Alton,
Hampshire - St Lawrence Church
C.1100 and 15th century
Click on photos to enlarge.
Notes in italics from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight by Nikolaus Pevsner
and David Lloyd (1967)
Yale University Press, New Haven and London. |
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A Perp
town church built round a Norman crossing tower (see interior below).
... The exterior is C15 throughout, except for the Victorian broach-spire.
Three-light windows with panel tracery under segmental arches. W window of
four lights and below it a doorway still with C14 mouldings (third
picture). |
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Different
views of Norman crossing tower:
West arch viewed from south aisle (old Norman nave), north arch, east
arch. and capitals of the crossing tower. ... all four Norman arches are still there. Their big
decorated capitals and their arches with one step and one thick roll are
emphatically Early Norman, say about 1100. The tower now stands in the S
aisle; for in the C15 a new nave and chancel were built N of the previous
church. At the same time the former nave was rebuilt. |
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First
picture shows east end of south aisle (position of former Norman chancel).
Next three pictures taken from nave show arcade dividing it from south
aisle, i.e. former Norman nave. Last picture is of arcade from south
aisle.
In the
former chancel alterations were also made, and a new S vestry and N chapel
built. ... The church is essentially a parallepiped. The S aisle is as
wide as the nave. The arcades are the same all the way: octagonal piers,
hollow-chamfered arches. Lively busts to support the roof. |
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The
original church had a S arcade added to it c.1140. There are faint traces
of this arcade inside, i.e. the remains of imposts with a band of
ornament.
On the
N face of the second pier from the W three C15 paintings of saints. |
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The font
at west end of the south aisle is possibly Saxon, that within the crossing
tower is Victorian.
Pulpit.
An outstanding mid C17 piece. The panels with simple geometrical
arrangements, but in addition detached ornamented columns, carrying
arches. |
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