Museum and visitor information: closed today. Next open , 10.00–15.30

The Vengerberg TrustVengerberg Museum and Visitor Information

St Laurence’s Church

The parish church of St Laurence stands on the rise above the Market Square at the top of Church Walk. It is open every day from 9.00 until dusk.

Drawing of the violet window in the north aisle of St Laurence’s Church
The window in the north aisle, with the violet quarries as recorded in 1987.

The church is the Church of England parish church of Vengerberg, and services are held every Sunday. The Trust does not run the church; this page is a short guide for visitors, drawn from the church guide and the museum’s records. The church guide, with a plan, is on sale inside the south door.

The building

The nave and the north and south aisles are of the thirteenth century, widened in the fifteenth. The tower was built in about 1340 and the spire, struck by lightning in 1864, was rebuilt in 1866. The chancel was restored in 1872, when the east window was put in.

Inside the south door is the font, of the twelfth century and the oldest thing in the church. In the chancel is the monument to Thomas Corbet, founder of the grammar school, and his wife, with their eleven children kneeling below them.

The bells

There is a ring of eight bells, rung on Sundays and for weddings. The fourth bell is dated 1652, the same year as the Flood Bell in the museum, and is thought to be by the same founder. Ringing practice is on Wednesday evenings.

The violet window

The second window from the west in the north aisle has three lights glazed in plain diamond quarries of clear glass. Among them are 41 quarries of violet glass, scattered unevenly through the three lights, more of them in the middle light than in the others. In the afternoon sun the north aisle floor below it is marked with violet.

The glass is of about 1660. The church guide says that the window is “by tradition put in remembrance of the woman who stood on the bridge in the great water of 1648”, and that the donor and the reason for the gift are not recorded. The window was releaded in 1987, when the position of every violet quarry was recorded before the glass was taken out, and every quarry was put back where it had been.

Below the window, outside, is the largest lilac in the churchyard.

Visiting

  • Open daily from 9.00 until dusk, except during services.
  • Step-free access by the ramp at the south porch.
  • Please do not visit during services or funerals.
  • Tower tours are run by the bell ringers twice a year; the dates are in What’s on when they are announced.

For services, baptisms, weddings and funerals, please contact the parish office, not the Trust.