St. Lawrence, Taynton, Gloucestershire

Description

The ancient church of St. Lawrence, distant about 1½ miles from the village, together with the minister's house and outbuildings, were burned to the ground by a force of Royalists under Capt. Wiffin, a few days after the raising of the siege of Gloucester, at the beginning of Sept, 1643; subsequently by an Order of Parliament, entered in the journal of the House of Lords, under date, Monday, 17 Jan. 1647-8, the church was rebuilt upon part of the glebe, and a churchyard formed, but the parsonage was not rebuilt until 1850: the church, which seems to incorporate a portion of the materials of the old fabric, was rebuilt at the cost of Col. Thomas Pury, lord of the manor of Taynton and Minsterworth, and is a rectangular building of stone standing north and south, and consisting of chancel, nave, porch, organ chamber, and a low square turret on the northern gable containing one bell: the pulpit of beautifully carved oak, believed to have been brought from the church of Holy Trinity, Gloucester, on its demolition, retains an old hour-glass frame: there is a flat stone, inscribed to Mr. Robert Pury, son of Col. Thomas Pury, "qui hanc ecclesiam aedificari curavit:" a new organ was provided in 1909 at a cost of £300: the communion plate is assumed to date from about 1610-15. The porch was added in 1825; various works of restoration were carried out in 1865 and 1869-70; in 1893 the nave was re-opened, after further restoration and reseating; a large gallery being also removed, and in 1894 the chancel and organ chamber were built: the church now affords 240 sittings.

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1538.