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St Lawrence Church is a Grade II* listed church in
The church's tower features the oldest ring of church bells remaining in the world. The five bells, hung in a modern steel frame for
St Lawrence Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrence Church Ipswich Church of England church buildings in Ipswich Former Church of England church buildings Alexandra Ward, Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
, Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
, that is now used as a community centre. The 15th-century church has the oldest ring of five church bells in the world.
History
St Lawrence was built on Dial Lane in the heart of present-day Ipswich. The upper section of the tower was rebuilt in 1882 by the London firm of Barnes and Gaye. The new Victorian design consists of floral and geometric flintwork patterns and includes the initials S. and L. Unusually, the modifications also removed the central aisle from the nave in an attempt to prevent celebration of the High Anglican liturgy. It served as a parish church until the early 1970s, when the parish was declared redundant by thediocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...
due to its having no members.
Care of the building was handed over to the Ipswich Historic Churches Trust and the church fell into disrepair. After deliberations over future usage and subsequent extensive renovations, the church was reopened as a community restaurant and gallery in July 2008. The £1.2 million cost of the restorations came from Ipswich Borough Council
Ipswich Borough Council is the local authority for Ipswich, a non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Suffolk, England. It is the second tier of a two-tier system, fulfilling functions such as refuse ...
and UK government grants.
Bells
The church's tower features the oldest ring of church bells remaining in the world. The five bells, hung in a modern steel frame for change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...
, are known as "Wolsey's bells", after Cardinal Wolsey
Thomas Wolsey ( ; – 29 November 1530) was an English statesman and Catholic cardinal. When Henry VIII became King of England in 1509, Wolsey became the king's almoner. Wolsey's affairs prospered and by 1514 he had become the controlling f ...
who was raised in the area. It is believed that Wolsey's uncle Edmund Daundy may have commissioned one of the bells. Four of them were cast circa 1450 and a fifth added circa 1480. The bells remain undamaged and unmodified, and still include their original clappers. In 1985 the bells were removed when the tower was declared unsafe. After reconstruction of the tower and the installation of a new bell frame, the bells, having been overhauled by 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 ...
, were returned to working use in September 2009. According to the IHCT, the next oldest set of five are located in St Bartholomew the Great and date from 1500.
The bells are recognised as being historically important by the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
's Church Building Council.
Curates
* (1808-1830) James FordSee also
*List of tallest buildings and structures in Ipswich
List of tallest buildings in Ipswich ranks the tallest buildings and structures within the English town of Ipswich, Suffolk. The list includes buildings which have since been demolished or are currently under construction. The tallest building i ...
References
External links
St Lawrence Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrence Church Ipswich Church of England church buildings in Ipswich Former Church of England church buildings Alexandra Ward, Ipswich