Church Heritage Record 643194

5-bay aisled nave with transepts and 2-bay chancel, north-west tower with porch and sacristy at ground floor, north vestry and south chapel. 

Nave 32m (100ft) by 10m (34ft).

The area of the parish of St Lawrence is recorded as a farm belonging to the Minster (which retained jurisdiction until the creation of the large parish for the Victorian church) in the 8th century. Roman remains were occasionally turned up at the site during construction work, including an altar which is stood next to the old tower along with a jumble of fragments of medieval masonry and tracery.  This is not mentioned in the PM report or the listing description and may not have been recognised for what it is.  There have also been archaeological finds dating to the Anglo-Scandinavian, medieval and post-medieval period in the immediate area.

The old church was built by the 12th century, as the south doorway, reset in the old tower, reveals. It was much simpler and smaller, with a small square chancel, squat nave, and west tower, the window tracery apparently of c 1300, at which time the entire church was probably rebuilt. There were further repairs after damage incurred during the siege in the Civil War. The old tower and the churchyard therefore comprise an important archaeological resource.

The present church was built in 1881-93 to replace the medieval church to the north of it, of which as already noted only the tower now remains. The architect was J G Hall of Canterbury, which perhaps explains the choice of building materials.  His other commissions seem to have been in and around Canterbury.

This is a  major Victorian town church, the largest church in York with the exception of the Minster.  Even the old church was sometimes referred to as the “Minster Without-the-Walls”, despite the fact that it was considerably smaller than the present church.  The architectural style chosen is Transitional executed with consistency and attention to detail, with much use of tall pointed lancets.  This combined with the grey sooty hue the ragstone has acquired over the years gives the church quite a stern appearance. 

The south-west tower with its tall thin spire (the end of the apex is missing) affords more vertical emphasis to an already very tall church.  It is of four stages defined by plain string-courses, with diagonal buttresses to full height and also of four weatherings. The bottom stage has pairs of very tall and narrow pointed lancets in the east and west faces, within recessed arches carried by colonettes with bulbous capitals and annulets. The windows are separated by a buttress of three weatherings

The north face has two pointed doorways of three orders, with a filleted hood-mould to block stops, again separated by a buttress of three weatherings. The two stages above are quite bare of decoration apart from small rectangular openings in the lower of the two.  The belfry has paired louvred lancets within recessed double-chamfered heads, with a square central pier with imposts.  There is a clock face in an architectural set into the base of the spire on the south side.

The nave west front has a steeply-pitched gable with a tall stepped triple lancet window, details as the bottom stage of the tower except the stops are foliate.  There is a small lancet high in the gable with a hood-mould, again to block stops. There is a small west doorway with a 4-centred head. The west wall of the south aisle is pierced by a two-light window mirroring the tower windows.

The aisles have buttresses of two weatherings, framing triple lancets with the exception of the western bay which has paired lancets, all with simple hood-moulds over. The south aisle has a doorway in the east bay, with a double hollow-chamfered pointed head, two small lancets above, and flanked by full-length lancets, breaking the rhythm. The narrow clearstorey has a row of 16 closely-spaced short single lancets, each with its own hood-mould with block stops.

The transepts have windows in the style of the tower bottom stage, but with triple rather than paired lancets with filleted shafts and floriate stops to the hood-moulds. A string course under the windows is likewise filleted. They each have a doorway in the outer wall in the same style as the south doorway, and two paired lancets in the side walls as a continuation of the nave and chancel clearstories.

The short polygonal chancel has a lancet window in the east wall and flanking canted faces, between  buttresses of two weatherings.  There are kneelers, coping stones and simple stone crosses to all gables, wheel cross to the chancel gable.

The interior has suffered from an ill-advised restoration perhaps 30 years ago, and now looks rather dilapidated and dull, though the potential of this lofty space is clear.  The walls were covered throughout with an emulsion paint which is now flaking and blistering in many places.  The dark green Victorian colour scheme can be glimpsed in places, and one wonders if there was ever decoration in the chancel.

The last bay at the west end is partitioned off by a plain wooden screen, and to the east of this half the width of the nave is similarly screened off to provide a small display area.  Beyond the screen to the west is a baptistery with the medieval font.

The aisle arcades of five bays are carried by quatrefoil piers with annulets, the capitals carved with stiff-leaf foliage, carrying pointed arches with continuous mouldings and hood-moulds (the arches to the transepts treated the same).   The hood-moulds spring from carved figures of angles and saints, including St Lawrence, brightly and incorrectly painted and typical of the rather DIY approach taken during the 1970’s redecoration of the interior.  The responds are square in section.

The arch-braced nave roof is carried on stone corbels with shafts taken down almost to the heads of the saints described above with carved stiff-leaf to the capitals and waterleaf to the terminals.  There are also intermediate corbels between these, much simpler.

The large organ with its decorated pipes occupies the northern part of the crossing. The pulpit stands adjacent. The nave is still fully pewed, and the original choir stalls in the crossing are still there.

Looking east, the chancel arch is of two orders of continuous mouldings, the outer springing from slim engaged columns with annulets and capitals as in the nave, the inner from consoles with bulbous terminals, again richly carved.  The chancel side walls are pierced by paired arches, treated as the aisle arcades, giving access to the south chapel and north vestry, which are accessible for the transepts through plain rectangular doors.

The chancel roof is arch-braced and springs from slender engaged piers of the same type as the outer order of the chancel arch.  The floor has quarry tiles throughout, and carpets in the central aisle and chancel.