Description

TOWCESTER MOAT LANE
SP6948 (South side)
13/126 Church of St. Lawrence
17/05/60

GV I

Church. C13, C14, C15. Restored 1835-6, and 1883 by J.L. Pearson. Nave roof of
1958. Chancel, vestry, north and south chancel chapels, nave, north and south
aisles, south porch and west tower. Coursed limestone and ironstone rubble and
coursed squared limestone, lead roofs. 5-bay chancel has 5-light Perpendicular
east window, 3-light Decorated windows north and south with curvilinear tracery
and 3-light clerestory windows with cinquefoil-headed lights and 4-centred
heads. Rectangular crypt windows to north-east and south-east with chamfered
stone surrounds. Vestry to north has chamfered Tudor-arched north door and
2-light chamfered mullion window to right with cut spandrels. Chancel chapels
continue aisles and overlap chancel. North chapel has 3-light east window with
simple C18 or early C19 tracery with crown glass quarries, and 3-light windows
to north with cinquefoil-headed lights and 4-centred heads. South chapel has
4-light east window with Tudor-arched head, wide outer cinquefoil-headed
ogee-arched lights and inner pointed trefoil-headed lights. Windows to south,
are similar to those to north of north chapel. Similar windows to aisles, except
for 2-light straight-headed window to west of south porch. North aisle has
chamfered pointed arched door to west in wider part-blocked doorway. Projecting
stair turret to former gallery of rood screen between north aisle and chancel
chapel. Many-moulded south door with hood mould in south porch, which has
doorway with hollow chamfer and sunk quadrant inner moulding and hood mould and
2-light Decorated windows north and south with pointed trefoil-headed lights and
4-centred heads. Tall 3-stage west tower has many-moulded west doorway with
fleurons to deep hollow-chamfered surround with ogee-arched hood mould within
panelled recess with moulded straight-headed surround; old double-leaf studded
doors. 3-light Perpendicular window above. Walling at this level banded with
limestone. Small 2-light window to south of middle stage with cinquefoil-headed
lights. 2-light bell-chamber openings. Diagonal buttresses and battlemented
parapet. Plain stone-coped parapets to rest of church. Chancel has set-back
buttresses. Offset buttresses to south aisle and chapel and to south-west angle
of south aisle. All windows except those to crypt have hood moulds. Interior:
chancel has C17 tie-beam trusses and purlins. Sanctuary raised over
stone-vaulted crypt with chamfered ribs and ridge ribs and slender square piers
without capitals; tomb recess to east and aumbry to north, 2-bay arcades between
chancel and chapels with double-chamfered arches; octagonal pier to north,
circular pier to south with 4 circular shafts in diagonals. Mid C19 chancel arch
incorporates two Romanesque shafts, that to north circular with lozenge
decoration, that to south octagonal with zig-zag ornament; south chancel chapel
has wide ogee-arched niche between south windows with cinquefoiled head and
crocketed hood mould, and Pelican in her Piety painted on back wall and small
image bracket just below sill. Double-chamfered arch to south aisle, innermost
on carved figure corbels. Nave has 4-bay arcades with octagonal piers, polygonal
responds and double-chamfered arches; 3 re-used C13 capitals, one with waterleaf
decoration. Triple-chamfered tower arch, innermost on polygonal responds.
Octagonal font with panelled bowl on crocketed nodding ogee arches. Fragments of
C15 stained glass in east window of south chapel including arms of Archdeacon
Sponne from Talbot Inn. East window of 1885, other C19 stained glass windows to
south aisle. Monuments: table tomb of William Sponne, a chaplain of Henry VI,
rector of Towcester and archdeacon of Norfolk, d.1448, with restored effigy and
cadaver below. Alabaster wall monument to Jerome Farmore d.1602 with small
kneeling figures facing each other at prayer desk in scalloped niches, flanked
by Corinthian colonettes. Marble wall monument to Mary Hastings d.1686 with
Corinthian columns supporting volutes either side of urn. Stone wall monument to
Mary Hodges d.1759 with broken segmental pediment framing urn and signed Jn.
Middleton. Veined marble mid C18 wall monument to William Benson with cherubs'
heads and urn finial.
(Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, p.433; Kelly's Directory for
Northamptonshire, 1928).

Listing NGR: SP6941048704

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17527255

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

• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)