Church of St Lawrence is a Grade I listed building in the Buckinghamshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 9 January 1954. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Lawrence
- WRENN ID
- scarred-nave-moth
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Buckinghamshire
- Constituency
- Wycombe MP: Emma Reynolds (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 9 January 1954
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Lawrence, West Wycombe
- OS grid reference
- SU 827 949
- Coordinates
- 51.64739, -0.80558
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Lawrence is a Grade I listed building located on the site of a medieval church. The medieval west tower has been remodelled and heightened. The nave was rebuilt between 1751 and 1763 for Sir Francis Dashwood, who was the patron of the living. The upper part of the tower was completed no later than 1757, as it appears in a dated engraving from that year. The tower is topped with a wooden finial featuring a large gilded ball, which may have been inspired by the Dogana in Venice.
Inside, the nave is designed as a large room lined with engaged Corinthian columns beneath a continuous entablature, which is further enhanced by an elaborate plaster cornice and frieze. There are stucco relief motifs in a band between the capitals, with stucco swags below. The ceiling is painted and coffered. The low chancel has a ceiling painted in 1765 by Giovanni Borgnis, while its structure and some details date back to the 13th century. The church contains several fine original fittings and monuments from the 17th to the 19th centuries, including two by the sculptor Nollekens. There is also a wall painting featuring the royal achievement of arms above the chancel arch and a patterned stone floor. The 18th-century remodelling of the church is said to be influenced by prints of the ancient Temple of the Sun in Palmyra.
The Church of St Lawrence and the Mausoleum form a group.
Local climate
Church of St Lawrence sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 87% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 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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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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