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.
History
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]
Literature
The interior of the church
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]
Community
The Vicar is Dr Andrew Cinnamond.[10]
The church has strong links with the nearby St Lawrence Church of England Primary School.[11]
The church is of dressed freestone from Taynton Quarry near Burford.[5] It consists of a nave with clerestory, four-bayaisles, 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]
Fittings and fixtures
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]
Graveyard
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.
^ abc"Church of St Lawrence". National Heritage List for England. Historic England. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
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