St Lawrence, Stratford sub Castle
St Lawrence, Stratford sub Castle
St Lawrence's on Stratford Road, Stratford sub Castle, north of Salisbury, is a Grade I parish church in the Diocese of Salisbury, standing below Old Sarum beside the River Avon.
- Location
- Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Wiltshire
- City / town
- Stratford sub Castle
- Address
- Stratford Road, Stratford sub Castle, Wiltshire, SP1 3LL
- Postcode
- SP1 3LL
- Built
- Early 13th-century chancel; 15th-century nave; tower rebuilt 1711
- Consecrated
- 1326 (recorded consecration)
- Architect
- Thomas Pitt (1711 tower rebuild)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Lawrence
- Diocese
- Salisbury
- Parish
- Stratford sub Castle St Lawrence
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Medieval with Georgian fittings
- Materials
- Chequer stone and flint
- Grid reference
- SU 130 326
- Opening hours
- Open daily; registered with the Small Pilgrim Places Network.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England lists an early thirteenth-century chancel with a consecration recorded for 1326, a Perpendicular nave, and a tower rebuilt in 1711 by Thomas Pitt. The fabric is chequer stone and flint. The nave has a sixteenth-century wagon roof supported by demi-angels and bosses; the chancel also has a wagon roof and a Perpendicular east window. Fittings of about 1711 include a reredos with an open segmental pediment and foliage carving, altar rails with turned balusters, a round-arched screen, and chancel panelling and stalls. There is a Jacobean pulpit with a fine tester and an hour-glass dated 1651, a west gallery of about 1800, an octagonal twelfth-century Purbeck font, elaborate Royal Arms of 1713, and eighteenth-century pews.
Wikipedia notes that the building may incorporate masonry from Old Sarum Cathedral, including two stones with Norman lozenge decoration, and that although technically a chapelry of St Martin's until at least 1701 it was regarded as a parish church from 1394 or earlier. The church is open daily and is registered with the Small Pilgrim Places Network.