Description

CLYST ST LAWRENCE SY 09 NW 5/44 Church of St Lawrence 30.6.61 GV I

Parish church. Probably Norman origins (the font is Norman), rebuilt in the C15. Coursed blocks of purple-coloured volcanic ashlar, some of the blocks (particularly at the base of the tower) are very large; Beerstone ashlar detail; slate roof. Plan: small church. Nave with north porch, a narrower and lower chancel and tall west tower. The tower dominates the church, an effect emphasized by the tower being at the uphill end of the church. Exterior: tall west tower of 3 stages with diagonal buttresses at the west end and set back buttresses at the east end. It has an embattled parapet with moulding coping and carved gargoyles. On the north side is a semi-hexagonal stair turret which rises above the tower parapet and has its own embattled parapet and gargoyles and is surmounted by a wrought iron weather vane. The stair turret is lit by small quatrefoil lights and it includes a Beerstone image niche with a crocketted canopy and carved base. It includes a statue of the Virgin and Child. It is very old and maybe C15. The belfry windows are 2 lights with Perpendicular tracery. On the west side is a 2-centred arch doorway with a moulded surround including a band of fourleaf motifs and has a plain hoodmould. Above is a 3-light window with Perpendicular tracery and plain hoodmould. On the south side a cinquefoil headed lancet lights the ringing chamber. The south side of the nave has a 2-window front of 3-light windows with Perpendicular tracery and plain hoods; there is another in the-east end of the chancel and another on the north side (east end) of the nave. The other window on the north side of the nave is a C16 or C17 2-light window of volcanic stone; square-headed with a chamfered mullion. The C15 porch between the 2 windows is gabled and has a 2-centred (almost round-headed) outer arch with moulded surround. The porch roof is original, a 2-bay ceiled wagon roof with chamfered ribs. The church north doorway is a 2-centred arch with moulded surround. Above it is a corbel, presumably for an image. Interior: the nave has a good ceiled wagon roof with moulded ribs and purlins, good carved oak bosses and carved openwork wall plate. The chancel roof is a plain plaster vault of uncertain date. Tall tower arch with Beerstone panelled soffit above imposts carved with foliage and featuring representations of the Green Man and other men holding their mouths open with their tongues hanging out. The chancel arch is a plain 2-centred arch and it is plastered over. The window embrasures have moulded rear-arches and nook-shafts. The walls are plastered. The floor is tiled and includes some C17 and C18 grave slabs. The C19 altar table is flanked by probably C18 nowy-headed painted commandment boards. The stalls are C19, oak and Gothic. There is remains of a good late C15 oak chancel screen. It is a 5-bay arcade missing its wainscotting and tracery. However it has a good coved vault in Gothic style and 2 bands of the delicately- carved frieze remain. It has C20 painted colour. C19 Gothic style lectern and pulpit, the latter with fielded panels and crocketted pilasters on the corners. c19 plain pine benches. The Norman font is made from a single block of volcanic stone; it is an unornamental girdled font of the simplest kind. The oak ogee font-cover is C17. There is an C19 oil lamp in the nave and contemporary corona lucis in the chancel. There are no memorials in the church apart from a probably C13 stone coffin cover with a raised cross on it which is now fixed to the tower wall. Also in the tower is a board painted with the arms of George II and a painting of the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. There is some C19 coloured glass in the tracery. Source: Devon SMR.

Listing NGR: SY0265799976

External Links

• Wikidata Q17524656

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Recommended Books

• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments