Church Of St Lawrence

The Church of St. Lawrence is a medieval church, significantly restored in 1874. It is located in Eriswell. Originally a two-cell church consisting of a nave and chancel, the building evolved in the early 14th century with the addition of a south chapel, south aisle, and west tower. The church is constructed of flint rubble with remnants of early rendering, and is dressed with freestone. The roofs are slate, with parapet gables, the tower having a flat roof concealed behind crenellated parapets.

The early 14th-century work is characterized by a rich level of detail. The two-stage west tower is heavily buttressed and features two-light belfry openings, gargoyles, and slit windows to the ringing chamber and stair turret, all with moulded detail. A carved mask is located beneath the kneeler of the west parapet gable. The west doorway is flanked by a small two-light window and an image niche. A low square window with tracery illuminates the Lady Chapel in the south aisle, with a piscina and sedile in its cill, and an adjacent aumbry. The nave and chancel have two-light north windows without hoodmoulds. The parapet-gabled north porch has two-light side windows and a hoodmoulded doorway, with similar doorways in the north chancel and nave, the latter featuring a 15th-century image niche above. The tower doorway retains a pair of oak-boarded medieval doors, topped by a sanctus bell window. The nave arcade features octagonal columns with heavy moulded capitals and bases; the arches to the chancel and south chapel are similar in style. The chancel includes a piscina, aumbry, and dropped-cill triple sedilia. The chapel of St. John mirrors this arrangement, also incorporating a niche beside the east window. A niche in the north east corner of the chancel, formerly canopied, is of uncertain purpose and includes a pair of aumbry-like cupboards, possibly added later, with a shelf above. A largely complete early 14th-century rood screen has four lights on either side, with balusters and traceried heads; the doorway has drop tracery, and the lower half was restored in 1874. An octagonal limestone font, dating to around 1300, has a bowl carved with sunk quatrefoils, and a stem with attached shafts, moulded capitals, and bases. A collection of seven 15th-century pews with poppyheads and carved figures (some mutilated) are located in the aisle, with six similar pews in the nave exhibiting better-preserved figures. Marble memorial slabs commemorate Martha Turk (1791) and Samuel Fisher (died 1713), within the chancel floor. Fragments of medieval stained glass remain in the north chancel windows. The roofs were all renewed in 1874; the nave has a crown-post roof, the chancel a wagon roof, and the aisle a coupled-rafter roof.