{{Short description|Village in Northamptonshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}} {{Use British English|date=March 2014}} {{Infobox UK place |static_image_name= Marston St Lawrence (Nhants) St Lawrence's church - geograph.org.uk - 69023.jpg |static_image_caption= St Lawrence's parish church |official_name= Marston St. Lawrence |coordinates = {{coord|52.079|-1.218|display=inline,title}} |os_grid_reference= SP5342 |population= 202 |population_ref= (2011 Census) |civil_parish= Marston St. Lawrence |unitary_england= West Northamptonshire |lieutenancy_england= Northamptonshire |region= East Midlands |country= England |post_town= Banbury |postcode_district= OX17 |postcode_area= OX |dial_code= 01295 |constituency_westminster= South Northamptonshire |website= }}
'''Marston St. Lawrence''' is a village and civil parish about {{convert|4|mi}} northwest of Brackley in Northamptonshire. A stream flows through the village and another forms the southern boundary of the parish. The two merge as Farthinghoe Stream, a tributary of the Great Ouse. The 2001 Census recorded the parish population as 209,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790474 |title=Parish Headcounts. Area selected: South Northamptonshire (Non-Metropolitan District) |work=Neighbourhood Statistics |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=10 February 2015 |archive-date=21 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921221701/http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=4&containerAreaId=790474 |url-status=dead }}</ref> decreasing slightly to 202 at the 2011 Census.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11126372&c=Marston+St+Lawrence&d=16&e=62&g=6452468&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1467882810858&enc=1|title=Civil Parish population 2011|access-date=7 July 2016|publisher=Office for National Statistics|work=Neighbourhood Statistics}}</ref>
The villages name means 'marsh farm/settlement'.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Northamptonshire/Marston%20St.%20Lawrence | title=Key to English Place-names }}</ref>
==Archaeology== A Palaeolithic hand axe has been found southwest of the village. Late Neolithic or Bronze Age finds in the parish include stone scrapers, 27 flint arrowheads, three stone axes and fragments of three polished hand-axes. A Bronze Age hoard of weapons was found in Thenford Hill Farm near the village in the nineteenth century that is now in the collections of the British Museum.<ref>[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?place=25300&plaA=25300-3-2 British Museum Collection]</ref> Traces of an Iron Age and Roman-era settlement south of the village have been found. Artefacts recovered include fragments of possibly Iron Age pottery, Roman tiles and pottery, and five second- or third-century urns, including one containing bones. Traces of other Roman-era settlements have been found in other parts of the parish.{{sfn|RCHME|1982|pp=98–101}}
A Saxon cemetery {{convert|1|mi}} north of the village was found in the 1840s. One skeleton was found in 1842, leading to an excavation in 1843 that found 32 skeletons of humans and one of a horse. There were also four urns, three of which contained cremations. Artefacts found include six pairs of saucer brooches, one large brooch and a bronze clasp. The cemetery has been tentatively dated to the sixth century AD.{{sfn|RCHME|1982|pp=98–101}}
==Parish church== {{main|St Lawrence's Church, Marston St Lawrence}} [[File:St Lawrence Church, Marston St Lawrence, Northamptonshire - Screen - geograph.org.uk - 827612.jpg|thumb|left|Jacobean screen to St Lawrence's tower, made about 1610]] The Church of England parish church of St. Lawrence is a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1371489 |desc=Church of St Lawrence |grade=I |access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref> Much of the building is Decorated Gothic, including the chancel arch and the arcades to both the north and south aisles.<ref name=Pevsner302>{{harvnb|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=302.}}</ref> The north arcade is of four bays and was built in the 13th century.<ref name=Pevsner302/> The Perpendicular Gothic east window of the chancel was added in the second half of the 14th century.<ref name=Pevsner302/> One of the aisles was also rebuilt in Perpendicular Gothic, and the bell tower was added late in the Perpendicular period<ref name=Pevsner302/> (15th or early 16th century). There are two carved wooden screens: a Perpendicular one to the north chapel and a very well-carved Jacobean one of about 1610 to the tower.<ref name=Pevsner302/>
The tower has a ring of five bells. William Rufford of Toddington, Bedfordshire cast the second and third bells in about 1399. Ellis I Knight of Reading, Berkshire cast the treble and fourth bells in 1627. Henry I Bagley of Chacombe cast the tenor bell in 1639.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Marston+St.+Lawrence&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=MARSTON+SL |title=Marston St Lawrence S Lawrence |last=Dawson |first=George |date=11 December 2006 |work=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers |publisher=Central Council for Church Bell Ringers |access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref>
The parish is a member of the Chenderit Benefice, which includes the parishes of Chacombe, Greatworth, Middleton Cheney, Thenford and Warkworth.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=28/039BP |title=Benefice of Chenderit |work=A Church Near You |author=Archbishops' Council |author-link=Archbishops' Council |publisher=Church of England |year=2015 |access-date=10 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209165130/http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=28%2F039BP |archive-date=9 February 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
==Marston House== The origins of the house are either Elizabethan or Jacobean, and one wing includes a panelled room that includes a richly carved overmantel bearing the date 1611.{{sfn|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=303}} But the house was completely rebuilt between 1700 and 1730,{{sfn|Pevsner|Cherry|1973|p=303}} making the present building either Queen Anne or early Georgian. It is a Grade II* listed building.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1371491 |desc=Marston House |grade=II* |access-date=10 February 2015}}</ref>
==Notable people== Sir John Blencowe and his wife Anne Blencowe lived and were buried here. John was a barrister and Anne was noted for gathering recipes.<ref name=odnb>Joan Thirsk, ‘Blencowe, Anne, Lady Blencowe (1656–1718)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oct 2005; online edn, Jan 2007 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41326, accessed 16 Nov 2016]</ref> The labouring-class poet Mary Leapor (1722–46) was born in Marston St Lawrence.<ref name=mary>Stuart Gillespie, ‘Leapor, Mary (1722–1746)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16246, accessed 16 Nov 2016]</ref>
Marston St. Lawrence Cricket Club<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mslcc.co.uk/ |title=Marston St. Lawrence Cricket Club |access-date=18 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510102953/http://www.mslcc.co.uk/ |archive-date=10 May 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> plays in the South Northants Cricket League.<ref>[http://www.snclcricket.co.uk/ South Northants Cricket League]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *{{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |author-link1=Nikolaus Pevsner |last2=Cherry |first2=Bridget |orig-year=1961 |year=1973 |title=Northamptonshire |series=The Buildings of England |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-071022-1 |pages=302–303 }} *{{cite book |editor=RCHME |editor-link=Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England |year=1982 |title=An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire |volume=4, Archaeological Sites in South-West Northamptonshire |place=London |publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office |pages=98–101 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northants/vol4/pp98-101 }}
==External links== *{{commons category inline|Marston St Lawrence}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Civil parishes in Northamptonshire Category:Villages in Northamptonshire Category:West Northamptonshire District