Church of St Laurence

Church of St Laurence, Raunds

A church of the 13th and 14th centuries, restored in 1858. The building is constructed from regular coursed and squared coursed limestone with an ashlar spire. The roofs are covered with lead, Collyweston slate and plain tile.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, south aisle, organ chamber, vestry, south porch and west tower.

The chancel's south elevation is of two bays with a one-window range of 3-light windows under 4-centred arch heads. A 6-panel 18th-century arch-head south door stands at the centre. Ashlar buttresses separate the bays. The chancel has a shallow gabled roof with a castellated ashlar parapet and finial. The east window is a 4-light Perpendicular design with a 4-centred head and curved label stops. The north elevation of the chancel has a 19th-century lean-to vestry and gabled organ chamber attached, with a 3-light north window and 2-light east window beneath a plain tile roof.

The south aisle extends across four bays with a two-window range of 3-light Perpendicular windows to the right, each with 4-centred arch heads. A small blocked doorway appears in the left bay. The aisle has a lean-to roof with a castellated ashlar parapet and 2-light square-head windows to the east and west. A 2-storey gabled porch occupies the bay to the left of centre, featuring a double chamfered outer arch and a 2-light square-head window above. The inner doorway is chamfered and stepped with one order of shafts. The porch has a shallow gabled roof with castellated ashlar parapet and finial. A stair turret with a lean-to stone roof stands to the left of the porch.

The north elevation of the nave displays a three-window range of tall 3-light windows with 4-centred arch heads. A blocked north door to the right of centre has a carved tablet above. Three-stage buttresses separate the bays. The nave has a steep gabled roof with Collyweston slates, a castellated ashlar parapet and gable finial.

The west tower is octagonal with two stages and shallow buttresses to the lower part of the first stage. A west lancet window is positioned beneath an octofoil window. The upper stage is set back with 2-light bell-chamber openings in the cardinal directions and similar blind arcading on the diagonal faces, each with a central corbel. The octagonal ashlar spire has a corbel table and castellated frieze at its base, with three tiers of lucarnes. A polygonal stair turret is attached to the north face of the tower.

The interior features a 3-bay south arcade to the nave with double chamfered arches and quatrefoil piers. The chancel arch is double-chamfered with octagonal responds and nail head decoration. The tower arch is triple chamfered. The roof structures are of 19th-century date. A double piscina in the south aisle has a central column. To the right of the chancel arch is a trefoil-head arched seat facing into the chancel. The organ chamber has a 19th-century chamfered arch. The font is Perpendicular and octagonal, though the stem is missing.

The church contains several monuments. Thomas de Wynchy, of the 14th century, is commemorated by an inscribed brass strip in the chancel floor. John Atkins, who died in 1669, is remembered by an inscribed tablet to the left of the altar, with arms above. An 18th-century oval tablet and various 19th-century tablets are positioned to the left and right respectively. The communion rail has four turned balusters.

Stained glass includes a 19th-century east window, 2 west windows and a south aisle east window, the latter designed by Kempe. Original scaffold holes are visible in the tower. Pitch hooks for removing burning thatch remain attached to the belfry wall. The room over the porch has a 20th-century roof and a partially legible inscribed memorial tablet fixed to the wall.