Church Of St Laurence

Church of St Laurence

Anglican parish church. The building is primarily late 15th century in date, though the south aisle and arcade were rebuilt in 1838, the nave clerestorey added in 1841, and major restoration carried out in 1891. The chancel and vestry date from 1906-07.

The church is constructed of coursed rubble or dressed stone, some Portland stone, with various roofings: slate to the nave, stone slate to the porch, tile to the chancel, and lead to the aisles and vestry. The plan comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles, north porch, chancel and vestry.

The tower rises in two stages on a high plinth with moulded weathering and plain chamfered weathering at mid height, topped with crenellations. These crenellations are rendered in a yellow colour similar to Ham stone. The tower has gargoyles to each corner. The top stage contains a small two-light cusped opening with louvres to east and west, a small two-light opening to the south, and a clock face to the north. The lower stage has diagonal buttresses with two offsets. The west face displays a three-light Perpendicular window with label, executed in the yellow stone; to the south is a small recessed light and a small slated lean-to. On the south side, the churchyard level stands above that of the tower plinth.

The south side of the nave features a roll-mould weathered parapet coping and four two-light windows without cusps, set flush. The east gable carries a decorative cross in Portland stone. The aisle displays bold crenellation above a weathered string course, with three three-light windows of similar design, a diagonal buttress to the left, and four plain buttresses with double offsets. The west end retains a two-light Perpendicular window, set deep. The vestry continues in the same plane as the aisle and contains a door in a haunched opening, a lateral stack, and diagonal buttress. The east end, said to be the relocated 14th-century chancel arch, is constructed of earlier masonry and contains a two-light Perpendicular window under a coped parapet at a very low pitch.

The chancel, with diagonal buttresses and coped gable carrying a terminal Portland stone cross, has a two-light window on the south side, a deep-set three-light window to the east, and a four-light square-headed window set flush to the north. The north aisle and porch retain 15th-century walls. The nave clerestorey matches that to the south, and the aisle features crenellations over a three-light Perpendicular window on each side of the porch. The ends have diagonal buttresses and two straight buttresses; the east end has a four-light flush window similar to that of the chancel, and the west end a two-light Perpendicular opening.

The north porch is deep and plain, with a gabled roof, diagonal buttresses, and a doorway with four-centred head and wave and hollow moulding. It contains 19th-century iron gates. Stone benches with wood seats flank the entrance. The inner opening retains a fine medieval studded wide plank door with diagonal planks inside and long strap hinges, all set within a flat pointed segmental arch on hollow-mould jambs with stops. The 19th-century roof is carried on the east side on a moulded plate, possibly of the 15th century.

Interior

The nave and aisles have stone slab floors, with wood block at the same level beneath the pews. The four-bay nave has piers of four shafts and four hollows with leaf decoration capitals and high bases, carrying arches with wave-and-hollow mould. The walls are plastered, with two Tudor roses painted on the north side. The 19th-century roof, spanning four and a half bays, features painted braced king-post trusses.

The north aisle has plastered walls with the remains of three 16th-century painted texts from the Gospel of St Matthew and the Book of Proverbs; that to the left is partly obscured by a monument. A deep squint occupies the southeast corner. Behind the altar position runs a stretch of 17th-century panelling with guilloche frieze, approximately 1.3 metres high and extending 1.5 and 2.5 metres in length. The northeast window contains glass dated 1889.

The south aisle features a roof identical with the north, glass of 1909 in the centre window, and a painted Royal Coat of Arms of Victoria. In the southwest corner is a late 20th-century inserted low partition with door. The 15th-century tower arch displays stone panelling to the intrados and jambs on a high plinth, which returns across the west wall of the nave. The moulded chancel arch is carried on tapered brackets and plain impost blocks. The hexagonal trussed rafter roof sits on unplastered walls and Minton tile floors raised one step from the nave, with a further step to the sanctuary and another for the altar.

To the south of the chancel is a wide pointed arch opening to the vestry, now also containing the organ by Sweetland of Bath, dated 1895. The east window is brightly coloured but incorporates several panels of 17th-century Flemish glass, including a Crucifixion.

Fittings and Monuments

The furnishings include plain late 19th-century pews, a fine 17th-century seven-sided pulpit with two tiers of panelling and strapwork on a 19th-century stone base, an oak eagle lectern with dedication to Frederick Broke Howell (1889-1951), and an octagonal stone font of the 15th century, recut. Flanking the tower arch and near the lectern are three hanging oak panels, approximately one metre high, probably from a pulpit, bearing the figures of St Philip, St Peter, and St Bartholomew. The sanctuary contains two small 17th-century chairs and a larger chair in 17th-century style, made in 1907 from oak salvaged from Winchester Cathedral. A 17th-century alms chest stands near the porch, which has a 20th-century inner draught lobby.

Several wall monuments are present, including a white marble tablet at the west end of the north aisle to Anna Floyer (1774), and a fine baroque tablet at the east end of the same aisle to Sarah Floyer (1733). On the chancel south wall is a large white marble memorial to George Gould (1841) of Fleetway House and Upway, designed by Hopper of Wigmore Street; memorials to his father (died 1797) and mother (died 1824) are also recorded.