Church of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence

This church was designed in 1878 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, one of the most successful church architects of the 19th century. It replaces an earlier, much smaller church called Old St Lawrence, probably dating from the 13th century.

The building is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with sandstone dressings and a tiled roof with terracotta ridge tiles. It is designed in the 13th-century Gothic style and consists of a four-bay nave with a west bell turret, a north aisle with a north porch, a two-bay chancel, and a north vestry.

The west end features a distinctive gabled double bellcote containing eight bells, integrated into angle buttresses that flank a three-light arched window. The side walls have further angle buttresses. The nave's south wall contains three-light windows with alternating intersecting and geometric tracery. A projecting gabled south porch has a cross-shaped saddlestone and an arched entrance with engaged colonnettes. The north aisle has two-light arched windows with drip-moulding and corbel heads, flanked by angle buttresses. The east end is dominated by a triple arched window with intersecting arches and a smaller two-light window below. The chancel features a large five-light window with geometric tracery and corner diagonal buttresses on its east end, with a three-light arched window on the south wall between buttresses. The chancel's north wall is partially obscured by a penticed vestry with a four-light mullioned window with leaded lights.

Inside, the nave has a kingpost roof with arched braces supported on stone corbels. The north arcade features pointed arches and circular columns. The chancel has a large ribbed arch and an arch-braced roof. Notable fixtures include a chamfered square font on two steps and an octagonal stone pulpit. The nave and aisle pews have bench ends carved with poppyheads or fleur-de-lys motifs. The chancel reredos and panelling date from circa 1919.

The church is particularly notable for its outstanding collection of stained glass. The west window of the nave depicts Angels of Healing and was created in 1892 by Sir William Reynolds-Stephens. Much of the finest early stained glass was relocated here in 1975 after Thomas Hellyer's Royal National Hospital was demolished in 1969. These pieces include works by members of William Morris' artistic circle: the Raising of Jairus's Daughter by William Morris (1866), Jesus Healing a Woman by Ford Madox Brown (1869), and the Raising of Lazarus by William Morris (1866) are located in panels attached to the outer wall of the north aisle. In the south wall of the nave are St John the Evangelist by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1869, originally intended for the Savoy Chapel), St Luke the Physician by Ford Madox Brown (1869), and St Peter the Apostle by Sir Edward Burne-Jones (1871, originally designed for Peterhouse, Cambridge). The Parable of the Sower in the south-eastern window of the nave was designed in 1897 by Walter Tower. The east and south windows date from circa 1919 and were produced by Kempe's firm.

Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878) began his architectural practice in the mid-1830s and became renowned for his church designs, which characteristically derive their harmonious quality from late 13th-century and early 14th-century architectural precedents. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1859 and was knighted in 1872. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.