Details
SNAITH AND COWICK HIGH STREET
SE 6422
(north side)
Snaith
12/58 Church of St Lawrence
14.2.67
GV
Parish church. C12 north and south walls to transepts and responds to nave
arcades; C13 tower and west bay to nave arcade; early C14 chancel, later C14
vestry; C15 arcades, chancel arch, clerestory, aisles, north and south
chapels, buttresses, parapets. Restorations of 1867-68 included removal of
parvis and rebuilding of south porch, rebuilding chancel east wall and nave
east gable, restoring windows, parapets to nave and chancel; repairs of
1883, and of 1910 to tower and south aisle wall. Limestone ashlar with some
sandstone; cobbles and coursed rubble to lower sections of north and south
transept walls; clay tile repairs and patching. Lead roofs to aisles and
vestry, Westmorland slate to south side of nave, Welsh slate to north side.
West tower with west entrance, 6-bay nave with aisles embracing tower, north
and south transepts, south porch and north door, 3-bay chancel with 2-bay
north and south chapels, south door and vestry adjoining north side.
Plinths and moulded string courses throughout, apart from transept north
wall; buttresses with offsets to angles and between bays; coped embattled
parapets with crocketed pinnacles. Unbuttressed 4 stage tower: stair
lighting slits to south-west angle, string courses between stages. First
stage: pointed west door with 3 chamfered and one inner keeled order on
restored shafts with moulded capitals. Second stage: west lancet with
chamfered and keeled arch and hoodmould on twin shafts, north and south
lancets. Third stage: single lancets to each side, clockface to south.
Belfry: 3 lancets to each side with double-chamfered reveals and hoodmoulds.
Corbel table with weathered head corbels; embattled parapet with
8 pinnacles. North aisle: pointed hollow-chamfered door with hoodmould;
square-headed 3-light windows, one with shouldered-arched lights, the
remainder with cinquefoiled lights and hoodmoulds; square-headed 4-light
traceried west window with hoodmould incorporating carved shields, and
corbel table above. South aisle: similar partly-restored 3-light
cinquefoiled windows with hoodmoulds. Transepts: four-centred arch 4-light
cinquefoiled north and south windows, with restored mullions. Nave
clerestory: pilaster buttresses between bays, four-centred arch 3-light
cinquefoiled windows beneath continuous hoodmoulds. Chancel: pointed
3-light traceried north and south windows, large pointed 5-light reticulated
east window. North chapel: pointed chamfered door, pair of large square-
headed 4-light north windows and 3-light east window with cinquefoiled
lights and hoodmoulds. South chapel: pointed 4-light cinquefoiled south
windows with restored mullions and hoodmould, square-headed 3-light
traceried east window, restored pointed moulded south door with hoodmould.
Vestry: moulded plinth, buttresses; four-centred arch 2-light north windows
and 3-light east window with foiled lights, wave-moulded reveals and
hoodmoulds, moulded string course, coped parapet. Porch: restored pointed
outer arch of 2 orders with hoodmould; pointed wave-moulded inner arch of
2 orders with hoodmould. Interior. 6-bay arcades of pointed double-
chamfered arches, in 3 sections: wide central octagonal pier incorporates
north-south buttresses; 3 bays to east with octagonal piers with plain
moulded capitals and bases; 2 narrower bays to west with similar piers and
Continued .....
Church of St Lawrence continued .....
C12 chamfered west responds; lower and narrower C13 western bay with
corbelled inner order. Carved shields above north arcade; C15 painted niche
to south-east pier inscribed to Saint Osyth. C19 hammer-beam nave roof.
Tall triple-chamfered tower arch with octagonal responds and corbelled inner
order; blocked square-headed door and traces of 3 earlier rooflines above.
Pointed triple-chamfered north and south tower arches with moulded corbels,
those to west with carved heads and stiff-leaf ornament. Deeply-splayed
tower windows, internal turret for spiral staircase. Fragments of painted
text, probably late C18 - early C19, to tower north aisle (former Consistory
Court room); pointed double-chamfered arch to north aisle. South transept
(Guild Chapel of the Holy Trinity) has cusped ogee-headed niche to east wall
and remains of C14-C15 niche or piscina to south window with section of
moulded arch, carved spandrel and brattished frieze; pointed chamfered door
to spiral staircase to former rood loft. Pointed double-chamfered chancel
arch on octagonal responds, squint to south, corbels for former rood screen.
Chancel has 2-bay north and south arcades of pointed double-chamfered arches
on octagonal piers, with octagonal responds to south, arches dying into
chamfered responds to north; plain piscina, four-centred arch chamfered door
to vestry; inscribed C13 grave slab reused as north window sill; large C16
black marble matrix for monumental brass, perhaps to Abbot of Selby, with
indents for figure flanked by shields, staff etc; wall tablet to William
Shearburn and others, of c1846, by W Audby of York, with carved frieze and
cornice; wall tablet to John Eadon, of 1833, by Flintoft of York, with
carved coffin and arms on obelisk base. Dawnay Chapel to south has pointed
double-chamfered west arch, C15 sepulchre or niche to south with sub-cusped
ogee arch in castellated surround, altar tomb to Sir John Dawnay (d1493)
with painted carved arms of Dawnay family and associates, applied moulded
segmental arch to north, and pointed niche or aumbry above; image bracket to
east wall with carved arms, and wrought-iron brackets above carrying pieces
of armour and knight effigies, relics of Sir Thomas Dawnay, (d1642);
fragments of medieval glass to east window; floor slab of 1436 to Radulphus
Aclome and Margaret his wife, daughter of John Dawnay, with incised cross
and inscribed border; good white Carrara marble monument to John Dawnay, 5th
Viscount Downe, of 1837, by F Chantrey, with life-sized standing figure in
parliamentary robes on inscribed cylindrical base. Stapleton Chapel to
north has good warble wall monument to Lady Elizabeth Stapleton, of 1688, by
Samuel Carpenter of York: inscribed tablet flanked by fronds, with winged
base and shield with cherubs heads above, supporting life-sized bust in
segmental niche and pilastered surround with garlands and broken segmental
pediment carrying finial and carved lions. Monuments in north transept:
black marble floor slabs to Matthew Boynton of 1705 and Elizabeth Boynton of
1729 with carved arms in relief, marble wall tablet to Mathew Boynton of
1795 by I Fisher of York, with carved pedestal and urn on obelisk base.
Wall tablet in south aisle to children of Edward Russel of c1840 by W
Bradley of Selby, with carved urn. N Pevsner, The Buildings of England:
Yorkshire, West Riding, 1959, pp 482-482. Photographs in NHR.
Listing NGR: SE6409922167
