St Lawrence's Church is a

redundant Redundancy or redundant may refer to: Language * Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once Engineering and computer science * Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Snarford,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. The church stands to the north of the

A46 road The A46 is a major A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway developme ...

between

Market Rasen Market Rasen ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The River Rase runs through it east to west, approximately north-east from Lincoln, England, Lincoln, eas ...

and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

. It is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

building containing impressive 16th- and 17th-century monuments.

History

The church dates from the 12th century, with additions and alterations in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, and a restoration in the 19th century. It served the residents of the nearby Snarford Hall, including the St Paul (or St Pol) family, but nothing now remains of the hall. The church was declared redundant in July 1995.

Architecture

Exterior

St Lawrence's church is constructed in

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with tiled roofs. Its plan consists of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

with a north chapel, and a west tower. The tower dates from the 12th century. It has one stage, stands on a

plinth A pedestal or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

, and has a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

. In the west wall of the tower is a 15th-century window, with a 14th-century

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

-headed window above it. The north wall of the nave contains a blocked 14th-century doorway with a pointed arch, and two 15th-century two-light windows. The chapel has a 16th-century two-light west window, and an east window dating from about 1800. The chancel contains more two-light windows, one at the east end, and two in the south wall, and there are two similar windows in the south wall of the nave. The south doorway dates from the 15th century.

Interior

The tower arch dates from the 14th century and the chancel arch from the 15th century. The octagonal

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

is from the 15th century; its bowl has panels carved with heads, shields and foliage. The remainder of the fittings are from the 19th century.

Monuments

The most important monuments are in the chancel and the chapel. Behind the altar is the free-standing tomb chest of Sir Thomas St. Pol, who died in 1588, and his wife. On the sides of the chest are

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s decorated with

acanthus leaves The acanthus () is one of the most common plant forms to make foliage ornament and decoration in the architectural tradition emanating from Greece and Rome. Architecture In architecture, an ornament may be carved into stone or wood to resemble ...

, and the panels between them contain shields with wreaths. On top of the chest are

effigies An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

of a man and a woman. The man is dressed in

plate armour Plate armour is a historical type of personal body armour made from bronze, iron, or steel plates, culminating in the iconic suit of armour entirely encasing the wearer. Full plate steel armour developed in Europe during the Late Middle Ages, es ...

and is holding a sword and a prayer book. His head rests on a helmet, his feet on a cushion. The woman is wearing a long dress, a cloak and a hat, and is holding a Bible. Above them is a

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

carried by six pillars. The

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

is decorated with an egg and dart

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

. On the top of the canopy, above each pillar, is the statue of a weeping figure. In the centre is an altar, in front of which is a kneeling female figure, and on the top is a male figure, also kneeling. The whole monument is painted and

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

. On the north side of the chapel is the tomb of Sir George St. Pol, who died in 1613, and his wife. On the side of the tomb are three niches. The central niche contains a carving of Sir George's daughter, and the lateral niches have mourning

putti A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and very often winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University ...

. On the tomb are two recumbent effigies, each lying on their right side, propped on an elbow. The nearer effigy is a female in mourning dress with a

ruff Ruff may refer to: Places *Ruff, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community *Ruff, Washington, United States, an unincorporated community Other uses *Ruff (bird) (''Calidris pugnax'' or ''Philomachus pugnax''), a bird in the wader famil ...

and a hat, holding a prayer book. Behind in a higher position on a step is a male figure in plate armour, holding a sword. The effigies are contained in a semicircular-headed recess, the

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental Molding (decorative), moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, ...

of which is decorated with roses. The back wall has an inscribed panel surrounded by scrolls and

memento mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die")

. At the sides are pillars supporting a frieze and an entablature. On top of the monument are flaming urns, an achievement of arms, shields and

obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...

s. In the north wall of the chapel is an

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

painted and gilded plaque to

Robert Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick Robert Rich, 3rd Baron Rich, 1st Earl of Warwick (December 1559 – 24 March 1619), was an English nobleman, known as Baron Rich between 1581 and 1618, when he was created Earl of Warwick. He was the first husband of Penelope Devereux, Lady Ric ...

who died in 1619. It contains a circular medallion carved with the head and shoulders of the deceased, behind which is the profile of his wife. On each side are pilasters, and above is an entablature carrying a coat of arms and

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

supporters. Underneath is a panel inscribed with a poem. This memorial is thought to have been made by

Epiphanius Evesham Epiphanius Evesham (fl. 1570 – c. 1623) was a British sculpture, sculptor. He was born in Wellington, Herefordshire, a twin, and the youngest of fourteen siblings. His parents were William Evesham of Burghope Hall and his wife, Jane Haworthe, ...

. Elsewhere, on the east wall of the chapel and the south wall of the chancel, are brass memorial plaques.

References

External links

Contains photographs of the tower and the memorials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snarford, St Lawrence's Church Grade I listed churches in Lincolnshire Church of England church buildings in Lincolnshire English Gothic architecture in Lincolnshire Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust