Landmark · St Lawrence
St Lawrence Parish Church
A parish church set on a hill, its chancel and the north chapel largely fifteenth-century work, its nave probably twelfth or early thirteenth.
- Parish
- St Lawrence
- Type
- Landmark
- Rarity
- Common
- Tide
- Not tidal
The story
A parish church set on a hill, its chancel and the north chapel largely fifteenth-century work, its nave probably twelfth or early thirteenth. The Hamptonne Chapel on the north side was built in 1524 by Sire Louis Hamptonne, Vice-Dean and Rector, and carries the only groined vault in any Jersey church. During the restoration of 1888-92 a piece of granite column with a carved capital was found standing upright beneath the floor of the nave, inscribed in three lines: Ute, priest of Ritton — lettering of the late ninth or early tenth century, reused as a gravestone. Ritton has never been identified. The road up to the church approximately follows the old perquage, the sanctuary path along which those who claimed refuge were escorted to the sea and banished.
