| Name: | St Lawrence (n/a) | CISP No: | STLAW |
| Place: | St Lawrence (n/a) | Grid Ref: | 62620.0 51890.0 (CH)
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| Parish: | St Lawrence (n/a) | Stones: | 1 |
| County: | Jersey , Channel Islands | Saint(s): | Lawrence |
| Site Type: | ecclesiastical |
Davies et al/2000, 305, `The parish church of St Lawrence is on the ridge between the St Lawrence and the Waterworks valleys in central Jersey, 80m above sea level, and is just under 2km from St Aubin bay, to the south. It occupies a prominent position in the small village that bears its name, near the top of a south-facing slope, amid good quality mixed farmland. The local bedrock is Brioverian shale.
In 1198 a church at St Lawrence was given by King John of England and Normandy to the abbey of Blanchelande in Normandy (CIN no. 279, cf. 280). Excavation has revealed at least one long cist-grave at the site, radio-carbon dated to the 11th to 13th centuries. The present nave, beneath which the column [STLAW/1] was found, is of 14th-century date. Other parts of the church date to the 15th and 16th centuries and extensive renovation took place in the later 19th century.
There are a number of cross-incised stones built into the present church walls, including a small, incised croix pattée in a recess to the south of the west door, and a number of cross-marked slabs, perhaps of early medieval date, in the outer north-western and western walls. These certainly suggest a pre-14th-century religious site and probably one of considerably greater antiquity, particularly in view of the fact that it was comital property in the 12th century. The column has in the past been used to argue for an early medieval date for the site but there is no conclusive evidence of this'.