Church Of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence

This church, located on Church Road in Appleton with Eaton, is a substantial medieval parish church with significant later alterations and restoration. The building comprises a chancel, aisled nave, and a west tower, constructed in coursed limestone rubble with ashlar dressings. The roofs are gabled and M-shaped, with stone slates over the chancel and Welsh slate and 20th-century tiles over the nave. Stone slate hanging is present on the east gable wall of the nave.

The church originates from the late 12th century. The tower was remodelled in the late 13th and 15th centuries, a north aisle and further remodelling were added in the early 17th century, and subsequent alterations occurred in the later 17th and early 18th centuries. The building was restored in 1883.

The east wall has a double-gabled form, displaying a three-light window of 1883 restoration work to the left of an early 17th-century leaded and partially blocked chamfered stone-mullioned window. A similar early 17th-century window appears on the north wall. The south wall features a late 13th-century pointed and chamfered arched priest's doorway adjacent to a late 15th or early 16th-century two-light stone-mullioned window with casement-moulded architrave.

The nave walls are pierced by early 17th-century three-light chamfered stone-mullioned windows. The north porch, also early 17th-century, is plain in design and has fine studded double-leaf doors. The south porch, stone-coped and early 17th-century, is enriched with a crocketed niche above similar doors. A medieval stoup adjoins a late 12th-century round-headed chamfered doorway. The south porch is flanked by a 15th-century two-light cinquefoil-headed window and a late 13th-century two-light window, the latter with a late 19th-century mullion and head.

The three-stage west tower features a late 13th-century two-light Y-tracery window above a 15th-century doorway fitted with 17th-century studded doors. The 15th-century stages contain one- and two-light cinquefoil-headed windows and a crenellated parapet. Slit lights illuminate the south stair-turret. A late 19th-century louvred south bell turret has been added.

The interior is particularly rich in fittings and monuments. The chancel has a quarry-tile floor with late 18th-century memorial tablets. Among these is a memorial tablet to Robert Aldworth, dated around 1698, and a "memento mori" brass to John Goudrington (died 1518), which depicts a shrouded corpse. The most prominent monument is a fine wall monument to Sir John Fettiplace (died 1593), featuring a recumbent effigy with strapwork back-panel set within an architectural frame with Corinthian columns and obelisks surmounting an entablature with heraldic achievements.

An early 18th-century communion rail and a four-bay wainscotted arcade enclosing earlier columns define the north chapel. The north chapel contains 18th-century ledger stones and a wall tablet to Robert Southeby (died 1717). A fine memorial by Robert Blore commemorates Mrs Anne Southeby (died 1808), her daughter, and an infant son. An early 19th-century chamber organ is also present.

The chancel arch was constructed in 1873. The nave contains a late 19th-century pulpit and fittings, early 19th-century wall tablets, an early 19th-century pew, and a tub-shaped font set on a late 12th-century base decorated with spiral ornamentation including beaded bands. A late 13th-century archway leads to the west tower.

The principal architectural feature of the nave is a fine four-bay late 12th-century Transitional arcade with chamfered pointed arches set on round piers with square abaci. The capitals, progressing from east to west, display trumpet scallops, stiff-leaf foliage, beaded interlacing bands with stiff-leaf volutes, and flat-leaf carving. A painted inscription on the east intrados commemorates a gift by Sir Richard Fettiplace. Three panes of 15th-century armorial stained glass survive in a north aisle window.