St Laurence, Chorley
St Laurence, Chorley
St Laurence’s is a Grade II* parish church on Union Street (Church Brow) in the centre of Chorley, Lancashire, in the Diocese of Blackburn. It is the historic mother church of the town.
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
- Country
- England
- County
- Lancashire
- City / town
- Chorley
- Address
- Union Street, Chorley, Lancashire, PR7 1EB
- Postcode
- PR7 1EB
- Built
- Late medieval west tower; body substantially rebuilt 1859–61; further work 1913–14
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Laurence
- Diocese
- Blackburn
- Parish
- St Laurence, Chorley
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Perpendicular and Gothic Revival
- Materials
- Stone with slate roofs
- Grid reference
- SD 582 177
- Opening hours
- Monday to Saturday 11am to 2pm. The church is normally open each day, and arrangements for special visits can be made via our parish office. Cooked meals are available on Tuesdays and Fridays.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access throughout. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
A priest is documented in 1362; a letter of 1442 mentions a reliquary said to contain bones of St Laurence. The three-stage battlemented west tower is late medieval, with diagonal buttresses carved with shields of three boars’ heads, gargoyles, and a sanctus bellcote on the nave. The church became a parish in its own right in 1793. Historic England describes the present body as substantially of 1859–61 and 1913–14 in Perpendicular style, in stone with slate roofs: a four-bay nave, north and south aisles under separate roofs, chancel, and a separately roofed chapel with transept.
The architect of the 1859–61 rebuilding is disputed (Charles Verelst of Liverpool and E. G. Paley of Lancaster have both been named). Standish family monuments stand in the chancel. A sundial on the nave wall over the south porch is lettered for Johannes Pollard and Robertus Topping.