| St Laurence's Church, Ludlow | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Liberal Catholic |
| Website | www.stlaurences.org.uk/home |
| History | |
| Dedication | St. Laurence |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Ludlow |
| Diocese | Hereford |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | The Venerable Colin Williams |
| Laity | |
| Organist/Director of music | Shaun Ward |
| Organist(s) | Roger Judd |
St Laurence's Church, Ludlow is a parish church in the Church of England in Ludlow.
Contents |
The parish church was established as a Norman place of worship in association with the founding of Ludlow in the 11th century AD. This parish church in Shropshire, England contains an extensive set of misericords in the choir stalls as well as fine stained glass windows. The tower is 42 meters in height and commands expansive views of the local area. The church was rebuilt in the year 1199 and has had several later additions and modifications.
Original Norman traces were found beneath the south porch, indicating some extant foundations exist from the 11th century AD.[1] After its initial construction the church was expanded and rebuilt in 1199 to accommodate a growing town population. In the late Middle Ages considerable wealth accrued to the town based upon the wool trade. Correspondingly the church underwent several further additions in that era. The major works occurred between 1433 and 1471 with a virtual re-building of the nave, tower and chancel elements[2] The tower took on a Perpendicular style which was the preferred style of the late 15th century in England. The Saint John's Chapel on the north side was the chapel of the Palmers Guild, which thrived in the Late Middle Ages. The Palmers' Window within St John's Chapel illustrates the legend of King Edward the Confessor and St John the Evangelist by eight panels and was inspired by the Ludlow Palmers’ 13th century pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
The large east window of the chancel underwent restoration in the year 1832; this window depicts the martyrdom of St Laurence. The most extensive modern repairs and rehabilitation occurred in the period 1859 to 1861, which consisted primarily of interior modifications.
The church is a member of the Greater Churches Group.
The dominant exterior feature is the square bell tower, which houses the historic and famed bells of the church. The chancel contains the mediaeval choir stalls adorned with numerous misericords. Many of these fine wood carvings are of heraldry and others are genre scenes of common life. Typical sizes of the misericords and upper bench carvings are 25 centimeters wide by 12 centimeters high; the carvings have very deep relief (up to two centimetres). Some of the elements of the carving are repeated on roof adornments[3].
Below the chancel are the catacombs, holding an impressive set of church monuments, most of which contain the remains of people involved with Ludlow Castle’s Council of the Marches. Other than the large chancel east window, there are other notable windows within the chancel; the most remarkable one depicts the Ten Commandments, illustrating six of the commandments being broken.
The hexagonal south porch derives from the 14th century and serves as the main entrance to the church; this porch is one of only three of such a six-sided design in all of England. The other interior chapels are St Catherine’s Chapel and the Lady Chapel, the latter of which has a large filled-in door that was once used for the Ludlow fire engine at an earlier era. Exterior features include a memorial plaque to the poet A. E. Housman and the Samuel Burgess Memorial Garden. Above the interior stone lantern there is s splendid vault.
The ashes of A. E. Housman are buried in the church grounds, with the stump of a cherry tree marking their location. Ambrosia Sidney, (1565-1574), sister of Sir Philip Sidney and Mary Sidney who died at Ludlow Castle, aged nine, is buried near the altar under an impressive memorial bearing the arms of Sir Henry Sidney, (1530-1586), President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. His heart was brought from Worcester where he died and buried in a small leaden urn in an oratory near his daughter's tomb. The rest of his remains were buried with his wife Mary Dudley at Penhurst, Kent.
Above the porch on the first floor (second story in American parlance) is the Parvis room, which houses a small history museum pertinent to the church. At St. Catherine’s Chapel (the south transept) some floor-stones in the area honour recent congregation members. In the nave and aisle area, there are several noteworthy contents, including:
In the north transept is the John Snetzler organ. Through the generosity of Henry Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis, this organ was installed in 1764 at a cost of £1,000. Originally it was located in a gallery beneath the tower and had three manuals with 19 stops.
In the 19th century, Gray and Davison restored the organ and enlarged it, at the same time moving it to its present position in the North Transept. By this time, a fourth manual had been added.
The organ was restored in the 1980s by Nicholson & Co (Worcester) Ltd.
In 2006, thanks largely to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, further work was carried out to clean the interior, improve the console, and to add a rank of pipes.
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