St Lawrence's Church is in Garstang Road, Barton, Preston,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

, England. It is an active Anglican

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

diocese of Blackburn The Diocese of Blackburn is a Church of England diocese, covering much of Lancashire, created on 12 November 1926 from part of the Diocese of Manchester. The diocese includes the towns of Blackburn, Blackpool and Burnley, the cities of Lancas ...

. The church was built in 1895–96, and was designed by R. Knill Freeman. It is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

, and consists of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

aisles Aisles is a six-piece progressive rock band originally from Santiago, Chile. The group was formed in 2001 by brothers Germán (guitar) and Luis Vergara (keyboards), and childhood friend Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar). Later on, it expanded to incl ...

, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and a southwest

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

. The church holds services on Sundays and Wednesdays. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The church was built in 1895–95, replacing an earlier church of 1850, and was designed by R. Knill Freeman.

Architecture

Exterior

St Lawrence's Church is built in yellow

with red sandstone dressings, and has a slate roof with red ridge tiles. Its architectural style is Decorated. The plan consists of a four- bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles, a chancel, a south chapel, and a southwest steeple. The steeple has a two-stage tower with angle

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es rising to form corner pinnacles, and a south doorway with a moulded surround. Above are two square-headed lancet windows and a clock face. The top stage is octagonal and contains two-light louvred bell openings, and this is surmounted by an octagonal spire with

lucarne In general architecture a lucarne is a term used to describe a dormer window. The original term french: lucarne refers to a dormer window, usually set into the middle of a roof although it can also apply to a façade lucarne, where the gable of t ...

s. Along the sides of the aisles are buttresses between which are arched three-light windows with intersecting

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. The clerestory windows each have two round-headed lights, and the chancel windows are similar to those in the aisles, but with

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

tracery. The east and west windows have five lights.

Interior

Inside the church is a four-bay

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carried on octagonal columns with moulded caps. The wooden reredos is in

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style and has a

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

with pinnacles. The glass in the west window is clear, with insets of a coat of arms and two shields containing boars' heads. The two- manual pipe organ was built in 1897 by

Harrison & Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company that makes and restores pipe organs, based in Durham and established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and the ...

, and restored in 1985 by David Wells of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

Appraisal

St Lawrence's Church was designated as a Grade II listed building on 13 January 1986. Grade II is the lowest of the three grades of listing and is applied to buildings "of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve them".

Present day

The church is an active parish church in the deanery of Garstang, the archdeaconry of Lancaster, and the diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is united with those of St Eadmer,

Bleasdale Bleasdale is a village and civil parish in the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The two sources of the River Brock lie within the parish. According to the 2001 census, it had a ...

, St Hilda, Bilsborrow, St Mary the Virgin, Goosnargh, and St James,

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

, to form The Fellside Team Ministry. Services are held on Sundays and Wednesdays.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrences Church, Barton Churches completed in 1896 Barton, Saint Lawrence's Church Barton, Saint Lawrence's Church Barton, Saint Lawrence's Church Barton, Saint Lawrence's Church Barton, Saint Lawrence's Church 19th-century Church of England church buildings Churches in the City of Preston