Parish Church Of St Lawrence

Parish Church of St Lawrence

This is a parish church dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, with restoration carried out in the 19th century. The building is constructed of plastered flint and pebble rubble with limestone and clunch dressings, and is roofed with lead and handmade red clay tiles.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, north aisle, west tower, north vestry, north chapel, and south porch. A doorway in the north vestry dates from the late 12th century and has been reset. The nave was rebuilt in the late 14th century. The chancel, north aisle, west tower, north vestry, north chapel, and south porch were all rebuilt or added in the mid-15th century.

The chancel is mainly 15th century and features an east window of three cinquefoiled lights under a four-centred head with moulded external reveals and label. In the north wall is a doorway with chamfered jambs and moulded two-centred arch and label. A late 14th or early 15th-century arcade of two bays has two-centred arches of two hollow-chamfered orders. The column is octagonal with moulded base and moulded and crenellated capital. The east respond has an attached half-column; the capital, with that of the column, is grooved for a screen. The west respond has a moulded and crenellated corbel. The south wall contains three windows; the two eastern windows each have three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head, while the westernmost window is similar but has two lights. Between the two easternmost windows is a doorway with moulded jambs and four-centred arch in a square head with trefoiled spandrels. The chancel arch is two-centred with two moulded orders, the outer continuous and the inner resting on semi-octagonal shafts with moulded and crenellated capitals and moulded bases. The capitals and bases are cut back for a rood screen, and traces of red paint remain in the arch. North of the arch is a squint with a cinquefoiled head on the west face. The roof is scissor-braced in seven cants, and the wallplates are crenellated.

The north vestry has in its east wall a late 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head. The north wall contains a late 12th-century doorway that has been reset and blocked, with a moulded two-centred arch that is partly cut away; water-leaf capitals remain although the shafts are missing or obscured. A 19th-century doorway is located in the west wall.

The north chapel has in its north wall two windows: the eastern is 19th century except for the 15th-century splays and rear arch, while the western is a late 14th-century window of two cinquefoiled and sub-cusped lights with elaborate tracery in an acute two-centred head with moulded external reveals. In the west wall is a late 15th-century segmental-pointed arch of two hollow-chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner resting on semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases; the north capital is crenellated. Further south is a doorway to the rood-loft stair with rebated jambs and four-centred arch; the stair is complete but blocked at the top.

The nave has a late 15th-century north arcade of four bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders, the outer continuous and the inner resting on semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. The south wall contains two late 15th-century windows, each of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head. Further west is a late 14th-century south doorway with moulded jambs and two-centred arch and moulded label with two mutilated head-stops. The clerestorey has on both sides four late 15th-century windows, each of two cinquefoiled lights in a three-centred head. Below the windows on both walls is a moulded and crenellated string-course. The roof is in four bays with arch-braced collars and side-purlins; the rafters and all main timbers are moulded, the collars crenellated with foliate bosses. The arches are mounted on stone corbels. The wallplates have spiral vine-leaf carving. At half-bay intervals there are intermediate rafters with stub hammerbeams ending in tenons for angels or other carved figures, now missing. The roof has been dated by Hewett to the first half of the 15th century.

The north aisle has its easternmost bay canted out on plan, probably to provide additional altar space against the east wall. The east wall contains a simple 15th-century window of one cinquefoiled light. The north wall has two mid to late 15th-century windows: the eastern is of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head, and the western is of three cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoils in a four-centred head with moulded external reveals and label. Further west is a 15th-century north doorway, blocked, with double-chamfered jambs, four-centred arch and moulded label. The west wall contains a 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a four-centred head. The roof has two moulded bridging beams in the wide section and one moulded rafter, but is otherwise plain.

The west tower is mid to late 15th century, of three stages with a crenellated parapet, south-east turret stair, and moulded plinth. The parapet is cement-rendered. The plinth and outer faces of the clasping buttresses are decorated with flint and limestone flushwork. The two-centred tower arch is of three moulded orders on the east and three chamfered orders on the west side; the innermost order rests on semi-circular attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. Above the arch are the weatherings of an earlier nave roof. The south wall contains a doorway to the turret stair with chamfered jambs and three-centred arch. The stair is lit by four small quatrefoil windows with square surrounds and one plain square window. The west doorway has moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label; the west window is of three cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a two-centred head and has been restored. The second stage has in the north and south walls a window of one pointed light, and a similar blocked window in the west wall. The bell chamber has in each wall a window of two cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a two-centred head.

The south porch is mid to late 15th century with a two-centred outer archway of two hollow-chamfered orders. The moulded responds each have a keeled attached shaft with moulded capital and base, now defaced. The south gable has a crow-stepped parapet and trefoiled niche. The roof is cambered in two bays with moulded plates and joists, contemporary with the structure.

Interior features include an indent of a missing brass of a priest dating from the 15th century in the chancel. The font is octagonal with a plain bowl, stem panelled on five sides with the others plain, and a moulded base, dating from the 15th century. The east window of the north aisle contains fragments of 15th and 16th-century glass. The chancel contains a 14th-century piscina with chamfered jambs, trefoiled head, projecting basin and foiled drain, which has been reset. The vestry contains another piscina of 15th-century date with chamfered jambs, pointed head, and foiled drain; the basin has been cut away. The pulpit is octagonal with panelled sides, fluted frieze and moulded cornice, dating from the early 17th century. The 15th-century screen under the chancel arch retains four close lower panels, each divided by a twisted shaft and having an elaborate traceried head with foliated spandrels and a band of quatrefoils at the foot; the tracery of the two outer panels is enriched with red and gold. The truncated posts between the bays have attached buttresses with a moulded and foliated rail. In the nave, east of the south doorway, is a stoup with chamfered jambs and pointed head dating from the 15th century; the bowl is broken off.

The church contains five bells: the first and second by Richard Bowler, dated 1600 and 1601 respectively; the third by Robert Ridere; the fourth by Charles Newman, dated 1695; and the fifth inscribed "Sancte Johannes ora pro nobis, PW". Several medieval graffiti are present in various parts of the church, the most remarkable being a 15th-century poem on the south respond of the north chapel arch.