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 ...

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 in ...

, a part of Royal

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

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 is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

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 English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

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 refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

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. 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 (né Hathorne; 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 associat ...

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 (The) Ring(s) 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 Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

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 area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

, and the tenor in 1675 by Henry Bagley of

Chacombe Chacombe (sometimes Chalcombe in the past) is a village and Civil parishes in England, 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 ...

, 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 ...

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

Bridport Bridport is a market town and civil parish in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the River Asker, Asker. Its origins are Anglo-Saxons, Saxon and it has a long history as a ...

, 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 2 ...

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