St Lawrence's Church is in the village of Morland,

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in the deanery of Appleby, the archdeaconry of Carlisle, and the

diocese of Carlisle In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. The parish of Morland includes the historic

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Thrimby, with its church of St Mary, Little Strickland. The

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of Morland is united, under the name North Westmorland, with the parishes of Askham and Lowther, Bampton, Bolton, Cliburn, Clifton and Brougham, Crosby Ravensworth, Shap and Great Strickland. The church 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, ...

as a designated Grade I

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, Hi ...

. It has the only

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

tower in Cumbria.

History

The precise date of the tower is uncertain, but it has been dated to between 1041 and 1055. It was raised in height in 1588, and the small spire was added later. The

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 ...

dates from the 12th century, and includes some

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

features. The

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s were added later in that century, followed by the

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

and

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

s during the next century. The chancel was rebuilt in 1600, and the north aisle in the 18th century. The church was

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...

in 1896 by C. J. Ferguson, and work was carried out in the 20th century by W. D. Caröe.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

stone, with

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roofs, and a short lead-covered spire on top of the tower. It has a

cruciform plan A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

, consisting of a three-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

nave, north and south aisles, a south porch, north and south transepts, a chancel, a north vestry, and a west tower. The tower dates from before the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, and is in three stages. It has no

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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es or external doors, and its windows are very small. The bell openings are deeply set with

baluster A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

s. On the west side of the tower is a blue clock face. In the transepts are 13th-century

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s. The windows on the south side of the chancel, and the east window, have four lights and are

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

in style. The windows along the side of the north aisle are Georgian with

keystones A keystone (or capstone) is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allo ...

. The south porch is

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d, with stone benches inside. The inner doorway dates from the 13th century, and has a pointed arch.

Interior

Four steps lead down into the interior of the church. The tower is entered by a very narrow door. The south

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

is carried on round

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

with octagonal abaci, and has pointed arches. The north arcade is similar, except that one of the piers is octagonal, and has a

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

decorated with scallops. There are fragments of Norman zigzag carving incorporated in the wall above the north transept, and in the west wall of the north aisle. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

dates from 1926, and is by Caröe. The altar rail dates from the late 17th century, and is carried on balusters. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

has been reduced from a three-decker and is dated 1721. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

consists of a small octagonal bowl; its cover is inscribed with the date 1662. Also in the church is a poor box, cut from a log, and dated 1648. Only the east window contains stained glass; this dates from 1926 and is by Powells. In the south transept is a coffin lid from the 13th century, carved with a foliated cross. The two- manual

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

was made in 1913 by

Binns Binns may refer to: * Binns (surname), English surname * Binns (department store), British retailer * Binns Hall, Virginia, United States * House of the Binns, historic estate near Linlithgow, Scotland {{disambig ...

, and restored in 1951. In the tower are three bells, dated 1687, 1726, and 1764.

External features

Associated with the church are three structures that have been listed. To the southeast of the chancel is an altar tomb dating from the 15th century, probably formerly inside the church. It is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

blocks, and has three brass plates, the oldest inscribed with the date 1781. The tomb is listed at Grade II*. To the southwest of the tower is a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

consisting of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

cross-base, with a column dating probably from the 19th century. It is listed at Grade II. Also listed at Grade II are the gatepiers and attached walls at the entrance to the churchyard. The gatepiers are rusticated, and surmounted by ball

finial A finial () or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a dome, spire, tower, roo ...

s, There is a weathered inscription on the east side; only the date 1723 is legible.

Notable burials

Michael of Glasgow Michael of Glasgow is the earliest known bishop of Glasgow of the 12th century. Records of his episcopate do not survive from the records of the Kingdom of Scotland, however a bishop and a bishop with the name Michael is recorded in foreign recor ...

(fl. 1114), nominal bishop of Glasgow.

Gallery

File:Morland church general view.jpg, Morland church - general view File:Morland church tower view.jpg, Morland church; the Anglo-Saxon tower File:Morland church south transept.jpg, Morland church, south transept File:Interior St Laurence Morland, east.jpg, alt=Interior of St Laurence's Church Morland, eastern view, Interior of St Laurence's Church Morland, eastern view File:Interior St Laurence Morland, west.jpg, alt=Interior of St Laurence's Church Morland, western view, Interior of St Laurence's Church Morland, western view

References

External links

Photographs from Visit Cumbria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morland, St Laurence's Church Church of England church buildings in Cumbria Grade I listed churches in Cumbria Standing Anglo-Saxon churches English churches with Norman architecture English Gothic architecture in Cumbria Diocese of Carlisle