Parish Church of St Lawrence

Heritage listing

Details TL 3027 ARDELEY ARDELEY (south side) 9/12 Parish Church of St Lawrence (C of E) 22.2.67 GV I Parish church. Nave C13 or earlier; chancel and N aisle early C13; early C14 S aisle, chancel arch, and W tower; C15 clerestorey and angel roofs to nave and aisles; N porch donated 1508; C19 N vestry and half-timbered S porch. Chancel restored 1864 by Butterfield; general restoration 1880-84. Flint rubble with stone dressings and remains of external render. C18 red brick buttresses with tumbled brickwork, stone bases and stone offsets to S aisle and chancel (rendered). Steep old red tile roofs to chancel and porches, roofs of nave and aisles concealed by embattled parapets. Similar parapet to unbuttressed tower with Hertfordshire spike. A picturesque village church with nave, N and S aisles, chancel, W tower, N and S porches, and lean-to flint vestry. A polygonal turret at the NE of the nave contains the rood stair. Chancel with C13 lancet in N and S walls (reset), piscina on S and tomb-recess on N both with shafted jambs and dog-tooth ornament. E window renewed 1858 flanked by niches said to have been found in 1849 and restored 1864 by Butterfield from record drawings (Harbord (1952) 9). Behind C20 reredos scratch-moulded panelling painted with luxurient vegetation and flowers on a green ground in the style of Wm Morris. Simple C19 collar-rafter roof after Brandon with sloping ashlars and all members chamfered and simple trefoil cusping over altar. Brasses on S wall Philip Metcalffe 1515 vicar; on S jamb of C14 chancel arch of 2 chamfered orders Thomas Shotbolt with wife and children 1599; on N wall Wyndham Malet 1885 vicar; next pulpit lower part of female figure and inscription to John Clerk and wife c1430. Cut-down screen with 4 painted saints, restored in 1884 (Kell

From the Historic England List Entry under OGL v3.