Church of St Laurence

Details

DOWNTON CHURCH HATCH SU 1821 (north end) 6/52 Church of St. Laurence 23/3/60

GV I

Anglican parish church. Mid-Cll nave, C13 transepts, C14 chancel and remodelling, C17 restoration, C18 alterations, restorations of 1812 by D. A. Alexander, 1860 by T. H. Wyatt. Brick and flint with limestone dressings, tiled roof. Plan: cruciform church with south porch. Gabled porch with 1648 on datestone over door, cyma-moulded Tudor-arched doorway. Nave has 2-light square-headed Perpendicular window to left of porch and three 4-light chamfered mullioned windows to right, all with hoodmoulds, to right is C14 pointed door with hollow-moulded doorway and canopy, C18 parapet with brick panels and saddleback coping. C13 south transept has angle buttresses, lancet to west, three stepped lancets to south and one roll-moulded lancet and unusual 2-light Perpendicular window to east side, 1743 cartouche. South and north sides of chancel have three 2-light geometric windows, good gargoyles. East end has large C19 5-light geometric window with hoodmould, diagonal buttresses. North side also has pointed doorway with continuous moulding and octagonal stair turret in angle with north transept; pointed doorway and loops. North transept has two 2-light Perpendicular windows to north and a lancet and pointed chamfered doorcase to west. North aisle under catslide roof has three pairs of cusped lights and one 3-light C19 window. West end has large 4- light geometric window and Tudor-arched moulded doorcase with heraldic terminals, north aisle has 2-light cusped window, south aisle has 2-light Perpendicular window. 2-stage crossing tower in flint and limestone bands has 2-light round-arched windows with hoodmoulds, offset diagonal butresses, late C18 battlemented parapet and pinnacles retained when tower lowered 1860. Roof has coped verges and ridge-cresting. Interior: Inner south doorway has continuous roll-moulded pointed arch and restored ledged door. 5-bay nave has three late Cll western bays with cylindrical columns, square abaci and scalloped capitals to pointed arches, two east bays have taller pointed arches, 6-bay arch-braced collar truss roof. Fine C13 double- chamfered arches with fillet mouldings and stiff-leaf capitals to grouped-shaft responds of crossing. Lady Chapel in south transept has Medieval braced tie-beam roof, north transept has similar roof with hollow-chamfered timbers, trefoiled piscina on east wall, and ogee arch to north. Chancel has C19 6-bay tie-beam roof on foliated corbels, Tudor-arched squint through to Lady Chapel, restored C13 sedilia with four arches and shuttered window to south side. Fittings: C13 Purbeck marble font at west end of south aisle, wall painting on west wall possibly depicting The Flight into Egypt. Fine C18 hexagonal pulpit sounding board is now table at west end. Victorian pews and pulpit. Fine group of mid-C18 marble monuments with obelisks in chancel to Feversham family, by Peter and Thomas Scheemakers, good tablets in Lady Chapel such as a fine baroque marble to Charles Duncombe died 1711. Some C14 glass in north aisle, C19 glass includes fine east window by E. Frampton of London, 1896 and 1901. (N.Pevsner, The Buildings of England, Wiltshire 1975)

Listing NGR: SU1810721616

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

319611

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Wiltshire, (1975)

End of official list entry

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