Description

SK 4771 TOWN OF OLD BOLSOVER HIGH STREET
16/68 (North side)
5.7.65 Church of St Mary & St Lawrence
(formerly listed as Church of
St Mary)

II*

Parish church. C13, C14, 1624, 1897 by L.Ambler, restored after a fire 1961-2.
Coursed squared limestone with ashlar dressings. Welsh slate roofs. Moulded
coped gables with plain kneelers and moulded coped parapets. Moulded plinth.
West steeple, aisled nave with south chapel, chancel and north vestry. West
tower of two stages divided by a string course. Square staircase projection to
south west. Double chamfered west doorway with one order of colonettes. Single
chamfered lancet above. The lower stage of the tower is blind to north and
south. Two-light bell-openings of a pair of plain lancets under a single
hoodmould. Stone broach spire with two tiers of lucarnes, each a single louvred
lancet, the upper ones gabletted. Gabled north aisle has a C19 3-light west
window with cusped intersecting tracery and hoodmould on headstops. Gabled
north porch with gabletted buttresses and moulded doorway with hoodmould.
Rectangular windows with cusped ogee lights on either side. North aisle of three
bays divided by buttresses with two set-offs. Three 3-light C19 windows have
cusped tracery with an encircled trefoil, each with hoodmould. To the left a
slightly projecting gabled transeptal bay with similar 3-light window. Hoodmould
with headstops. To the left again is the vestry, built in 1961-2 by Taylor,
Young & Partners. Octagonal two-storey block like a chapter house. Mullioned
windows and cross windows. The north side of the chancel has a two-light C19
window with cusping and trefoils. Five-light east window with Geometrical
tracery. The south side of the chancel has a single buttress flanked by 2-light
windows with cusping and trefoils as on the north side. Between them is a flat-
arched doorway with a round-arched tympanum above which has a moulded arch and
a sculptured Crucifixion. To the left is a restored round-arched lancet.
Rectangular, projecting Cavendish chapel built in 1624. Castellated parapet and
string course above the second tier of windows. The ground floor has a 3-light
mullioned and transomed window with returned hoodmould. A single light and a 3-
light recessed and chamfered mullion window above. Blind elevation to south with
parapet inscribed CAVENDO VTVS. Square sundial below. Gabled south aisle of
three bays divided by buttresses with two set-offs. Three 3-light windows with
C19 Geometrical tracery. Hoodmould with foliage stops. Large 3-light west
window with cusped intersecting tracery. Interior. Four bay arcades, the fourth
bay on the south side blocked when the Cavendish chapel was added. Octagonal
piers, moulded octagonal capitals and moulded arches. Moulded chancel arch with
filletted responds and capitals with naturalistic foliage continued as a band.
Double-chamfered arches on semi-octagonal responds between north transept,
chancel and north aisle. Keyed round arch from the south aisle into the
Cavendish chapel. The chapel has a Jacobean style roof, and houses two large
monuments. Standing wall monument against the south wall, to Charles Cavendish t
1617. Pair of recumbent effigies and kneeling children in the 'predella'.
Coffered arch and rich strapwork cartouche. Marble monument of reredos type, to
Henry Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, his wife and one of his daughters. Erected
in 1727. Big black sarcophagus between large coupled Corinthian columns
supporting a pediment, on which lie two allegorical figures. It was designed by
Gibbs and sculpted by Francis Bird. On the east wall is a stone C19 monument in
Perp style, with three canopies and inset brass inscription panels to three
members of the Cavendish Bentinck family t 1858, t 1877 and t 1893. At the east
end of the south aisle is an inscribed tomb slab to Huntingdon Smithson t1648
and John Smithson t1716. The painted roofs are all of the'l96Os, the nave with
4-light mullioned clerestory windows. The north transept baptistry has a richly
decorated C19 octagonal font with painted cover. Sculpture set on a modern base;
a late C13 relief of the Nativity. Grave cover with axe, shears, sickle and ring.
Painted stone reredos. Some re-used C19 furnishings, including a brass eagle
lectern. In the blocked south aisle bay are six re-set corbels. In the north
porch are remains of two foliated grave covers.

Listing NGR: SK4744270306

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Mary and St Lawrence, Bolsover at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17545202

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)