arch has a pointed double-chamfered head, polygonal responds, moulded polygonal capitals and broached plinths. The chancel contains murals dating from 1935. Nineteenth-century tie-beam roofs, some with crenellated decoration and rosettes, re-use 15th-century timbers. An ornate 19th-century reredos depicts the Virgin and Child flanked by saints, all under canopies.

A 15th-century pointed piscina in the south wall of the chancel has a double rolled head and small basin. A 14th-century standing figure with a 20th-century head, originally from Bardney Abbey, survives in the church. A large incised slab commemorates Abbot Richard Horncastle (died 1508), with a shield and inscription beneath a canopy with crocketed pinnacles. Three 17th- and early 18th-century painted wooden panels record charitable gifts from John and Joseph Knowles, William Hurltcroft, Thomas Kitching, John Burrington, William Norman and John Lightfoot, among others, with several portraits of donors. A 20th-century font has quatrefoiled panels. A 19th-century polygonal pulpit and lecturn are present, along with 20th-century choir stalls. Several architectural fragments from Bardney Abbey are housed in the church, including two sections of 13th-century rib vault with three rolls that are re-used as piscinas in the 20th century, and a fragment of 13th-century crossing of moulded rib vault.