Description

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TQ 1777 SW
11/241

BRENTFORD
HIGH STREET (south side)
Church of St Lawrence

11.7.51

II*

Former church. Tower C15 altered C19; body of church 1764 by Thomas Hardwicke (old list); south aisle and north vestry added C19; interior re-done 1889 (Pevsner p.28); 1970s restoration work. Tower of Kentish rag with ashlar dressing; body of church of brown brick in Flemish bond with ashlar dressings; Welsh slate roofs. Three-stage west tower; three-bay aisled nave with one-bay chancel, all in one, having additional south aisle, north vestry and small sanctuary.

Tower: plinth; diagonal buttresses with offsets, and quoins to second and third stages; chamfered offsets between stages. Vice at north-east angle is octagonal on plan, becoming circular at top stage, with chamfered doorway at base and slit windows. West side of tower has round-arched C19 board door with decorative hinges in architrave, with C15 window above of three cusped lights in two-centre-arched opening. Rectangular opening to second stage on west and north sides, south side masked by C18 work. A louvred two-centred-arched belfry window to north, west and south sides. Cornice below embattled parapet.

Nave and chancel: north side: chancel bay slightly set back and partly masked by added gabled vestry. Bays defined by giant pilasters with stone imposts supporting round arches; each bay has a blind segmental-arched window below taller round-arched window which has late C20 tracery, copying original, of two arched lights with circle over. Ashlar coping. South side masked by aisle addition, but has upper windows as before. At west end on north side are steps up to double door of eight raised and fielded panels in ashlar architrave with pulvinated frieze and cornice; the top step is inscribed "to the vault of George Cooper". Sanctuary east window blocked.

Interior: pointed tower arch of several orders, the central hollow-moulded order supported by short columns with moulded capitals. Body of church has late C19 wooden round-arched arcades, the columns octagonal and having moulded bases and acanthus leaf capitals; clerestory windows of tripled round-arched lights; braced queen-post roof trusses with inner columns supporting round arch. Chancel has wooden screens either side, with two tiers of round-arched arcades, on slender columns below and twisted columns above. At west end of nave a wall monument to Thomas Hardwicke, architect, d.1829, and other members of family; one south wall a circular monument with drapes to Rev William Coome, 1810 by Coade and Sealy; other memorials removed. In tower, tombstone of Dame Mary, widow of Sir Edward Spencer, d.1658, with two heart-shaped coats of arms. Other good monuments have been removed (see photos in National Monuments Record).

N Pevsner, Buildings of England, Middlesex (1951)

Listing NGR: TQ1743577289

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17551897

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

• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)