St Mary Magdalene's Church, Lillington is the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

Lillington, Warwickshire Lillington is a suburb of Leamington Spa, in the civil parish of Royal Leamington Spa, in the Warwick District in the county of Warwickshire, England. Historically a village which existed before the time of the ''Domesday Book'' (1086), it was inc ...

, a part of

Royal Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

with a population of about 11,000. The church is at the junction of Vicarage Road and Church Lane. It has been a

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 ...

since 1949.

History

The earliest surviving parts of the present building are the possibly pre-Conquest doorway now located between the Lady Chapel and Sacristy, and the south wall of the chancel. The Perpendicular Gothic west tower is 15th century, built in about 1480. The remainder of the church is Victorian, built or rebuilt between 1847 and 1884. Lillington_Church_Warwickshire_about_1810

Lillington_Church_Warwickshire_about_1810

The old south aisle was extended and the north aisle added in 1847. The south aisle was then demolished and a wider aisle built in 1868. Dormer windows were inserted in the roof in 1875. In 1884 the chancel, apart from the south wall, was rebuilt and the

Lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...

and Sacristy on the north side of the chancel were added, the Romanesque doorway being relocated for the second time since 1847. Three of the

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows are by C.E. Kempe and Company: the east window of the south aisle (1895) and two windows in the north aisle (1908 and 1920). A choir vestry was added in 1914. The pulpit is 20th century, designed by

T. Lawrence Dale Thomas Lawrence Dale, Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA, Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce, FSA (known as T.L. Dale, T. Lawrence Dale or Lawrence Dale) was an English architect. Until the First Wor ...

. A detached octagonal meeting room in the churchyard was built in 1987.

Benjamin Satchwell Benjamin Satchwell (3 January 1732–1 December 1810Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.) was one of the founding fathers of Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, England. Satchwell's cottage was in the old town to the south of the River Leam. He w ...

, co-founder, promoter and poet of the spa at nearby Leamington, married Mary Whitmore in this church on 23 April 1764. In the churchyard, opposite the vestry door, is the famous 'Miser's Grave'. The headstone of William Treen, who died aged 77 on 3 February 1810, carries this inscription, quoted in many nineteenth-century guides to Leamington, and most famously by

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

in ''Our Old Home''Nathaniel Hawthorne, ''Our Old Home'', 1863, http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/ooh.html in 1863: "I Poorly Liv'd and Poorly Dy'd,
Poorly Bury'd and no one Cry'd."

Bells

The church has a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of eight bells. The sixth bell is attributed to Thomas Harrys of London, cast about 1480, which makes it contemporary with the tower. The seventh bell was cast in 1625 by Watts of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, and the tenor in 1675 by Henry Bagley of

Chacombe Chacombe (sometimes Chalcombe in the past) is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north-east of Banbury. It is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell, to the north by a tributary and to the south-east by the B ...

, Northamptonshire. Mears and Stainbank of the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells a ...

cast the remaining five bells in 1927. The bells were re-hung by Nicholson Engineering of

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...

, Dorset in 2007.

Clock

Lillington church clock was made by

Potts of Leeds Potts of Leeds was a major British manufacturer of public clocks, based in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. History William Potts was born in December 1809 and was apprenticed to Samuel Thompson, a Darlington clockmaker. In 1833, at the age of 24, ...

and installed in 1897. It seems that the tower had no clock before then. The clock was renovated, the four dials repainted and gilded, and the mechanism repositioned within the ringing chamber, by the Cumbria Clock Company of Penrith in 2007.

References

External links

St Mary Magdalene's Church, Lillington
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lillington, Mary Magdalene Church of England church buildings in Warwickshire Grade II listed churches in Warwickshire

History

Bells

Clock

See also

References

External links