St Lawrence is a village on the south (English Channel) coast of the Isle of Wight, in southern England. It is located to the west of Ventnor, in the Undercliff, which is subject to landslips. The Undercliff lies between the original high cliff and the sea, formed over thousands of years, since the last Ice Age, from accumulated landslips. Several rocky coves can be accessed from the coastal path, which affords fine views of some prominent Victorian villas, set in a wooded landscape below the great rock wall of the original sea cliff: Woody Bay, Mount Bay and Orchard Bay. The area of the village is around in size. History St. Lawrence is much older than Ventnor dating back to at least the Middle Ages. The Old Church of St. Lawrence dates from the 12th century. When first built it was only 20 feet long and 12 feet wide, considered at the time to be the smallest church in England. In 1842 it was lengthened by the addition of a ten-foot chancel. Although there are undoubtedly smaller chapels including the tiny church at Les Vauxbelets on Guernsey, this arguably remains the smallest to be built as a parish church — although this role has long since been supplanted by a larger, Victorian church in the village. The old church has a 15th-century baptismal font - a stoup that is about 500 years old and a series of 18th-century hat pegs. The piscina niche is almost the same age as the church. The church was refurbished in 1926–7. A larger church, St Lawrence's Church, St Lawrence, is situated away from the Old Church dates from the 19th century. It also has a 17th-century altar and a chest that dates from 1612. In the 1870s the village was described in the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales as consisting of "ivy mantled thatched cottages, with orchards" with many Juniper trees nearby. During World War II the village was home to RAF St Lawrence. Originally a temporary base for RAF Ventnor and RAF Thorney Island, by 1942 it was a fully active radar base in its own right. The base had two masts approximately 200 yards apart. The base ceased operations in 1947 and in 1994 a memorial plaque was placed at the site. William Spindler St Lawrence was in the nineteenth century the subject of an ambitious plan by a German developer