St Lawrence Church is 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, ...

parish church for

Morden Morden is a district and town in South London, England, now within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton, Londo ...

in the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a London borough in London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Merton ...

. The building is

Grade I listed 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 ...

, and located on London Road, at the highest point of Morden, overlooking

Morden Park Morden Park is an area within the district of Morden in the London Borough of Merton, and includes the Park itself, an area of green space in an otherwise dense cluster of 1930s suburban housing. The present park and sports fields between Hillc ...

. Morden Parish consists of four churches in total, the other three are Emmanuel (Stonecot Hill), St Martin's (Lower Morden) and St George's (Central Road, Morden).

Building

History

St Lawrence Church was built in 1636. It is probable that it replaced an earlier building."CHURCH OF ST LAWRENCE"
Historic England, accessed 17 April 2017. The nearby Merton Abbey was closed by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the estate sold.

Edward Whitchurch Edward Whitchurch (Pseudonym: Robert Stoughton; died 1561) was a London printer and publisher of Protestant works. Whitchurch and Richard Grafton jointly published the first complete version of the Bible in English in 1539. Other published work ...

and Lionel Dutchet purchased it, but left for Europe when Queen Mary came to the throne. The site then came into the ownership of the Garth family."A Condensed History of Morden and St Lawrence"
Church of St Lawrence official website, accessed 17 April 2017.

Exterior

The building is designed in Gothic style and features stone dressings and a red tiled, steeply pitched roof. The exterior is mainly of red brick. The church features an aisleless, 4-bay nave which has pointed, two-light windows. The nave continues into the short chancel. There is a square, 3 stage west tower and a projecting south west porch with a pointed arched and moulded doorway, later restored in 1887. The north vestry was added in 1805. There is a 'Y' tracery, cusped four-light east window with later perpendicular tracery.

Interior

The interior walls of St Lawrence are plastered and whitewashed. There are exposed tie beams and king posts under the circular shaped roof. The west gallery was added in 1792. There is an original stained and painted glass window to the east which features a design of

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

and

Aaron According to the Old Testament of the Bible, Aaron ( or ) was an Israelite prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of Moses. Information about Aaron comes exclusively from religious texts, such as the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament ...

, and various wall monuments. The interior features an inlaid timber pulpit, which originates from 1720 and has sounding-board over it for amplification. The tower houses three bells which, owing to restrictions placed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

in order to preserve the frame, can only be tolled.

Activities

There are services every Sunday at 9:00am, 10:30am, and 6:30pm. The 10:30am service has children's activities - the children join in the first part of the service before leaving for Sunday Club.

Leadership and staff

* Revd David Heath-Whyte - Team Rector * The Rt Revd Precious Omuku — honorary curate. Omuku is an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Southwark, having been consecrated bishop in South Sudan on 3 January 2016.

References

External links

St Lawrence ChurchTeam Parish of Morden
{{DEFAULTSORT:St Lawrence Church, Morden Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Merton 17th-century Church of England church buildings Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Merton

Morden History of the London Borough of Merton