St Lawrence's Church, Denton is on the busy Ashton to Stockport Rd (A6017), and so is a notable landmark for many travellers. It is at the centre of the parish of St Lawrence, about a quarter of a mile from Denton Town Centre.
The church is a timber-framed building dating from 1531 at the most conservative estimate. It is one of only 29 of this type of common mediæval church building remaining in England and Wales.
It began as a chapel of ease for the medieval manor of Denton within the Parish of Manchester, dedicated to St. James until the discovery in the mid-nineteenth century of a stained glass window to St Lawrence. It became a parish church under the name St. Lawrence in 1839.
When the chapel was built, its original benefactors, the Hollands and Hydes, were staunch Roman Catholics. It stood firm also through the upheavals of the Puritan Era, under the leadership of the much-persecuted John Angier a Puritan divine who was Minister of St Lawrence for forty six years until his death in 1677. He survived the various religious upheavals of those troubled times and continued to preach the Puritan message.
The graveyard was grassed over in 1965 when the former Denton Council took it over under the Open Spaces Act, and, in accordance with that Act the gravestones were either removed, covered over or broken up. A few gravestones remain, though probably not in their original locations.
More information can be found on the church website.
A further selection of photographs can be found on Geograph.
A contribution to Inspired Sundays.
Thanks Gerald. I've now had a go at sending them a Sunday picture myself. I think I typed my link wrong and can't see how to edit it. But the picture's there anyway.
ReplyDeleteA very distinctive church. Sorry to hear how the gravestones were treated. Is that often the case?
ReplyDeleteThe other blue plaque (see second photograph) commemorates St Lawrence's Church itself.
ReplyDeleteDave Williams
Gerald, this church is amazing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Gerald. So different from what I expect in a church.
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting structure with the timbers...love it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a charming little church...being a Californian, I'm always amazed at the history you enjoy in England, and of course, in Europe. Thanks for visiting my Photographic Journey and joining me in my tour of Budapest!
ReplyDeleteTimber framed, not come across one like that before.
ReplyDeleteA humble, bur very endearing church. History still lives on.
ReplyDeletenice post.. a beautiful church..
ReplyDeletehttp://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com/2016/01/joaquin-miller-park-hiking.html
1531 Wow!!! Here in Australia Gerald where we've only had European settlement since the First Fleet arrived in 1788 it's hard to comprehend buildings that old. It's very unusual in appearance compared to what we are used to as church buildings.
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