St Lawrence Church is a Grade II* listed church in Ipswich, Suffolk, that is now used as a community centre. [1] The 15th-century church has the oldest ring of five church bells in the world. [2] [3]
St Lawrence Church is a Grade II* listed church in Ipswich, Suffolk, that is now used as a community centre. [1] The 15th-century church has the oldest ring of five church bells in the world. [2] [3]
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 the diocese 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 and UK government grants. [4]
The church's tower features the oldest ring of church bells remaining in the world.[ citation needed ] The five bells, hung in a modern steel frame for change ringing, are known as "Wolsey's bells", after Cardinal Wolsey who was raised in the area. It is believed that Wolsey's uncle Edmund Daundy may have commissioned one of the bells. [2] Four of them were cast circa 1450 and a fifth added circa 1480. [5] 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, 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. [5]
The bells are recognised as being historically important by the Church of England's Church Building Council. [6] [7]
Hadleigh is an ancient market town and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. The town is situated next to the River Brett, between the larger towns of Sudbury and Ipswich. It had a population of 8,253 at the 2011 census. The headquarters of Babergh District Council were located in the town until 2017.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin, widely known as St Mary Redcliffe, is the main Church of England parish church for the Redcliffe district of the city of Bristol, England. The first reference to a church on the site appears in 1158, with the present building dating from 1185 to 1872. The church is considered one of the country's finest and largest parish churches as well as an outstanding example of English Gothic architecture. The church is so large it is sometimes mistaken for Bristol Cathedral by tourists. The building has Grade I listed status, the highest possible category, by Historic England.
Reydon is a village and civil parish, 1.0 mile (1.6 km) north-west of Southwold and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-east of Wangford, in the East Suffolk district and the ceremonial county of Suffolk, England. Its population of 2,567 in 2001 including Easton Bavents eased up to 2,582 at the 2011 Census, and was estimated at 2,772 in 2018. The name probably means Rye Hill, Rey meaning rye and -don being an old word for hill or rise). The village is close to the cliffs at Easton Bavents, a village now much eroded. Both were established before neighbouring Southwold. The parish church is St Margaret of Antioch. The parish of Easton Bavents was merged with Reydon in 1987, when part of Southwold was also transferred.
East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border.
Blackburn Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin with Saint Paul, is an Anglican cathedral situated in the heart of Blackburn town centre, in Lancashire, England. The cathedral site has been home to a church for over a thousand years and the first stone church was built there in Norman times.
Wrentham is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the north-east of the English county of Suffolk. It is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the North Sea coast on the A12 trunk road, about 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Lowestoft, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Southwold and 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of Beccles.
Wangford is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wangford with Henham, in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England, just off the A12 trunk road on the edge of the Henham Park estate just outside Southwold.
St Edmundsbury Cathedral is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It is the seat of the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and is in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Originating in the 11th century, it was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries as a parish church and became a cathedral in 1914; it has been considerably enlarged in recent decades.
Whitton is an area of Ipswich and once a separate village. It is now a ward of Ipswich Borough Council in Suffolk, England. The civil parish of Whitton in Mid Suffolk district doesn't include the suburb. The site of a Roman villa, the village is thought to have been a Saxon colony, possibly dating from the Saxon invasion of around 430 AD. It appears in the Domesday Book as Widituna, possibly meaning Hwita's farm or White's farm.
Frostenden is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is around 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Lowestoft and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-west of Southwold and lies on the A12 road between Wrentham and Wangford. Neighbouring parishes include Wrentham, Sotterley, Uggeshall, Wangford with Henham, Reydon and South Cove.
Rumburgh is a village and civil parish in the English county of Suffolk. It is 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-west of the market town of Halesworth in the East Suffolk District. The population of the parish at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 327.
The Church of St Mary in Bruton, Somerset, England was largely built in the 14th century. Like many Somerset churches, it has a very fine tower; less usually it has a second one as well. Simon Jenkins has called Bruton's tower "Somerset architecture at its most powerful." It has been designated a Grade I listed building.
St Nicholas' Church, Ipswich is a medieval church in Ipswich. Maintained by the Ipswich Historic Churches Trust, it is currently used by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich as a conference centre and is adjacent to the diocesan offices, and the bishops' offices. The church dates from 1300 and was substantially refitted in 1849. The fifteenth century tower was rebuilt in 1886.
Ufford is a village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. Its population of 808 at the 2001 census rose to 948 at the 2011 Census and was estimated at 1,008 in 2019. The village lies 2 miles south-south-west of Wickham Market and 13 miles north-east of Ipswich. The main road through the village was renumbered B1438 after its replacement as a trunk road by the new A12.
St Mary's Church is a redundant Church of England parish church in the civil parish of Chilton, Suffolk, England. It is a Grade I listed building, and is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
St Edmund's Church, Southwold is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Southwold, Suffolk.
Ipswich Town Hall is a municipal building in Ipswich, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is a Grade II listed building. It is used for meetings of Ipswich Borough Council and also serves as an events venue and art gallery.
The Suffolk Guild of Ringers for the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is a society and charity supporting the bell ringers and rings of bells in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich who practice the art of change ringing. The Guild was established on 2 April 1923 at Ipswich and covers over 200 rings of bells in the county of Suffolk in the area that falls within the diocese boundary.
The Norman Tower, also known as St James' Gate, is the detached bell tower of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Originally constructed in the early 12th century, as the gatehouse of the vast Abbey of Bury St Edmunds, it is one of only two surviving structures of the Abbey, the other being Abbey Gate, located 150 metres to the north. The Abbey itself lies in ruins, approximately 200 metres to the east. As a virtually unaltered structure of the Romanesque age, the tower is both a Grade I listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The tower is considered amongst the finest Norman structures in East Anglia.
The Ipswich Historic Churches Trust is a charitable trust set up to preserve redundant mediaeval churches of historical and architectural value located in Ipswich in the county of Suffolk, England.
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52°03′27″N1°09′17″E / 52.057389°N 1.154801°E
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