Church Of St Lawrence

The Church of St Lawrence is a parish church dating primarily to the 13th and 14th centuries, with later Perpendicular additions. It is constructed of coursed squared ironstone and limestone. The church comprises a chancel, nave, aisles, a north porch, and a west tower. The east chancel window is Perpendicular in style, featuring four lights. The north and south chancel windows, also Perpendicular, have two lights with transoms. The south aisle windows are late Perpendicular, composed of two- and three-arched uncusped lights with square heads. The north porch is of Victorian origin. The north doorway is Decorated, notable for its continuous mouldings. The north aisle windows are Decorated, with two- and three-lights, flowing tracery, and hoods terminating in head stops. The Perpendicular clerestory features windows with two cusped ogee lights and square heads. The Perpendicular west tower rises in three stages and is topped by a castellated parapet.

Inside, the chancel contains 14th-century sedilia with three seats beneath crocketed ogee canopies, a piscina of the same date, and an Easter sepulchre with an ogee-arched recess. Flanking the altar are two canopied niches with crocketed pinnacles, and a staircase leading to a former rood loft is located between the chancel and the south aisle. The south arcade is 13th century, consisting of four bays with round piers, moulded capitals, and double hollow-chamfered arches. The north arcade, in Decorated style, has four bays with two continuous chamfered orders. The nave roof is from the 14th to 15th centuries, incorporating tracery in the spandrels. The south aisle roof is late Perpendicular and features rosette bosses. The font is from the 14th to 15th centuries, octagonal in shape, and decorated with blind tracery. A screen in the tower arch, dated 1610, is partly constructed from a reredos with panels inscribed with the Creed and Lord's Prayer, and it is ornamented with four half-columns, bosses, and diamond studding. Above the screen is an elaborately carved entablature surmounted by scrolls and four figures. A Perpendicular-style screen is also present in the north aisle. An 18th-century wall tablet commemorates Sir John Blencowe, who died in 1726, and is signed by Edward Stanton and Horsnaile. Another tablet with an urn and cartouche commemorates William Walmesley, who died in 1809, and was created by R. Westmacott. A further marble tablet, with a scroll pediment and Adam style decoration, also exists.