CHURCH OF ST LAURENCE

Overview

Location

Details

ST 55 NE EAST HARPTREE C.P. CHURCH LANE (west side)

5/28 Church of St. Laurence 21.9.60 G.V. II*

Parish church. Late C12, C13, C15 west tower with parapet restored 1633, late C19 restoration. Coursed sandstone and limestone rubble to tower and south porch, squared and coursed rubble stone to nave and chancel. Dressed stone openings, quoins and copings. Concrete tiles to nave, slates to chancel. Nave, chancel, north aisle, west tower, south porch. Nave south side has 3 Perpendicular windows: one 3-light under pointed head, another 3-light under straight head and a 4-light with cusped tracery and hoodmould with lozenge stops. Chancel south side has a single light Decorated window with pointed head and a 2-light Perpendicular window under straight head. Corbel with face under eaves. East window is of 2 lights: C19 Perpendicular style. C19 lancet and C15 4-centred arched doorway on north side. North aisle has 3-light Perpendicular windows a 4-central arched doorway and further 3-light window to east wall. Fine animal gargoyles on string course below parapet. Tower of 3 stages with polygonal north west corner stair turret with embattled parapet. Diagonal buttresses, moulded string course to 1st stage, pierced and cusped quatrefoil parapet with restoration plaque inset and corner crocketted pinnacles. West facade has Tudor arched doorway with hoodmould, plank door, and above, a 3-light Perpendicular window with hoodmould. Top 2 stages have 2-light windows with dripstones, those to bell stage cusped with dense quatrefoil piercing. South porch has one 3-light Perpendicular window on west side and restored segmental-headed doorway. Transitional south door with segmental arch and 2 outer mouldings along jambs and arch, one a roll, the other a crenellation with triangular merlons. Interior. Nave has C13 six bay arcade with clustered shafts and moulded arches giving onto north aisle. Triple chamfered tower arch. Piscina with ogee head on south wall at chancel arch and above, blocked rood loft door. Squint connecting north aisle with chancel. C13 moulded chancel arch, 2 piscinas with trilobed heads on chancel south wall, aumbry with panelled Jacobean doors on north wall. Open C19 rafter roof on C15 embattled wooden wall plate to nave, chancel has C19 wagon roof. Fittings. Nave has Norman font, some C15 traceried bench ends, Jacobean panelling under tower arch, polygonal Jacobean pulpit with Jacobean and later panelling on south wall. Further Jacobean panelling across squint. Fine early C20 War Memorial window to south wall and C19 stained glass to aisle windows. Late C19 wooden chancel screen. Chancel has fragments of medieval wall painting on reveal of north window and above east window, late C19 painted censing angels either side of seated Christ. Also late C19 stencilling and painted foliage on roof. C17 communion rails with turned balusters in 3 separated sections within C19 frames. C19 stained glass in east window. Monument to Sir John Newton (died 1568) now in south porch, formerly in church, re-erected 1883. Renaissance style. Effigy on chest tomb with 2 panels of kneeling mourners: boys on the left, girls on the right, beneath a canopy on 6 fluted Ionic columns carrying a tall entablature and projecting moulded cornice with strapwork and classical motifs. Inscription painted on rear wall in rhyming couplets. (Pevsner, Buildings of England).

Listing NGR: ST5654755974

This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 16 August 2017.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

32766

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: North Somerset and Bristol, (1958)
Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 16 August 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/7511

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.