Nominal: 725 Hz Weight: 1553 lbs Diameter: 43.38" Bell 1 of 5
Founded by Richard I Brasyer
Dove Bell ID: 3575 Tower ID: 13091 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Ipswich: St Lawrence
Overview
Grid reference: TM 164 446
Close at hand, the impact of the tower is rather slight because the streets are so narrow that no overall view is possible. It seems that this has always been the case, for there is a marked difference in decoration about two-thirds of the way up, the upper part being extravagantly decorated with flushwork and crowned by an elaborate parapet while the lower stages are comparatively plain.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower (97 feet high); four-bay aisleless nave, chancel with north organ chamber.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was begun with the money of John Bottold who died in 1431; the chancel was built with the money of John Baldwin who died in 1449. The west tower was rebuilt with considerable panache by Frederick Barnes and Howard Gaye in 1881 (illustrated in The Building News of 29th December, 1882).
Exterior Description
Close at hand, the impact of the tower is rather slight because the streets are so narrow that no overall view is possible. It seems that this has always been the case, for there is a marked difference in decoration about two-thirds of the way up, the upper part being extravagantly decorated with flushwork and crowned by an elaborate parapet while the lower stages are comparatively plain. The ground stage of the tower is divided horizontally externally by a stringcourse which curves over the big three-light west window to form a hood-mould.
The west door and the north door survive, both with panels having richly cusped and crocketted ogee heads. The south doorway is blocked with a stone wall. The doorway on the west is transitional between Decorated (in being two-centred) and Perpendicular (in having a square dripstone above). The dripstone is in fact a section of a string-course while the uprights beneath it are in the form of small pinnacles supported on half-round columns. Below the stringcourse the wall each side of the doorway is ornamented with stone and flint chequerwork.
Compared with the elaborate decoration of the tower, the rest of the church seems restrained, although there is evidence that there was at one time more decoration to the exterior than survives now. The bays of the south wall are divided by buttresses which have a set-off at the level of a plinth which forms the base of the wall, and then three more set-offs before dying into the wall at the eaves. At least two buttresses have remains of statue niches near the top. The band of quatrefoils which was noticed on the tower runs along below the windows and has been renewed in places.
The majority of each bay above this is taken up with a large three-light window of Perpendicular design with embattled transoms to the main lights and panel tracery. At the level of the springing of the arches which enclose the windows, the wall is faced with brick up to the eaves, apparently eighteenth-century work. The west bay has suffered from structural defects and was entirely rebuilt in brick, when the window was given wooden tracery of a simple intersecting pattern quite out of keeping with the rest of the church.
The east wall of the nave suggests that the chancel (which is earlier in date) was to have been replaced or at least altered, for the corner of the nave has an angle buttress on the east face leaving a narrow gap between itself and the chancel wall which cannot have been intended.
The south chancel wall, with two windows of three lights of earlier design than those in the nave, is a composite surface of many periods. It has originally been faced with flint, but at several later times, brick infilling of various qualities has been introduced, until now the wall is a strange amalgam of dates and materials.
The east wall has a big five-light window of entirely nineteenth century form in an unharmonious brown stone. Each side of it is a row of panels, some in flushwork and some in relief.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
c.1855
The east window is signed by Charles Gibbs.
Stained Glass
1878
South chancel I: mostly grisaille with the figure of St. Lawrence in a panel of the middle light and various symbols in circles around.
Stained Glass
South chancel II: the three lights form one scene of the Maries at the Sepulchre.
Interior
Interior Description
The nave is long and tall, with few architectural features. Grisaille in all the windows casts a uniform light.
The roof is of single arch-braced construction resting on heavily carved stone corbels of nineteenth-century date each with foliage and a shield bearing a symbol.
The arch appears to be entirely nineteenth-century, the inner order supported on attached shafts while the outer mouldings continue to the floor.
The chancel is low, and full of choirstalls. The east window is within a moulded arch (all the others being within plain reveals) and has bright glass of c. 1855.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
17th Century
The Altar Table is seventeenth-century with turned legs.
Organ (object)
The Organ was rebuilt by F. Norden of Ipswich in 1953.
Pulpit
Late 19th Century
The Pulpit is of stone painted grey, octagonal with heavy foliage over a niche at the front which contains an angel. There are marble colonettes below this. Late nineteenth-century in date.
Lectern
The Lectern is a stock Jones and Willis brass pattern.
Bells
Nominal: 1080 Hz Weight: 520 lbs Diameter: 29.5" Bell 2 of 5
Founded by Reginald Church
Dove Bell ID: 26167 Tower ID: 13091 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 984 Hz Weight: 790 lbs Diameter: 33.25" Bell 3 of 5
Founded by William Chamberlain
Dove Bell ID: 26168 Tower ID: 13091 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 911 Hz Weight: 900 lbs Diameter: 35.25" Bell 4 of 5
Founded by Richard I Brasyer
Dove Bell ID: 26169 Tower ID: 13091 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 814 Hz Weight: 1183 lbs Diameter: 39.25" Bell 5 of 5
Founded by Richard I Brasyer
Dove Bell ID: 26170 Tower ID: 13091 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: TM 164 446
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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