St Lawrence Church | |
---|---|
51°41′38″N 1°41′26″W / 51.69387°N 1.69043°W | |
Location | Lechlade, Gloucestershire |
Country | England |
Denomination | Church of England |
Website | https://www.stlawrencelechlade.org.uk/ |
Architecture | |
Heritage designation | Grade I listed building |
Designated | 26 November 1958 |
Completed | 1476 |
Administration | |
Diocese | Diocese of Gloucester |
Archdeaconry | Cheltenham |
Deanery | Cirencester |
Benefice | South Cotswold Team Ministry |
Parish | Lechlade |
Clergy | |
Vicar(s) | Dr Andrew Cinnamond |
Laity | |
Organist/Director of music | Vacant |
Director of music | Rachel Bath |
Organist(s) | Vacant |
Churchwarden(s) | Richard Bell and Susan Holmes |
The Anglican St Lawrence Church, dedicated to St. Lawrence of Rome, is the Church of England parish church of Lechlade in Gloucestershire, England. The church building is Grade I listed [1] and is described with admiration in Simon Jenkins's England's Thousand Best Churches. [2]
The current church was built on the site of an earlier one and was completed in 1476. The roof and parts of the structure were replaced following a fire in the early 16th century. Various refurbishments have been undertaken since, including the installation of a gallery in 1740. Percy Bysshe Shelley composed a poem after visiting the churchyard in 1815.
The church is notable for its eight-sided spire above the tower. The internal fixtures and fittings include a brass chandelier, 13th-century piscina and carvings including the figure of the martyrdom of St Agatha.
A church is known inferentially to have existed in Lechlade since at least 1210 when a fair was granted on St. Lawrence's day. [3] It is known that this Church was one of the few in England that had the privilege of Sanctuary. [4]
The present wool church replaced an earlier structure in 1476. This was funded by local townspeople and the dissolution of the Lechlade Priory, which was dissolved due to a lack of funds and which also provided building materials to the new church. [5] The dedication of the church was originally to St Mary but changed in 1510 by Katherine of Aragon, who had come into possession of the manor of Lechlade in 1501. [6]
The nave roof and clerestory, the north porch, and the tower and spire may have been added in the early 16th century following a fire in 1510. [7] A west gallery for singers was installed in 1740 and there were further internal additions in the 1880s. [3]
In September 1815 Percy Bysshe Shelley visited Lechlade with his future wife Mary, her step-brother Charles Clairmont, and the novelist Thomas Love Peacock, and was moved to compose a poem, A Summer-Evening Churchyard, Lechlade, Gloucestershire, which was published the following year. [8] The path through the churchyard is now named “Shelley's Walk”, in a tribute to the famous atheist. [9]
The Vicar is Dr Andrew Cinnamond. [10] The church has strong links with the nearby St Lawrence Church of England Primary School. [11]
The parish of Lechlade is part of the South Cotswold Team Ministry benefice within the Diocese of Gloucester. [12]
The church is of dressed freestone from Taynton Quarry near Burford. [5] It consists of a nave with clerestory, four- bay aisles, north porch, north and south chancel chapels and chancel with a vestry on the north side. The three-stage west tower is supported by diagonal buttresses and topped with angle pinnacles, embattled parapet and an eight-sided spire. [1] The bells in the tower are of various ages; the oldest of which is from 1590. The peal was rehung in 1911 when a new treble added, [3] and again in 1966. [13]
Some of the fittings including the 13th-century piscina, font and the figure of St Agatha in the north aisle are from the earlier church on the site. [5] St Agatha is sculpted with a sword through her naked breasts depicting the nature of her martyrdom. [7] The brass chandelier hanging from the ceiling is from 1730, [7] and is inscribed "the gift of Mr Richard Ainge". [14] The pulpit was added in 1882, but the base on which it stands is much older and was found in the vicarage garden. [3]
There are some medieval brasses and marble monuments. [1] Under the stained glass east window is a wooden reredos with a carving of Agnus Dei. [7]
The graveyard is now closed for burials, with modern burials taking place in the town cemetery, [15] but it includes many gravestones dating back hundreds of years. Chest tombs include those to William Hobbs, [16] Ann Lambert, [17] William Giles, [18] Sarah Pace, [19] Henry Yeatman, [20] Thomas and John Walker, [21] William Gearing, [22] Mary Sophia Matthews, [23] Thomas Hipsley, [24] Mary Anne Walker, [25] John Raven, [26] William and Elizabeth Hobbs, [27] Thomas Andrews, [28] John Taylor, [29] William and Thomas Hall [30] and multiple unidentified monuments.