Church of St Lawrence

Details

DIDDINGTON DIDDINGTON TL 16 NE (NORTH SIDE) 1/16 CHURCH OF ST 14. 5.59 LAWRENCE GV II*

The C13 church of nave, chancel and North aisle was added to and altered in C16 when the North aisle was rebuilt, and the West tower, South porch and South chapel were added. In C19 the north vestry was added. The church is noteworthy for the monuments and glass in the South chapel, the furniture in the nave and the C16 brickwork. West tower of red brick, English bond with Barnack dressings. Of three stages with embattled parapet and beast gargoyles at corners. Diagonal buttressing and splayed plinth. Newel staircase in South West corner with two quatrefoil openings. West window of three cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery and quatrefoils to spandrels. Two-light openings to each wall of bell stage. Nave of pebble and freestone and some red brick. Shallow pitch, slate roof with C16 clerestorey. Three windows to each side, each of three cinquefoil lights. Early C16 South chapel of pebblestone and limestone dressings. Parapetted with moulded string at eaves height and beast gargoyes to centre of cornice. Two windows of three cinquefoil lights in four centred head. One blocked window at East end. Chancel, mainly pebblestone. In C17 the east end was shortened and the East wall rebuilt with narrow, gault brick. Leaded roof of shallow pitch, with gable end parapet. One C13 lancet window and one C14 window of two trefoil ogee lights in square head to South wall. C14 South door with ogee headed arch. South porch: red brick, English bond. Gabled with stepped parapet finished with modern coping. On brick plinth with stone splays. Four-centred outer arch of two chamfered and stopped orders in square head with rubbed brick label and return stops. C13 South doorway. Two-centred and of two orders, the inner chamfered and outer plain and carried on two engaged shafts with moulded capitals and bases. Interior: C16 tower arch of limestone. Outer order wave moulded and inner chamfered and carried on engaged shafts to responds. C13 North arcade of four bays. Two-centred arches of two chamfered orders on round columns with moulded capitals and bases. The four-bay roof of the nave is C19 but the tie beams and jackposts are probably C16. The walls of the tower and nave are plasterd. c.1505 South arcade of two bays. Two centred arches of two chamfered orders. The central column is octagonal. At the East and West ends the inner chamfered order is carried on half octagonal corbels terminating in carved knot pendants. C19 chancel arch. Monuments: between South chapel and nave; 1505 rectangular tomb of limestone and Purbeck marble with brass to William Taylard and Elizabeth, his wife. The sides of the tomb have arcading with gothic cusping to heads. North of the tomb in the nave is a brass to Alice (Forster), wife of William Taylard, 1513. The stained glass in the South Chapel is reset and of C15, C16 and C17. In the Nave and South Chapel are fine, C16 oak pews. C13 font. Octagonal bowl on round stem with double chamfered base. C17 alms box in nave, in top of square post fastened to seat. R.C.H.M. (Hunts), p66, mon. (1) Pevsner (Buildings of England), p234

Listing NGR: TL1904465956

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

54342

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Inventory of Huntingdonshire, (1926), 66
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough, (1968), 234

End of official list entry