Church Of St Lawrence

Church of St Lawrence

An Anglican parish church, originally built in the 14th century and substantially rebuilt in 1858 by the architects Fulljames and Waller. The building is constructed of blue lias with limestone buttresses, except for the tower's lower two stages which are of blue lias, with the third stage of squared and dressed limestone. The roof is laid with concrete and red tiles.

The church plan comprises a nave with north aisle and projecting south porch, a chancel with vestry on its north side, and a west tower. The chancel south wall features two two-light windows with ogee cusped trefoil heads, and a Tudor-arched priest's doorway now blocked with limestone and red sandstone, flanked by a clamp buttress. A three-light east window displays three cinquefoil roundels at its top, with a scroll-moulded hood and foliate stops. The north wall of the chancel contains a single 19th-century light with a trefoil head. The east wall of the vestry has a two-light trefoil-headed window, whilst its north wall features a two-light window with flat-chamfered pointed surround, accompanied by a 19th-century plank door with decorative strap hinges within a shouldered flat-chamfered surround, with a clamp buttress to its left.

The north aisle is distinctive for its architectural detailing. Its north wall contains four clamp buttresses and twin gables lit by two-light pointed windows with quatrefoils, crowned by a foliate ivy-leaf boss at the junction. A waist-height scroll-moulded string runs along the wall, with moulded eaves and a cornice featuring moulded corbels interrupted by beast-like stone rainwater heads. At the west end of the north aisle stands a two-light window with a pointed trefoil head. The nave north wall is lit by two tall two-light windows with pointed trefoil heads.

The three-stage tower, with lower stages dating to the 14th century and a later upper stage from the 19th century, is lit by a 19th-century pointed trefoil-headed window on the north side and a similar window on the west face at ground floor level. The first stage contains small single rectangular 19th-century lights, whilst the second stage features tall belfry windows with pointed trefoil heads and carved spandrels within moulded rectangular surrounds. A pyramidal red tile capping crowns the tower. Set at the base of the tower on its south side is a monument to Elizabeth, wife of Walter (or possibly) Alardiy, who died in 1649, consisting of a limestone segmental-headed rectangular panel with a simple incised face at the top and scroll decoration in the upper corners.

The nave south wall displays two two-light 19th-century windows with cinquefoil-headed lights in rectangular surrounds to the left of the porch, and three two-light windows to its right: two with trefoil-headed lights and one with cinquefoil-headed lights. A clamp buttress at the far right bears an unfinished inscription, probably dating to the 17th century, commemorating Elizabeth, wife of Giles Haward. Above this is a possible mass dial with an incised square outline. The 19th-century gabled timber porch features a flagged floor incorporating a stone ledger to William Bell (died 1653) and a brass plaque on another ledger to Catherine Bell (died 1729). The porch has slightly stepped gable-end coping with upright cross finials.

The interior is accessed through a 20th-century plank door with decorative strap hinges, set within a moulded segmental-headed surround decorated with early chip-carved fleur-de-lys at its top. The lower part of the lintel has probably been cut away in the 19th century to form a segmental-headed opening. The nave arcade comprises four bays with octagonal piers exhibiting moulded capitals and naturalistic foliate carving at the junction of hoods. The 14th-century pointed arches feature double hollow moulding with hoods displaying 19th-century King and Queen's head stops. A 19th-century pointed chancel arch with ogee and scroll mouldings retains capitals with naturalistic foliate carving on either side, where two columns have been removed, with a hood featuring similarly carved stops. A blocked pointed arch connects the chancel to the vestry, with a hollow moulding at its top decorated with four-leafed flower ornament. The entrance to the vestry is set within a cinquefoil-headed surround with an ogee-moulded hood bearing naturalistic foliate stops.

The east window is surrounded by naturalistic foliate carving in its upper part and flanked by black marble columns with foliate capitals, topped by an ogee-moulded hood with naturalistic foliate stops. Set in the sill of the window to the right of the altar is a medieval piscina in the form of scalloped indentations arranged in a circle with a drainage hole at the centre. A 19th-century plank door at the east end of the aisle sits within a flat-chamfered pointed surround, with a scroll-moulded hood featuring stops in the form of blocks, presumably unfinished.

The nave roof comprises six bays with 19th-century collar trusses featuring V-struts and triple-curved tie beams. The chancel roof contains three bays with 19th-century hammer beam trusses with scissor bracing at the top, each adorned with four-leafed flower decoration at the ends of the hammer beams. The bracing below these hammer beams is supported on stone corbels decorated with fine naturalistic foliate carving. The nave floor is laid in red and black tiles forming a diaper pattern, whilst the chancel and sanctuary contain red, black, grey and encaustic tiles also arranged in a diaper pattern.

The church furnishings include 19th-century pews with linenfold panelling at their ends, and two ornately carved 18th-century chairs positioned either side of the altar. A 17th-century octagonal carved pulpit stands at the south-east corner of the nave, each face featuring a blind arch with raised foliate scrollwork in blue, paired dragons at the top, and guilloche with rosettes at the bottom. A 19th-century wooden lectern in the form of an eagle is positioned on the opposite side of the nave, to the right of a 20th-century organ.

The most notable furnishing is a late 12th-century circular lead font, positioned inside the south door, decorated with an arcade of eleven compartments, each containing a seated figure with right hand raised and a book on their knee, alternating with foliate S-scrolls. A foliate frieze runs around the top and bottom. The font rests upon a later circular stone base supported by a central pillar composed of three square columns.

Monuments within the church include a wooden plaque in the tower commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee (1897). On the south wall of the nave, towards the west end, stands a monument to Reverend Walter de Winton (formerly Wilkins, associated with Wallsworth Hall), who died in 1851, and his wife Anna, executed in white on black marble with upturned burning tapers to right and left, an open book and biblical quotation at the top.

Three 17th-century slate stone monuments within limestone surrounds are positioned below. The lower left monument commemorates Hester Gyse (died 1673) and her husband John (died 1698), featuring a moulded lugged frame with foliate scrollwork on either side highlighted in gold, with the inscription in gold lettering. A similar monument to its right honours Joane Gyse (died 1680) and details of her benefaction, with the inscription formerly in gold lettering. To its right is a monument in a plain rectangular surround, probably dating to the 20th century, in memory of Mary and Gore Bayley (died 1695 and 1697) and the children of William and Mary Bayley.

Monuments on the north wall opposite include two white on grey marble 19th-century monuments to members of the Hopkinson family, and one dating to the 18th century. The chancel contains 19th-century stained glass, as do three windows in the south wall of the nave. Twentieth-century stained glass is located at the west end of the north aisle.