Description

PRESTON-ON-WYE CP -
SO 34 SE
4/53 Church of St Laurence
2.9.66
GV II*

Parish church. C12, partly rebuilt C13, extended C14, restored 1625
and 1883 by T Nicholson. Coursed sandstone with ashlar dressings and
slate roof. West tower C14, nave C12, chancel C13 and north chapel C14.
West tower of three stages with diagonal buttresses, moulded plinth and
restored crenellated parapet. Belfry has window of two ogee trefoiled
lights with a quatrefoil under a two-centred head. Ground floor west
window is C15 of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a square head.
Nave of three bays divided by stepped buttresses on south wall. To west
end a window of two trefoiled lights under a two-centred head, then the south
porch and to the eastern bay two windows, the first of two trefoiled lights
under a two-centred head, the second a lancet. South porch is late C19 and
timber-framed. The C12 south door has a semi-circular arch of two moulded
orders, the inner continuous and the outer enriched with chevron ornament
and springing from C19 detached shafts with C12 scalloped capitals. There
is a moulded label. North wall has a semi-circular headed window to west
and a window of two trefoiled lights under a two-centred head to the east.
Between them the blocked north door with semi-circular head. The north chapel
of mid-C14 has diagonal buttresses. The north window is of two ogee trefoiled
lights with a quatrefoil under the two-centred head. The east window is C15
with two cinquefoiled lights under a square head. Chancel, C13, rebuilt 1883,
south wall has two windows, to west of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery
in the square head, that to east of two trefoiled lights under a two-centred
head. Blocked priest's door of C13 with cusped two-centred arch. North wall
has two windows, that to east a single trefoiled light, to west a lancet.
Interior: the tower arch is segmental pointed of two chamfered orders, the
inner dying into the responds. Two-centred arch to north chapel of two
moulded orders, the inner springing from triple engaged shafts with moulded
capitals. In north-east corner of nave the rood stair survives with square
headed doors at each level. Roofs all C19, that of nave is the common rafter
type, the chancel roof of four bays with arch-braced trusses. Fittings: C17
communion table used as an altar. C19 decorative wrought-iron altar rail.
Nave pews include some C16 simple carved bench ends. (RCHM, Vol 1, pp 218-9;
BoE, p 273).

Listing NGR: SO3837942446

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17537135

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

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)