Building Survey Report
Building Survey Report SCCAS Report No 2005/67 OASIS ID Suffolk c1-8182
St. Lawrence Church, Lackford Planning Application SE/05/1221/P
Introduction A sketch record was made of the east gable wall of the nave of St Lawrence’s Church, Lackford as part of the archaeological monitoring of the roof repairs. The monitoring was a condition of the consent on planning application SE/05/1221/P and followed an outline recording brief by R.D. Carr of Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, Conservation Division. The new roof is to be constructed over the top of existing timbers so the inside of the building will remain unchanged. The work will include some rebuilding of the gable wall but will affect only the Victorian phase and would have no impact on the medieval fabric or affect future interpretation or analysis of the building. The monitoring was commissioned by architect Mr D. Mizon of The Whitworth Co-partnership, on behalf of the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and funded by English Heritage. The church of St Lawrence stands at TL 7907 7028. It is now slightly isolated c.0.5km to the east of the village (Fig.1) but there is evidence of previous settlement to the south and west (LKD 025). The parish of Lackford is under the Thingoe deanery and part of the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The building is chiefly early 14th century, but underwent extensive alteration and repair during the late 19th century, which included the nave and chancel roofs.
St Lawrence, Church
Figure 1 Site location plan
Results The church elevation drawings supplied by the architect were annotated by outlining and describing the changes of build. These are reproduced in Figures 2 and 3 and discussed below. Detailed photographs were taken of the nave gable wall affected by the repairs using black and white 1
re-used limestone including some decorative mouldings
top of the window truncated by eaves line
Figure 2. South Elevation print, and colour transparency film.
limestone blocks apparent lower roof line
re-pointed face
Victorian build
The gable wall at the east end of the nave extends above the line of the roof forming a low parapet which is capped with limestone (Fig. 3). At eaves level and at mid slope there are limestone blocks, which both key the parapet into the flintwork and form a decorative detail. The capping stones and blocks are supported on ‘white’ bricks, which date to the late 19th century. Below this, is what appears to be a lower roofline, paralleling the present pitch, which at the apex is 1.30m below the existing peak. On the northern side of the roof the ‘lower roofline’ is clearly visible as the first course of the later build has been completed in fragments of limestone salvaged from elsewhere, either from this or another building.
Figure 3 East elevation
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On the south elevation the top of the wall has been rebuilt, or raised, and the line of the change of build can be seen just above the nave windows (Fig 2). The rebuilt section includes the setting or re-setting of the top two stones of the quoins on the south-east corner and the division could be traced along the entire visible length of the wall. It probably continued west of the porch but this was shrouded behind the scaffold shuttering and could not be seen. At the eastern end of the nave the rebuilt section includes a high proportion of salvaged dressed limestone, including some with a simple rolled edge moulding. Curiously, many of the blocks have been criss-crossed with incised lines, which have then been infilled with a cement-based mortar. This is superficial; an architectural caprice that gives the impression that each of the blocks has been reassembled from broken fragments. This treatment of the limestone is also a feature of the gable wall heightening. The level of the change of build approximately coincides with the build change on the gable wall suggesting that all of the nave walls were rebuilt or raised, probably in advance of the new roof at the end of the 19th century. The current works had exposed some of the core at the top of the gable end wall. The core is composed, in the main, of mortared flint rubble but includes quite a quantity of limestone fragments and some brick. The contractors extracted two carved heads from the core material and the style of the figures dates them to the medieval period, probably to the 13th century. (Fig 4)
Figure 4 Carved heads extracted from the core of the nave east wall
Discussion The current round of repairs to the roof have impacted only on the Victorian phases of build which are thought to date to 1869 when the church underwent extensive restoration. The evidence of a lower gable and eaves height suggests that the nave walls were raised when the building was re-roofed at this time. A notable quantity of re-used dressed limestone blocks was present in both the core and the face of the nave wall where it had been raised. The frequent use of recovered stone within the additions and later phases of build suggest that the builders had a ready supply and this may have been released by the demolition of parts of the church during the extensive repairs at the end of the 19th century. The chancel arch was rebuilt at this time, and the carved heads recovered from 3
the wall core may have come from the earlier arch. This possible 13th century date for the prerestoration chancel could make it contemporary with a putative central tower; implied by the increased thickness of the nave south wall at the east end and the opposing arcade pier (Mortlock 1988), which must pre-date the existing 14th century tower. The collapse or demolition of the earlier tower would have released stone blocks and it is interesting to note that the east wall of the porch, which is also broadly contemporary with the replacement west tower, is constructed entirely of reclaimed stone. This suggests that a possible tower collapse may have sparked an extensive round of remodelling at this time. D. Gill
References Mortlock, D.P., 1988, The popular Guide to Suffolk Churches, Acorn editions, Cambridge.
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St. Lawrence Church, Lackford Planning Application SE/05/1221/P
Introduction A sketch record was made of the east gable wall of the nave of St Lawrence’s Church, Lackford as part of the archaeological monitoring of the roof repairs. The monitoring was a condition of the consent on planning application SE/05/1221/P and followed an outline recording brief by R.D. Carr of Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service, Conservation Division. The new roof is to be constructed over the top of existing timbers so the inside of the building will remain unchanged. The work will include some rebuilding of the gable wall but will affect only the Victorian phase and would have no impact on the medieval fabric or affect future interpretation or analysis of the building. The monitoring was commissioned by architect Mr D. Mizon of The Whitworth Co-partnership, on behalf of the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and funded by English Heritage. The church of St Lawrence stands at TL 7907 7028. It is now slightly isolated c.0.5km to the east of the village (Fig.1) but there is evidence of previous settlement to the south and west (LKD 025). The parish of Lackford is under the Thingoe deanery and part of the diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. The building is chiefly early 14th century, but underwent extensive alteration and repair during the late 19th century, which included the nave and chancel roofs.
St Lawrence, Church
Figure 1 Site location plan
Results The church elevation drawings supplied by the architect were annotated by outlining and describing the changes of build. These are reproduced in Figures 2 and 3 and discussed below. Detailed photographs were taken of the nave gable wall affected by the repairs using black and white 1
re-used limestone including some decorative mouldings
top of the window truncated by eaves line
Figure 2. South Elevation print, and colour transparency film.
limestone blocks apparent lower roof line
re-pointed face
Victorian build
The gable wall at the east end of the nave extends above the line of the roof forming a low parapet which is capped with limestone (Fig. 3). At eaves level and at mid slope there are limestone blocks, which both key the parapet into the flintwork and form a decorative detail. The capping stones and blocks are supported on ‘white’ bricks, which date to the late 19th century. Below this, is what appears to be a lower roofline, paralleling the present pitch, which at the apex is 1.30m below the existing peak. On the northern side of the roof the ‘lower roofline’ is clearly visible as the first course of the later build has been completed in fragments of limestone salvaged from elsewhere, either from this or another building.
Figure 3 East elevation
2
On the south elevation the top of the wall has been rebuilt, or raised, and the line of the change of build can be seen just above the nave windows (Fig 2). The rebuilt section includes the setting or re-setting of the top two stones of the quoins on the south-east corner and the division could be traced along the entire visible length of the wall. It probably continued west of the porch but this was shrouded behind the scaffold shuttering and could not be seen. At the eastern end of the nave the rebuilt section includes a high proportion of salvaged dressed limestone, including some with a simple rolled edge moulding. Curiously, many of the blocks have been criss-crossed with incised lines, which have then been infilled with a cement-based mortar. This is superficial; an architectural caprice that gives the impression that each of the blocks has been reassembled from broken fragments. This treatment of the limestone is also a feature of the gable wall heightening. The level of the change of build approximately coincides with the build change on the gable wall suggesting that all of the nave walls were rebuilt or raised, probably in advance of the new roof at the end of the 19th century. The current works had exposed some of the core at the top of the gable end wall. The core is composed, in the main, of mortared flint rubble but includes quite a quantity of limestone fragments and some brick. The contractors extracted two carved heads from the core material and the style of the figures dates them to the medieval period, probably to the 13th century. (Fig 4)
Figure 4 Carved heads extracted from the core of the nave east wall
Discussion The current round of repairs to the roof have impacted only on the Victorian phases of build which are thought to date to 1869 when the church underwent extensive restoration. The evidence of a lower gable and eaves height suggests that the nave walls were raised when the building was re-roofed at this time. A notable quantity of re-used dressed limestone blocks was present in both the core and the face of the nave wall where it had been raised. The frequent use of recovered stone within the additions and later phases of build suggest that the builders had a ready supply and this may have been released by the demolition of parts of the church during the extensive repairs at the end of the 19th century. The chancel arch was rebuilt at this time, and the carved heads recovered from 3
the wall core may have come from the earlier arch. This possible 13th century date for the prerestoration chancel could make it contemporary with a putative central tower; implied by the increased thickness of the nave south wall at the east end and the opposing arcade pier (Mortlock 1988), which must pre-date the existing 14th century tower. The collapse or demolition of the earlier tower would have released stone blocks and it is interesting to note that the east wall of the porch, which is also broadly contemporary with the replacement west tower, is constructed entirely of reclaimed stone. This suggests that a possible tower collapse may have sparked an extensive round of remodelling at this time. D. Gill
References Mortlock, D.P., 1988, The popular Guide to Suffolk Churches, Acorn editions, Cambridge.
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