Church Of St Lawrence

This church has documented phases dating from the late Middle Ages, with its west tower and north aisle surviving from this period, though an earlier building existed on the site. The north nave aisle roof was repaired and reconstructed in 1614. Major subsequent works included repairs to the nave in 1784 with associated structural changes, notably the rebuilding of the chancel in 1792. Early 19th-century additions include a vestry in 1812 and a south aisle in 1815. The next significant changes occurred in the 1880s under the direction of T F Tickner, followed by a new choir vestry in 1904 and a south transept in 1927. Substantial repairs were undertaken to the nave and roof following bomb damage in 1940.

Materials

The predominant building materials are ashlar-faced freestone (locally quarried grey sandstone) and brick, though various phases of each exist and are differently executed. As a broad principle, the stone is either medieval or 20th-century, whilst brick is associated with a range of 18th and 19th-century phases. The west tower and north aisle are therefore stone, as are the 1927 south transept and late 19th-century south porch. The east end, as recast in the 18th century, is carefully laid red brick in Flemish bond; the 18th-century south aisle is also red brick, as is the 19th-century north vestry, whilst the 1904 extension used yellow brick. Evidence of structural repairs and alterations to the north aisle roof is indicated through a brick gable end surmounting ashlar walls. The nave roof is slate, the rest are tiles, and the south porch has stone with patterned tiles.

Plan

The church consists of a nave with north aisle and broad south aisle with south porch, short chancel, south 'transept' opening directly off the chancel, vestries on the north side, and a central west tower.

Exterior

The exterior provides the clearest evidence of the medieval church and shows the accumulation over centuries of additional structures that radically altered the original ground plan, though even these are misleading in date. The chancel, of brick, is usually ascribed to the 19th century, but the replacement of its original Palladian east window with a rose window has largely masked its late 18th-century date. Each addition has a different material and texture. Also in the late 18th century, the roofs were altered with a new double roof being installed over the nave and, reportedly, the south aisle. A reference to the enlargement of two windows in this aisle in 1783 implies that the church already had two aisles before the insertion of the new arcade in 1816. The presence of a stone west wall to the otherwise 18th-century brick south aisle may support this assertion.

The church is set in a large and attractive churchyard, closed in 1907, containing a number of interesting memorials and tomb chests. The area previously included a mound, since levelled, which may coincide with an ancient defensive ditch. The limes that formed an avenue from the old rectory to the south door of the church were planted around 1875. Some memorials were removed in the late 20th century and reburial took place in the north-east corner of the churchyard.

Interior

The interior of this building is fascinating, indicative of both radical change and re-orderings, and a build-up of new and re-used materials and fittings over time, which now define its character. Collectively these contribute to significant archaeological and historical interest.

Perhaps most visually striking is the presence of the 1816 cast iron columns — quatrefoil in plan with annulets and Gothic capitals — and the surprisingly open interior space they create. The church in fact appears more compartmentalised from the outside than inside. The interior is plastered and painted throughout. The chancel and nave are both floored with Minton tiles.

The nave is pewed with fixed seating of pitch pine. These survived fire damage caused by incendiary devices only by being rescued by the congregation. Key decorative features of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were removed in later restorations, including coved ceilings and stuccoed cornice in the chancel, nave and aisle.

Principal Fixtures

A circular 12th-century font survives, now located at the east end of the south aisle. Its supporting column may be an amalgamation of remnants of the demolished north aisle arcade. Before the war this was located in a traditional position at the west end of the nave. A 16th-century iron-bound chest, known as the Armada chest, with engraved lock. The history of pulpits in the church includes one from 1605 and its apparent replacement by a three-decker pulpit probably installed in the late 18th century. This one may have survived the major re-ordering of 1888, though no doubt altered if it did, but was replaced by the current one dating to 1923, which is said to have been given, designed (by Francis Tickner) and carved by local people. A Jacobean credence table was used as an altar until the late 19th century.

There is a significant collection of 17th-century bells, all by Hugh Watts of Leicester (number 1 dated to 1635 and the other two to 1616), fixed into an 18th-century bell frame which re-uses earlier elements as well. There are a number of 18th and 19th-century memorials of note in the church. It is recorded that traces of old wall painting were found during restoration work in 1942. Scant photographic evidence suggests this is probably 18th-century and part of the re-ordering of the building at that time. It is not known what survives, if anything, but the possibility of surviving painted schemes under existing decoration should be borne in mind.

The lectern and the pews survive from the 1880s re-ordering. The pews were made by Jones and Willis in Birmingham. The nave and chancel floors are covered in Minton tiles from 1888. The altar dates to 1870 but was lengthened in 1888, and the altar rails and ironwork may be by Skidmore of Coventry. Glass includes, in memory of Henry Jacques, the north nave window from 1896; the west window by Pearce of Birmingham given by the working guild in 1901. There is glass by Hardman, also Birmingham based but with a prolific national practice, in the east window of the 1927 south transept showing St Elizabeth and St Luke. Other additions of the early 20th century include the lectern (1923) and the west window of the south aisle (1910), both gifts of the Sunday school. A Harrison and Harrison organ of around 1908, from Durham, with case designed by Peter Hurford in 1960.

History

Evidence of the early medieval church is restricted to the 12th-century font, at which time Foleshill was part of the Godiva estates; a church must have existed on the site at this time, possibly as a dependent chapel of St Michael's, Coventry. But in the later Middle Ages a north aisle, said to date from 1544, and a west tower were constructed. Evidence of works to repair the church in the form of roof tiling occurred in 1614, and the ancient chancel was said to be in disrepair in 1635.

Repairs to the nave are recorded in 1784. However, a series of significant structural and internal alterations to the building are recorded in the late 18th century, at which time it is believed that box pews were installed in the church (1786) and the current chancel was built (1792), stated to be the same length as the medieval one. Subsequent references to the loss of a three-decker pulpit most likely refer to fittings installed at this date, or perhaps around 1816, in what appears to have been a recasting of the interior in a more auditory fashion.

A new vestry to the north of the chancel, accessed from the north aisle, was constructed in 1812. Shortly after, in 1816, a new wide south aisle was added by Johnson and Line of Coventry. These changes went hand in hand with demolition of the north (and possibly south) arcade — remnants of the north survive — and the interesting and unusual construction of two rows of cast iron columns which supported galleries in the aisles. To accommodate these, the north aisle was heightened, re-using 16th-century beams. The insertion of the cast iron columns and the associated re-ordering included the retention of box pews and the three-decker pulpit, indicative of a continuing Georgian approach to churchmanship. In this case there is evidence that the rebuilding was, at least in part, a direct response to serious overcrowding of a well-attended church. An illustration in the Aylesford collection, Birmingham, suggests that the nave roof was also raised at this point to accommodate a wooden clerestory constructed to light the new but otherwise dark galleries. Although this radical change has been considered by some as iconoclasm that destroyed the medieval interior of the building, its remnants provide some of the most significant and distinctive aspects of the interior today. In this case the reform seems to have survived until the 1880s, when Ecclesiological reform swept away much of the evidence of the pre-Victorian era. The cornice above the columns was replaced in 1958 when the structure was strengthened.

Significant changes to the layout and appearance of the building were made in the 1880s — this was T F Tickner's first ecclesiastical commission — including the addition of the grey stone porch and significant changes to the interior and some fenestration. This work seems to have included the heightening of the 18th-century chancel. At the same time the box pews were replaced with the current benches, and there was associated retiling of the nave and aisle floors with Minton tiles. Of interest is the decision to re-use the panels from the box pews to line the ceiling of the chancel and the nave; this appears to have replaced a coved 18th-century ceiling. Those of the nave were lost in the Second World War; those of the chancel survive intact. At this time the 18th-century character of the church was fundamentally altered, including the replacement of a Palladian-style east window with a Gothicised replacement in the form of a new rose window. An organ was introduced at the west end of the nave at this time, later moved to the east end of the south aisle and ultimately replaced in 1904.

The early 20th century saw renewed activity with a new choir vestry being added in 1904 on the north side; the restoration to the tower in 1923; and a large south transept added opening off the chancel in 1927, a response to an increasing congregation size, along with some new fittings. The creation of this large transept significantly increased the floor space and was supposed to have been matched by a similar one on the north side, for which funds were never found.

The church was hit by an incendiary bomb on 29 October 1940, necessitating its closure. During the closure the community preached in a wooden building nearby. The western section of the nave roof and south aisle were completely burnt out and fire damage to the pews beneath them was caused by falling burning timbers. The contents of the church were mostly saved by the local congregation rescuing items from the church; the 'armada' chest and the nave pews were saved in this way.

Some charred timbers are said to remain in situ in the nave roof, revealed during retiling work of the 1980s, as surviving evidence of the bombing and restoration of the church in the 1940s. Equally it is said that some of the pews and parts of the floor retain scars from the fire that followed the Second World War bombing.

Work to restore the church started in April 1942 and took three months, with the church re-opening in June, although works to the interior continued after this. Of the total cost of £632 14 shillings and 6 pence, the War Commission contributed just over £96. The work included the rebuilding of the lost roofs, re-using timbers where possible and restoration of the furnishings. Dry rot was discovered in the wooden beam above the nave columns in 1958, resulting in its replacement by concrete girders encased in brick.

The church is designated at Grade II* for its medieval origins and the surviving interest of the early building in parts; the re-use and incorporation of older materials during various consecutive rebuilding programmes, demonstrating clear evidential and historical interest, particularly reflecting both the 18th-century rebuilding of the east end and the early 19th-century recasting and expanding of the church, especially the construction of the cast iron columns; its range of historic fittings and fixtures, notably the font, credence table, chest and significant bells and bell frame; and the considerable archaeological and historical interest in the accretive alterations and additions to the building associated with architectural and liturgical change.