Church Of St Laurence

The Church of St Laurence is a parish church with origins in the 12th century. It was partly rebuilt in the 13th century and extended in the 14th century, with a restoration in 1625 and a major restoration in 1883 by T Nicholson. The church is constructed of coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings and a slate roof.

The west tower, dating from the 14th century, has three stages, diagonal buttresses, a moulded plinth and a restored crenellated parapet. The belfry contains a window of two ogee trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil under a two-centred head. The ground floor west window is from the 15th century and features two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a square head. The nave dates to the 12th century and has three bays with stepped buttresses on the south wall. A 19th-century timber-framed porch is located to the west of the nave. The south door has a semi-circular arch of two moulded orders, the inner continuous and the outer enriched with chevron ornament and springing from 19th-century detached shafts with 12th-century scalloped capitals, and a moulded label. A window of two trefoiled lights under a two-centred head and a lancet are also on the south wall. The 13th-century chancel was rebuilt in 1883. It features two south windows: one of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a square head and the other of two trefoiled lights under a two-centred head. A blocked 13th-century priest’s door with a cusped two-centred arch remains on the south wall. The north wall has two windows, a single trefoiled light and a lancet. The north chapel, dating from the mid-14th century, has diagonal buttresses and a north window of two ogee trefoiled lights with a quatrefoil under a two-centred head. The east window is 15th-century, with two cinquefoiled lights under a square head.

Inside the church, the tower arch is segmental pointed with two chamfered orders, the inner dying into the responds. The two-centred arch to the north chapel has two moulded orders, the inner springing from triple engaged shafts with moulded capitals. A section of the rood stair survives in the northeast corner of the nave, complete with square-headed doors at each level. The roofs are 19th-century, with the nave roof being a common rafter design and the chancel roof consisting of four bays with arch-braced trusses. Fittings include a 17th-century communion table used as an altar, a 19th-century decorative wrought-iron altar rail, and nave pews, some with 16th-century carved bench ends.