Church of St Lawrence is a Grade II* listed building in the Bath and North East Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 February 1954. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Lawrence
- WRENN ID
- first-alcove-bone
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Constituency
- Frome and East Somerset MP: Anna Sabine (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 1 February 1954
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Lawrence, Marksbury
- OS grid reference
- ST 678 627
- Coordinates
- 51.36269, -2.46383
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St. Lawrence is an Anglican parish church with origins in the 12th and 13th centuries, largely rebuilt in the 15th century, and heavily restored in 1860. It is constructed of rubble with freestone dressings, and has slate and double Roman tile roofs with weathered, raised coped verges. The church comprises a west tower, nave, north porch, and chancel, and is primarily in the Perpendicular style.
The three-stage west tower has a polygonal north-east stair turret and weathered diagonal buttresses. The first stage features a pointed 2-light west window of 1860 in the Decorated style. The second stage is blank except for a single square light on the south side, and the third stage has a 2-light window with a trefoil-pierced blanking on each side, all under a hoodmould. The tower is topped with a castellated parapet and corner crocketed finials.
The buttressed nave has a south side with two 2-light, cusped windows with hoodmoulds, flanked by two similar single lights, and an ashlar parapet, including a scratch dial. To the north is a similar single light and parapet, dominated by a very large and deep north porch. The gabled porch has thick walls bearing 17th-century tablets to the east. Within the porch, a pointed arch springs from a chamfered impost, and the opening is filled with a low, almost segmental headed door under an empty image niche. A large recess and shelf are present in the east wall, alongside a stoup. The chancel has a single cusped light and a tripartite lancet to the north, and pointed east windows of 1860. To the south, two cusped single lights flank a chamfered round headed door dated 1634.
Inside, the tower features a heavy chamfered arch and a wagon roof with a brattished wall-plate and armorial bosses. A stoup is built into the wall thickness beside the porch, and there is an image niche in the south wall. A lancet in the chancel is cut from a 12th-century fragment. The fittings include a plain octagonal font, possibly from the 12th century. A notable monument is that of Cox, dated 1650, depicting a man and wife kneeling beside a draped urn and skull below a flying arcade, supported by unlearned pilasters carrying an elaborate frieze and open pediment with a headless figure. Below, children kneel around a text plaque, and an apron displays putti.
Local climate
Church of St Lawrence receives an average of 860 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 61% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 66% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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