Church Of St Laurence

SP52NE CAVERSFIELD A41 (East side)

2/32 Church of St. Laurence 07/12/66

• II*

Church. C10/C11, late C12 and C13, restored and partly rebuilt 1874 by Henry Woodyer. Coursed and random limestone rubble with ashlar dressings; Stonesfield-slate and concrete plain-tile roofs. Chancel, aisled nave and west tower. C13 chancel has a pair of lancets in the east wall and, to south, a further lancet plus a 2-light Decorated window and a square-headed C15 window; vestry to north is C19 and includes a 3-light Decorated-style window below a gable. Rebuilt aisles, in coursed rubble, have small lancets but, to north, a short gabled projection contains a re-used C12 doorway of 2 orders with engaged shafts, an inner roll, and an outer band of undercut chevrons. The pre-Conquest base of the 3-stage tower has small windows to north and south with external splays, other windows and all quoins have been renewed and the roof has rebuilt gables facing east and west. Interior: chancel has deep splays to the lancets, a small aumbry, a trefoiled piscina, and a restored archway to the north; chancel arch has C19 responds; 2-bay, nave arcades have Transitional round piers with corner spurs and knob-volute capitals (partly restored), above which are elaborate C13 arches with multiple-roll moulding and dog-tooth ornament; C19 tower arch; all roofs C19 with arch-braced collar trusses and curved windbraces. Monuments include several brasses and fragments, mostly removed from their casements, the elaborately-panelled C15 tomb chest of John Langston (died 1487), some C17 ledgers, and a group of C18 and C19 wall tablets below the tower. C12 font has arcaded sides. The early-C13 bell below the tower is the oldest inscribed bell in England (Buildings of England: 0xfordshire, pp.523/4.

Listing NGR: SP5806325202

This List Entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 6 June 2017