Parish Church of St Lawrence

Details

TL 7240-7340 RIDGEWELL CHURCH LANE 6/43 Parish Church of St. TL 74 SW Lawrence 3/43 21/6/62 GV I Parish church, C14 and C15, restored in C19. Plastered flint and pebble rubble with dressings of limestone and clunch, roofed with lead and handmade red clay tiles. Doorway in N vestry late C12, reset. The Nave was rebuilt in the late C14, the Chancel, N aisle and W tower rebuilt in mid-Cl5, N vestry, N chapel and S porch added mid-C15. The Chancel is mainly C15, and has an E window of 3 cinquefoiled lights under a 4-centred head, with moulded external reveals and label. In the N wall is a doorway with chamfered jambs and moulded 2- centred arch and label. Further W is a late C14/early C15 arcade of 2 bays with 2-centred arches of 2 hollow-chamfered orders; the column is octagonal with moulded base and moulded and crenellated capital; the E respond has an attached half-column; the capital, with that of the column, is grooved for a screen; the W respond has a moulded and crenellated corbel. In the S wall are 3 windows; the 2 eastern are each of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4- centred head; the westernmost window is similar, but of 2 lights. Between the 2 easternmost windows is a doorway with moulded jambs and 4-centred arch in a square head; the spandrels are trefoiled. The chancel-arch is 2-centred and of 2 moulded orders, the outer continuous and the inner resting on semi- octagonal shafts with moulded and crenellated capitals and moulded bases; the capitals and bases are cut back for a rood-screen; there are traces of red paint in the arch. N of the arch is a squint with a cinquefoiled head on the W face. The roof is scissor-braced in 7 cants, and the wallplates are crenellated. The N Vestry has in the E wall a late C15 window of 2 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4-centred head. In the N wall is a late C12 doorway, reset and blocked; it has a moulded 2-centred arch, partly cut away; the shafts are missing or obscured, but water-leaf capitals remain. In the W wall is a C19 doorway. The N Chapel has in the N wall 2 windows; the eastern is C19 except the C15 splays and rear-arch; the western window is late C14, of 2 cinquefoiled and sub-cusped lights with elaborate tracery in an acute 2-centred head, with moulded external reveals. In the W wall is a late C15 segmental-pointed arch of 2 hollow-chamfered orders, the outer continuous, the inner resting on semi- octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases; the N capital is crenellated. Further S is a doorway to the rood-loft stair, with rebated jambs and 4-centred arch; the stair is complete, blocked at the top. The Nave has a late C15 N arcade of 4 bays; the 2-centred arches are of 2 chamfered orders, the outer continuous, the inner resting on semi-octagonal attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases. In the S wall are 2 late C15 windows, each of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4-centred head. Further W is the late C14 S doorway with moulded jambs and 2-centred arch, and moulded label with 2 mutilated head-stops. The clerestorey has on both sides 4 late C15 windows, each of 2 cinquefoiled lights in a 3-centred head; below the windows on both walls is a moulded and crenellated string-course. The roof is in 4 bays with arch-braced collars and side-purlins, the rafters and all main timbers moulded, the collars crenellated, each with a foliate boss. The arches are mounted on stone corbels. The wallplates have spiral vine-leaf carving. At half-bay intervals there are intermediate rafters with stub hammerbeams ending in tenons for angels or other carved figures, missing. Hewett dates this roof from the first half of the C15 (Hewett 1982, p.31). The N aisle has the easternmost bay of the N walls canted out on plan, probably to provide more altar space against the E wall. In the E wall is a simple C15 window of one cinquefoiled light. In the N wall are 2 mid to late C15 windows; the eastern is of 2 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4-centred head; the western window is of 3 cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoils in a 4-centred head, with moulded external reveals and label. Further W is the C15 N doorway, blocked, with double-chamfered jambs, 4-centred arch and moulded label. In the W wall is a C15 window of 2 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 4-centred head. The roof has 2 moulded bridging beams in the wide section, one moulded rafter, but is otherwise plain. The W tower is mid to late C15, of 3 stages with a crenellated parapet, SE turret stair and moulded plinth. The parapet is cement- rendered. The plinth and the outer faces of the clasping buttresses are decorated with flint and limestone flushwork. The 2-cented tower-arch is of 3 moulded orders on the E and 3 chamfered orders on the W side; the innermost order rests on semi-circular attached shafts with moulded capitals and bases; above the arch are the weatherings of an earlier nave roof. In the S wall is a doorway to the turret stair, with chamfered jambs and 3-centred arch. The stair is lit by 4 small quatrefoil windows with square surrounds, and one plain square window. The W doorway has moulded jambs, 2-centred arch and label, and the W window is of 3 cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a 2-centred head, restored. The second stage has in the N and S walls a window of one pointed lights, and a similar blocked window in the W wall. The bell-chamber has in each wall a window of 2 cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil in a 2-centred head. The S porch is mid to late C15, and has a 2-centred outer archway of 2 hollow-chamfered orders; the moulded responds have each a keeled attached shaft with moulded capital and base, defaced; the S gable has a crow-stepped parapet and trefoiled niche. The roof is cambered, in 2 bays, with moulded plates and joists, contemporary with the structure. In the Chancel there is an indent of a missing brass of a priest, C15. The font is octagonal with plain bowl, stem panelled on 5 sides, the others plain, with moulded base, C15. In the E window of the N aisle there are fragments of C15 and C16 glass. In the Chancel there is a piscina with chamfered jambs, trefoiled head, projecting basin and foiled drain, C14, reset. In the Vestry there is another, with chamfered jambs, pointed head, foiled drain, C15, basin cut away. The pulpit is octagonal with panelled sides, fluted frieze and moulded cornice, early C17. The C15 screen under the chancel arch retains 4 close lower panels, each divided by a twisted shaft and having an elaborate traceried head with foliated spandrels and a band of quatrefoils at the foot; the tracery of the 2 outer panels is enriched with red and gold; the truncated posts between the bays have attached buttresses, with a moulded and foliated rail. In the Nave, E of the S doorway, is a stoup with chamfered jambs and pointed head, C15, the bowl broken off. There are 5 bells, the first and second by Richard Bowler, 1600 and 1601, the third by Robert Ridere, the fourth by Charles Newman, 1695, the fifth inscribed 'Sancte Johannes ora pro nobis, PW'. There are several medieval graffiti in various parts of the church, of which the most remarkable is a C15 poem on the S respond of the N chapel arch.

Listing NGR: TL7399240908

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

114129

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hewett, C A, Church Carpentry A Study Based on Essex Examples, (1982), 31

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