Church Of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence

A church of possibly Anglo-Danish origins, substantially rebuilt and extended over several centuries. The building dates primarily from the early and late 12th century and 14th century, with 15th-century alterations and 17th and 19th-century restorations. It is constructed of squared coursed limestone with stone-slate roofs.

The church comprises a chancel, nave with a south chapel, and a west tower. The early 12th-century chancel has its east wall rebuilt in the 14th century and south wall rebuilt in the 17th century. The chancel is of 2 bays with a moulded plinth, quoins, and a coped gable to the east topped with a cross and ball flower ornament immediately beneath. The east wall contains a part-restored 14th-century window of 3 cusped lights with a cusped roundel above flanked by mouchettes, having a hollow-moulded surround with ball flower ornament to the arch, hood mould with ball flower ornament, and carved head labels. The south wall has a 19th-century window of 2 cusped lights with a quatrefoil and hood mould. The north wall retains a 12th-century single light with a head decorated with beast carving and scroll work, and towards the west a 14th-century cusped light now partly blocked.

The early 12th-century nave is of 2 bays with coped gables and a cross at the apex to the east. To the south, in the angle between the nave and south chapel, stands a 19th-century lean-to porch. On the west wall of the chapel is a blocked window of pointed lights within a pointed head. The south wall features a 12th-century doorway of a single semi-circular arch with an edge-roll surround broken by moulded abaci, hood mould with plain labels, and a 19th-century plank door. To the left of the porch is a 14th-century window of 2 ogee-headed cusped lights and a quatrefoil with chamfered surround, hood mould with labels, and a relieving arch. Towards the east is a large 15th-century square-headed window of 3 cusped, ogee-headed lights with cusped tracery above, heavily moulded mullions and surrounds, and a hood mould with carved beast-head labels. To the left of this window is a memorial tablet to Walter Overbury Esq., who died in the 17th century, with an elaborately carved base and top and a carved coat of arms below.

The south chapel was added in the mid-14th century with diagonal buttresses, quoins, and coped gables topped with crosses. Its south and east walls contain a window of 2 ogee-headed cusped lights with a quatrefoil, hood mould, and labels.

The west tower is of 3 stages, with the first two dating to the 12th century and the top stage added in the 14th century. It is topped with a saddle-back roof and divided by moulded string courses at each offset stage. Coped gables with a cross to the east crown the tower. The north side of the first stage and the south side of the second stage contain small chamfered lights. The 14th-century bell-chamber stage has a cusped ogee-headed light with a chamfered surround and stone-slate louvres to each face. A 19th-century lean-to stone shed stands to the north.

The interior reveals substantial 12th-century work. The north wall of the chancel contains a window with a chevron-moulded head on wide inner splays. A 19th-century piscina stands within the chancel. The early 12th-century chancel, probably rebuilt in the late 12th century, features a semi-circular chancel arch of 2 square orders with an inner arch supported on responds having moulded bases and scalloped square capitals with nail-head ornament between the scallops. The east side of the chancel arch contains a fragment of a carved pig and scroll ornament, probably re-used. The west side of the chancel arch bears a hood mould with labels. To the south of the nave is a 14th-century double-chamfered arch with polygonal moulded capitals and hood moulds with labels. Immediately to the left of the 12th-century doorway is a 15th-century stoup. The 15th-century window in the north wall has a moulded piscina with hood mould and labels. Windows throughout have moulded rere-arches. A moulded string course remains on the west wall. Above a 12th-century semi-circular arched doorway on the west wall of the nave is an early 12th-century semi-circular arched light with wide inner splays.

The chancel has a 19th-century arch-braced collar-truss roof. The nave has a 19th-century scissor-braced roof. A 15th-century octagonal carved font stands within the church. Two windows in the north wall of the chancel contain 14th-century fragments of stained glass, probably re-used from the east window, including a representation of the grid iron of Saint Lawrence.

The church contains numerous memorials. In the chancel floor is a brass to Edmund Bury who died in 1558, placed by his widow in 1608, depicting a man in Elizabetian costume with an inscription. A slab memorial to Thomas Onesbury, a knight who died in 1739, bears a carved coat of arms and crest. Two further 17th-century memorial slabs are present. The south wall contains a memorial to Anthony Weoly, who died in 1643, and his daughter who died in 1653, with richly carved marble surrounds featuring a broken pediment. A 18th-century tablet appears in the west wall, and a 19th-century tablet in the north wall. The north wall of the nave contains a tablet to William Sands Esq., who died in 1802, surmounted by an obelisk.