Description

BOVINGDON CHURCH STREET
TL 0103 (West side)

10/18 Church of
- St. Lawrence

GV II*

Parish church. Medieval Dec and Perp, thoroughly restored 1845 by Thomas
Talbot Bury FSA so that much of the fabric is of this date. Flint rubble
with uncoursed flint facing (coursed on tower) and stone dressings. Old
stonework in clunch, C19 work in Bath stone. Steep slated roofs with
graduated sizes to chancel. A scholarly Gothic church in local style.
Chancel, 5-bays nave with N and S aisles, S porch, embattled W tower
with spire, and NE lean-to vestry. Moulded parapets to nave and aisles.
3-stage tower has crocketed corner pinacles. Diagonal corner buttresses.
5-bay aisles with buttresses between windows. S porch has puddingstone
as well as flint in its S gable. Pointed arch of 2 chamfered orders
closed by iron gates. Lockers as seats in porch. Continuously moulded S
door with pointed arch and battened door with decorative iron hinges. 4
S-aisle windows have unusual saltire tracery with trefoil cusping. Other
windows either re-used (W window of N aisle) or follow previous form.
3-light pointed Dec W window has mullions renewed. Square hoodmould
renewed of Perp arched doorway with spandrels. Moulded base course of
tower original as well as of buttresses to aisles, but offsets in Bath
stone. Clunch quoins and string course to nave presumably original. Only
clunch buttresses of porch remain and bonding stones to S aisle.
Segmental arched recess in tower for knight's effigy now in nave.
'A.B.S.R' on gilded bosses of tower ceiling. York stone slab floor to
church. Tower arch of 2 chamfered orders 5 bays nave with low-pitched
boarded roof with moulded purlins, ridge, wallplates, tie-beams and
wallposts off stone corbels. 2 order chamfered C14 style pointed arcade
with chamfered upright panel central to each pier as if it were 2 piers
back-to-back. Octagonal moulded bell-caps and roll-moulded bases.Moulded
string course below sills of 2-light trefoil clerestorey windows.
Painted inscriptions on labels over tower and chancel arches. Pine pews
with doors and fine carved poppy heads down central aisle. 2-light
stained glass window 1874 to Isobel Cator at W end of S aisle. 1855 wall
monument to Henry Stewart Ryder by R. Brown of London, a soldier leaning
on a Gothic sarcophogus surmounted by a cross. White marble with pointed
head and slate border. Chest tomb at S side of chancel arch with effigy
in stone of a knight of c.1370 with fragments of painting, pointed
basinet, plate armour and chain mail gorge. Hands in prayer. Wall
monuments to Ryder family of Westbrook Hay. Chancel floored in Belgian
marble C17 inscribed slabs, some with brass plates, 1605 '-UM BEARAT',
Andrew Mayne d.1621. Commandments and painted scrolls flank 3-light
stained glass E window by Lavers 1856 designed by the painter Charles
West Cope (Pevsner). Long gothic arcaded memorial tablet on N wall of
chancel in memory of Lady Georgiana Ryder, 3rd daughter of 6th Duke of
Beaufort 1800-65 and Hon. Granville Dudley Ryder d.1879 who was a local
benefactor, through whose efforts the church was restored. Chancel roof
of 2 bays with half-bays each end. Arch braced steep roof with moulded
purlins, ridge, wallplates, and wallposts off stone corbels. 3
benefaction boards in N aisle. Stained glass window in N aisle to Thomas
Talbot Bury d.23 Feb 1877, the architect for the restoration. Octagonal
panelled font with instrument of the Passion. Coloured perspective in
vestry inscribed 'Bovingdon Church as restored by T. Talbot Bury FSA'.
(RCHM(1911)66 no.2: Kelly (1914)69: Pevsner (1977)107).

Listing NGR: TL0171703717

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17542785

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

• 
  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  For the Record