Church Of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence, Diddington

This is a 13th-century church comprising a nave, chancel, and north aisle. It was significantly enlarged and altered in the 16th century, when the north aisle was rebuilt and the west tower, south porch, and south chapel were added. A north vestry was constructed in the 19th century.

The church is notable for the monuments and glass in the south chapel, the furnishings in the nave, and the 16th-century brickwork.

The west tower is constructed of red brick laid in English bond with Barnack stone dressings. It rises in three stages and is topped with an embattled parapet and beast gargoyles at the corners. Diagonal buttressing and a splayed plinth reinforce the base. A newel staircase occupies the south-west corner and is lit by two quatrefoil openings. The west window features three cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery and quatrefoils in the spandrels. Two-light openings pierce each wall of the bell stage.

The nave is built of pebble and freestone with some red brick, covered by a shallow-pitched slate roof. A 16th-century clerestory runs along the ridge. Three windows of three cinquefoil lights light each side wall.

The south chapel, built in the early 16th century, is constructed of pebblestone with limestone dressings. It is parapetted with a moulded string at eaves height and beast gargoyles at the centre of the cornice. Two windows of three cinquefoil lights with four-centred heads pierce the walls; one window at the east end is blocked.

The chancel, chiefly of pebblestone, was shortened in the 17th century and its east wall was rebuilt in narrow gault brick. It has a shallow-pitched leaded roof with a gable-end parapet. The south wall contains one 13th-century lancet window and one 14th-century window of two trefoil ogee lights in a square head. A 14th-century south door features an ogee-headed arch.

The south porch is built of red brick in English bond. It is gabled with a stepped parapet finished with modern coping, raised on a brick plinth with stone splays. A four-centred outer arch of two chamfered and stopped orders in a square head is surmounted by a rubbed brick label with return stops. A 13th-century south doorway beneath, of two-centred form with two orders—the inner chamfered and the outer plain—is carried on two engaged shafts with moulded capitals and bases.

The interior contains a 16th-century tower arch of limestone. The outer order is wave-moulded; the inner is chamfered and carried on engaged shafts to responds.

A 13th-century north arcade of four bays has two-centred arches of two chamfered orders resting on round columns with moulded capitals and bases. The four-bay roof of the nave dates to the 19th century, though the tie beams and jackposts are probably 16th-century. The walls of the tower and nave are plastered.

A south arcade of two bays, dating to around 1505, has two-centred arches of two chamfered orders. The central column is octagonal. At the east and west ends, the inner chamfered order is carried on half-octagonal corbels terminating in carved knot pendants. A 19th-century chancel arch spans the eastern end.

Between the south chapel and nave stands a rectangular tomb of limestone and Purbeck marble dating to 1505, which commemorates William Taylard and his wife Elizabeth. The sides are decorated with arcading and gothic cusping to the heads. A brass to Alice Forster, wife of William Taylard, dated 1513, is set in the nave north of the tomb.

The stained glass in the south chapel is reset work of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Fine 16th-century oak pews furnish the nave and south chapel. A 13th-century font with an octagonal bowl and round stem features a double-chamfered base. A 17th-century alms box, constructed from a square post and fastened to a seat, sits in the nave.