Description

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

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Laurence at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17529318

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)