Church Of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence

This church at Napton on the Hill is a substantial medieval building of aisled cruciform plan with a west tower and south porch. The main structure dates from around 1200, with significant additions and rebuilding in the 13th century (when the aisles were added) and around 1275 (when the transepts were constructed). The south porch dates from the late 16th or early 17th century. The tower's lower stage is from around 1300, though it was altered and had its top stage added in the mid-18th century. The building underwent major restoration in 1861 by J. Croft, when a clerestory was added and the roof was renewed.

The exterior is built primarily of regular coursed ironstone, with the north transept constructed of coursed squared rubble and parts of the chancel and north aisle of rubble. The chancel, nave, transepts and porch are roofed with tiles and have moulded coped gable parapets, with the nave and south transepts carrying ridge cresting. The aisles have shallow lean-to roofs, probably of lead, with moulded cornices and parapets.

The plan comprises a three-bay chancel and four-bay nave with north and south aisles, transepts on both sides, a west tower, a south porch, and a north vestry. The chancel has a splayed plinth and full-height angle buttresses with two offsets, the first offset and gable parapet featuring gablets. The east window is a four-light Perpendicular design with a hood mould and return stops. A central doorway of mid-19th-century date has a chamfered segmental arch under a straight head with hood mould. Below the eaves is a sundial. Two mid-19th-century paired lancets with hood moulds and head stops display carved grapes. Three small Romanesque windows with irregular block surrounds punctuate the north wall.

The north transept contains single and triple stepped east lancets. Its north window has a round super-arch with shafts and three stepped trefoiled lancets, plus a west lancet. The 19th-century gable parapet is moulded with kneelers featuring gablets and leaf carving, and terminates in a cross finial. The south transept has a moulded plinth and diagonal buttresses, with a two-light east window of 19th-century date carrying a hood mould. Three stepped trefoiled lancets to the south sit within a round relieving arch, and the gable features a mid-19th-century trefoil and relieving arch.

The south porch has a moulded arch with imposts and hood mould decorated with lozenge stops. Its blocked segmental-pointed arched windows (the larger to the east) contain inside work from the 12th or early 13th century: shafts and coarse Perpendicular tracery. Stone benches line the porch interior, which has a queen strut roof with moulded tie beams and north wall plate. The main south doorway, dating from around 1200, features a round arch with large roll mouldings and hood mould, with remains of stiff-leaf capitals; the nook shafts are missing. It is now fitted with 19th-century half-glazed double-leaf doors with glazing bars.

The south aisle has a diagonal buttress and partly-renewed two-light straight-headed Decorated windows to east and west of the porch, plus a west lancet. The north aisle includes a shallow 16th or 17th-century projection between the transept and vestry, and a partly-renewed three-light chamfered mullioned window. A small window is built out across the north-west angle, and a west lancet is present. Both north and south clerestories contain quatrefoil, trefoil and octofoil windows.

The small, low vestry has a north gable with splayed cornice and a small, straight-headed Decorated north window. A buttress with three offsets stands in the west angle between the aisle and vestry.

The tower consists of two stages and has a high splayed plinth. The first stage has Tuscan piers at its west angles and a string course. It features a round-arched south doorway, a window above it, and a west window. The second stage has round-arched bell openings with Y-tracery and a transom that has been inserted; the eastern part of the lower opening is blocked. A moulded cornice and parapet of three sunk panels with moulded coping and obelisk and ball pinnacles complete the structure.

The interior has plastered walls throughout. The chancel includes a squint with a trefoiled lancet to the south transept. Its roof is a Gothic king post design with pendants and moulded stone corbels, with subsidiary shallow scissor braces between bays. The chancel arch is three-quarters of its full height, composed of two major and two minor chamfered orders with moulded responds splayed back into the wall below. The south-east splay contains a small amount of diaper work and a carved head.

The nave has four-bay arcades with two chamfered orders resting on octagonal piers with moulded capitals of varying designs. The slightly earlier north arcade lacks an east respond, and its north-east pier has a round capital. A blocked tower arch comprises three chamfered orders. The roof is hammer beam-type but incorporates a tie-beam in place of the hammer beam, with moulded stone corbels and subsidiary principal rafters between bays.

The north transept contains a 19th-century double piscina and a medieval altar slab, along with a pair of 13th-century round-arched tomb recesses in the north wall. Its north window has 19th-century Early English-style arches with detached shafts and hood mould; the outer hood mould carries head stops. The roof features alternating arched brace and plain rafter with collar trusses, wall pieces and moulded wall plates.

The south transept has a Gothic cusped rafter roof. The north aisle is finished with a flat plastered ceiling with arcade penetrations, while the south aisle lean-to roof has moulded tie-beams.

The vestry contains a 13th-century former north doorway with moulded arch, hood mould and head stops. It retains an ancient plank door with an arched grille, now boarded.

The 19th-century fittings include an Early 19th-century framed Royal coat of arms on the west wall. A chest dated 1624 bears an inscription recording that it was given by Thomas and Isabel Garit. 19th-century stained glass is present throughout.

Monuments include a brass to John Shuckburgh dated 1625 in the chancel north wall, set in a painted, moulded and scrolled frame within a plain outer frame.