St Lawrence's Church, Longridge

St Lawrence's Church, located on Chapel Hill in Longridge, Lancashire, England, is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Blackburn. Built as a chapel of ease of St Wilfrid, Ribchester in the early 16th century, it was made a parish church in 1868, a role it now shares, jointly, with the nearby St Paul's Church.

St Lawrence's Church
St Lawrence's Church, Longridge, from the north-east
Location	Chapel Hill, Longridge, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	www.stlawrencewithstpaul.org.uk
History
Status	Parish church
Dedication	Saint Lawrence of Rome
Consecrated	1552 (1552)
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Specifications
Number of floors	2
Administration
Province	York
Diocese	Blackburn
Archdeaconry	Lancaster
Deanery	Preston
Parish	Longridge
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Revd. Mike Barton

History

The earliest documented reference to a 'Chapel of Longridge' is made in 1522. Rebuilding work took place in 1716 and again in 1784, when the chapel was repaired and enlarged; the tower was added in 1841, and in 1926 a north porch was built at the west end of the nave. In 2005, at the request of Longridge Town Council, a conservation area appraisal and boundary review was conducted. The report recommended the creation of a new zone, and in 2008 the church and its surrounds were designated the St Lawrence's Church Conservation Area. The nearby St Paul's was built as a chapel of ease for St Lawrence.

Architecture

Stained glass

The stained glass of the north and south sides of the ground floor of the church dates from 1938–40, and is by glassmakers James Powell and Sons. The west window, a memorial to the fallen of the First World War, was designed by the Lancastrian firm Shrigley & Hunt. In 1975, the artist Brian Clarke was commissioned to designed ten pairs of stained glass windows for the north and south mezzanine galleries. The sequence of windows, considered the first works of the artist's maturity, reflect the influence of Japanese screen painting on Clarke's work, depicting local scenes including the River Ribble, Pendle Hill, Longridge Fell and Fairsnape Fell, and the local reservoirs and quarries, designed in a semi-abstract way.

Interior

Inside the church are two war memorials commemorating fallen servicemen and officers who had been inhabitants of Longridge. A marble tablet notes the casualties of the First World War, and a brass plaque below it lists those who died in the Second World War. The inscription on the tablet reads:

To the Glory of God & to the memory of Longridge officers and men who died for their country in the Great War 1914-1918. This tablet is reverently presented by Parishioners and friends 1939 - 1945.

Present day

St Lawrence's is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Preston, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church works in association with St Paul's Church, with which it is, jointly and equally, the parish church of Longridge.

Further reading

• Till, J. M., Till, M. R. (1990). The History of St. Lawrence with St. Paul's, Longridge. United Kingdom: St. Lawrence and St. Paul's Churches.