51°20′49″N2°15′14″W / 51.3470°N 2.2538°W /51.3470; -2.2538
St Laurence's Church,Bradford-on-Avon,Wiltshire, is one of very few survivingAnglo-Saxon churches in England that does not show later medieval alteration or rebuilding.
The church is dedicated toSt Laurence, and documentary sources suggest it may have been founded by SaintAldhelm around 700, although the architectural style suggests a 10th- or 11th-century date.[1] St Laurence's stands on rising ground close to the largerNorman parish church of theHoly Trinity.
The building was used as a combined school (nave) and cottage (chancel) for many years, both on more than one storey.[2] It was rediscovered in 1856 byWilliam Jones, rector of Holy Trinity, and restored between 1870 and 1880.[2][3] In 1952 the church was designated asGrade I listed.[4]
The date of the building has been much debated.H. M. Taylor stated in the 20th century that he believed the main fabric of the walls to their full height belonged to Aldhelm's time, after discussions with Dr Edward Gilbert.[citation needed] Most recent sources give a later date for all or most of the structure.[5] It has been suggested it was built after 1001, when KingÆthelred the Unready gave the site to the nuns ofShaftesbury Abbey, refugees from the Vikings.[6] They were the custodians of the body of KingEdward the Martyr, Æthelred's half-brother and already regarded as a saint, and it may have served as amortuary chapel for him for a period,[7] which might help explain why such a small but elaborate building was created.
It is the most complete Anglo-Saxon survival from this period, and follows what seems to have been a typical monastic plan at the time, though in miniature. In particular the decoration including fragments of large reliefs gives a hint of richness which documentary remains record in monastic churches.[6] Although the existing church seems all or almost all Anglo-Saxon, it has clearly been altered in a number of ways, apart from the modern restoration, which included removing the stairs inside and filling in windows. For its small size, with the nave only some 7.5 metres (25 ft) long and a little over 4 m (13 ft) wide, the height of the building (around 8 m (26 ft) inside the nave) is notable.[8] Aporticus to the south has been lost, but otherwise the structure of the building seems complete in its final Anglo-Saxon state.
The pair of angels flying horizontally, inrelief at about half life-size, probably flanked a large sculptural group of the Crucifixion, perhaps over thechancel arch.[9]
The arcading on the exterior walls is produced, not by incision (as thought by Jackson and Fletcher),[citation needed] but by setting the massive stonepilaster-strips forward from the wall-face. In this they are similar to St Andrew's Church,Great Dunham and the tower of St Mary's Church,Tasburgh, both in Norfolk, and also toAll Saints' Church, Earls Barton in Northamptonshire andSt Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire.
