Description

SO 76 SE WICHENFORD CP

1/110 Church of St Lawrence 29.7.59

GV II*

Parish church. C12 origins, rebuilt early C14 incorporating some C13 features, restored mid-C19 and new spire added in 1863 by A E Perkins Coursed sandstone rubble and sandstone ashlar, tiled roofs, gable end parapets with kneelers and cross finials. West tower, 3 bay nave with south porch, 2 bay chancel and north vestry. Decorated style. West tower: added at end C14, in 1791 steeple was demolished and belfry stage and spire built in 1863. Three stages; 2 lower stages have angled corner buttress and project beyond belfry stage; lowest stage has pointed arched planked west doorway and ogee-arched lights in north and south elevations. Second stage has ogee-arched light in west elevation; at belfry stage corners have cusped chamfers; 2-light louvred belfry openings and moulded cornice above; broach spire has 4 lucarnes with quatrefoil openings above; finial and weathervane. Nave c1320. North elevation has off-centre buttress with offsets and 3 C19 2-light windows. South elevation has a buttress with offsets each side of central porch and one at east end; between the porch and each buttress is a cusped lancet of C14 date and there is a C14 2-light window between the easternmost buttresses. South porch: C19; flank- ing buttresses at gable ends, pointed arched doorway with reveals and columns in jambs with moulded caps and bases; side walls each have 2 quatrefoil lights; south doorway is C19, pointed arch, deep reveals and painted inscription above, now illegible. Chancel: much rebuilt in C19; angled buttresses with offsets at east end; C19 3-light east window; 2 lancets in north and south elevations, all C13 except for north-east one which is C19 and larger. In south wall is a C13 door with pointed arch Vestry C19; gabled with chimney at east side junction with chancel roof; paired cusped lights in gable end; west doorway with 2-centred arch with raised flat head. Interior C19 chancel arch, pointed, columns with moulded caps and bases in jambs. Tower arch has 2 massive orders rising from chamfered abaci, both arches and south doorway have painted inscriptions over arches, C19 roofs with swept wind-braces above wall-plate, those in chancel are cusped. Chancel has C13 piscina, C17 altar table with linenfold carving; C19 altar rails with foliated decoration; sill of north-east window has alabaster slab, corbelled out from wall and used as credence; C19 pointed doorway into vestry at west end of north wall. Plain C19 font and pulpit. Memorials: against north chancel wall is an alabaster altar tomb with 2 effigies in C17 armour, one lying upon the slab, one fitted into the space beneath; behind are kneeling figures of 2 women in round-headed arched recesses on Ionic columns with full entablature above; all ornately panelled and decorated with 4 coats of arms, the highest central one belonging to the Washbourne family. An inscription records that John Washbourne had the monument built for himself, his 2 wives and his father, who lies beneath; the tomb was restored and repainted in 1863. At the south- west end of the nave is another alabaster chest tomb, removed there from the chancel. It has 2 recumbent effigies of another John Washbourne, died 1615, his wife Alice and their 3 children who kneel against the chest. Above on the west wall is the Washbourne coat of arms, all restored and repainted in 1863. On the west side of the tower arch are the old clappers of the original bells, now mounted on a board Additional memorials include an early C19 one by J Stephens and a late C19 tablet on the south-nave wall, and a late C18 and mid- C19 memorial on the north nave wall. Glass: mid-C19 east window, C19 and early C20 glass in chancel, north nave and westernmost south nave window.

Listing NGR: SO7871960147

External Links

• Wikidata Q17547748

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Recommended Books

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Huddersfield in 50 Buildings
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets