Parish Church Of St Mary And All Saints

Parish church of St Mary and All Saints, Lambourne

This parish church comprises a 12th-century nave and 13th-century chancel, both elaborately remodelled with plaster in the early 18th century, together with a 15th-century bell turret and spire and a 19th-century organ chamber. The building is constructed of flint rubble with cement render and limestone dressings, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. The bell turret is timber framed and weatherboarded, and the spire is clad with lead.

The chancel is superficially 18th century in character, retaining only a small blocked lancet window in the south wall as evidence of its 13th-century origin. The east window has a 4-centred arch without tracery, all plastered. Two similar smaller windows occupy the south wall, with a lean-to organ chamber attached to the north wall. Two tiebeams span the chancel with elaborate plaster work featuring Greek key designs on their soffits. A moulded plaster cornice probably conceals the original wallplates. The roof forms a barrel vault with cabled groins, entirely plastered. The chancel arch is semi-elliptical and approximately 1.5 metres thick, marking the junction between the medieval nave and chancel. Externally it displays rusticated stone on the north face and cement render to the south. Internally, it is elaborately plastered with four scrolled brackets and ornamentation of quatrefoils, diamonds and flowers on the soffit.

The nave contains two similar windows on each side, each of one 2-centred light with a 4-centred rear arch and wide splay, all plastered, with 18th-century wrought iron grills. The north wall features a reset 12th-century doorway, now blocked, with jambs of two orders: the inner square, the outer formerly adorned with free shafts of which only scalloped capitals remain. The outer order of the arch displays chevron ornament; the inner order forms a tympanum with a modern timber lintel and a patchwork of stones above, some set diagonally and enriched with axe-work. Adjacent to the doorway is an original round-headed window, blocked internally. The south wall contains a reset 12th-century doorway with original plain voussoirs forming the tympanum arch, with an original window of similar character to the north wall window positioned to the west. The west wall holds a doorway dated 1726 with a shallow hood on scrolled brackets and a contemporary window.

The nave roof is plastered in five cants, likely concealing a medieval timber frame. The space is spanned by one tiebeam, plastered with a Greek key design matching that in the chancel, supporting a crownpost with four braces, all heavily plastered with diamond ornament on the shaft and acanthus foliage on the braces. A plaster cornice similar to that in the chancel runs around the interior. The bell turret at the west end of the nave stands on four chamfered posts with two tiebeams and one arched brace. At the west end is a panelled gallery on four carved standards bearing a gilt inscription on black paint recording William Walker, citizen and ironmonger of London, in 1704, and noting other benefactions. A staircase with turned balusters provides access.

Wall paintings of circa 1400 have been exposed where plaster has been removed on the south wall; these include a richly coloured depiction of Saint Christopher. The two west windows of the chancel contain five small rectangular panels of Swiss glass, dating from 1630 to 1637, illustrating biblical scenes with German inscriptions, heraldic shields and dates.

The pulpit comprises four sides of an octagon, each with two masoned arches flanked by enriched pilasters and surrounded by an enriched frieze and dentilled cornice, dating to the early 17th century, mounted on a panelled base of circa 1700. Stalls with panelled backs feature upper panels with carved and pierced foliage, dating to circa 1700.

Monuments include a brass to Robert Barfoot (1546) and his wife Kathryn, depicting a man in a fur-lined gown and a woman in a pedimental head-dress, with figures of nine sons and ten daughters, the shield of arms of the Mercers Company, and a merchant's mark. A wall monument commemorates Thomas Wynnyff, Dean of St Paul's and Bishop of Lincoln (1654). Floor slabs record John Wynnyff (1630), Robert Bromfield (1647), and others. Numerous wall monuments to members of the Lockwood family date from the 18th and 19th centuries. Three bells survive, cast by John Clifton (1640), James Bartlet (1684), and another maker.