- All Saints Church, Church Lawton
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All Saints Church, Church Lawton 
All Saints Church, Church Lawton, from the southLocation in Cheshire
All Saints Church, Church LawtonCoordinates: 53°05′55″N 2°16′04″W / 53.0987°N 2.2678°W Location Church Lawton, Cheshire Country England Denomination Anglican Website All Saints, Church Lawton History Founded Late 11th century Founder(s) Hugh de Mara, Lord of Lawton (?) Dedication All Saints Significant events Struck by lightning 1652
Nave destroyed by fire 1798Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II* Designated 14 February 1967 Architectural type Church Style Norman, Perpendicular, Neoclassical Completed 1923 Construction cost £8,000 Specifications Materials Tower: red and buff sandstone
Body: brick, tile roofAdministration Parish Church Lawton Deanery Congleton Archdeaconry Macclesfield Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Rector Rev Graham Joyce Laity Reader John Atkins, Margaret Cruxton All Saints Church, Church Lawton, stands on a mound close to Lawton Hall in the small village of Church Lawton, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building,[1] and is an Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton.[2]
Contents
History
The church was founded around the end of the 11th century, probably by Hugh de Mara, Lord of Lawton.[3] There is a tradition that in the 8th century the body of St Werburgh rested overnight on the site of the church while it was being carried from Lincolnshire to Chester.[4] In 1652 the church was struck by lightning and 11 people in the church were killed. The body of the church was destroyed by fire in 1798 and rebuilt by 1803.[3] Following the fire of 1798 the body of the church was rebuilt in brick in neoclassical style.[1] The cost of this was around £8,000 (£680,000 as of 2011).[4][5] A south porch was added in 1923.[6]
Architecture
Exterior
The tower at the west end, dating from the 16th century, is built of red and buff sandstone in Perpendicular style. On the south face of the tower are carved a chalice and the initials "I. B.".[1] These initials are those of the parish priest of the time, John Bybber,[3] or Byber.[4] The bell openings contain Y-tracery. On each side of the church are two lunette windows, with two round-headed windows between them. At the east end of the church is a Venetian window.[7] A Norman doorway which survived the fire has been reset in the south wall of the nave.[8]
Interior
Inside the church at the west end is a gallery dated 1717 which also survived the fire.[1] It was planned to refurbish the church in 1873 but the full refurbishment did not occur. At the time the old box pews were replaced with the present pews and a two-manual organ was installed in the gallery.[4] Also inside the church are the royal arms of George III and six hatchments of the Lawton family.[9] At the base of a stairway leading to the gallery is the tomb of John Byber on which are carved his initials.[10] Displayed under the gallery are some 13th–century flooring tiles which were discovered during the 1874 restoration.[11] The ring is of eight bells. Five of these which are dated 1713 are by Richard Sanders; the other three are by John Taylor and Company, one of which is dated 1882 and the other two are dated 1901.[12] The parish registers start in 1559 and the churchwardens' accounts date from 1691.[3]
External features
In the rectory garden is a font dating from the middle of the 18th century.[3]
See also
- Norman architecture in Cheshire
References
- ^ a b c d "Church of All Saints, Church Lawton", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1161743, retrieved 1 May 2011
- ^ Lawton (or Church Lawton): All Saints, Church Lawton, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/lawton-or-church-lawton-all-saints/, retrieved 14 December 2010
- ^ a b c d e Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: B. T Batsford, pp. 129–132
- ^ a b c d Sutton, Ron (Revd) (June 1996), A History of All Saints' Church, Church Lawton (2nd ed.), All Saints' Church, Church Lawton, http://www.allsaintschurchlawton.co.uk/full_history.htm, retrieved 3 September 2007
- ^ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Lawrence H. Officer (2010) "What Were the UK Earnings and Prices Then?" MeasuringWorth.
- ^ New, Robert (2002), History Tour of All Saints' Church Church Lawton: Churchyard, All Saints' Church, Church Lawton, http://www.allsaintschurchlawton.co.uk/churchyard.htm, retrieved 3 September 2007
- ^ Hartwell, Claire; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, p. 289, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
- ^ All Saints, Church Lawton, Cheshire, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-ch-chlaw.html, retrieved 13 June 2010
- ^ New, Robert (2002), History Tour of All Saints' Church Church Lawton: Nave, All Saints' Church, Church Lawton, http://www.allsaintschurchlawton.co.uk/nave.htm, retrieved 3 September 2007
- ^ New, Robert (2002), History Tour of All Saints' Church Church Lawton: Tower, All Saints' Church, Church Lawton, http://www.allsaintschurchlawton.co.uk/tower.htm, retrieved 3 September 2007
- ^ Morant, Roland W. (1989), Cheshire Churches, Birkenhead: Countyvise, p. 124, ISBN 0-907768-18-0
- ^ Church Lawton, All Saints, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=lawton&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=CHURCH+LAY, retrieved 10 August 2008
External links
Categories:- Church of England churches in Cheshire
- Grade II* listed churches
- Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire
- Norman architecture
- English Gothic architecture
- Neoclassical architecture in England
- Diocese of Chester
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