Church Micro 11572...Lindridge Multi-Cache

It stands above a meander of the swift-flowing River Teme and looks out over the orchards and hopyards of the beautiful Teme Valley.

 

A church has stood here for countless generations, but today the visitor’s first glimpse is of a red sandstone steeple peeping out above the trees. The remainder of this Victorian building of 1862 is hidden from view until its threshold is reached. Its predecessor had been in so great a need of repair that the east window had been filled up to provide support for an undignified buttress. An even earlier structure may have been damaged by fire, but the evidence is lost in the mists of time. Today’s building, designed by Nicholson of Hereford, replaces the old and has stood unaltered ever since.

 

The churchyard rises behind the church. This tranquil spot is home to a swathe of old grassland flowers. Hoary plantain, Lady’s bedstraw and agrimony flourish here, and slow-growing lichens enjoy the clean air. Birds and fluttering butterflies complete the scene of rural calm. A gate leads out of the top of the churchyard to a high point, from which the views along the valley, east to Abberley and west to Wales and north the Clee Hills are glorious.

 

St Lawrence's Church comprises a chancel, north vestry with organ chamber containing a 2-manual pipe organ, south aisle of two bays and a southwest steeple above the porch. The nave and south aisle are enhanced, on sunny days, by multi-coloured light rays streaming through the patterned stained glass windows. Made by a Midlands glass company, Chance and Co, these were placed in memory of the infant sons of William Smith, baronet of Eardiston, who paid the lion’s share of the church’s rebuilding costs. The font is of alabaster, replacing a damaged Norman predecessor, and was given by the Firkins family of Eardiston. Choir stalls were added in 1878. Some monuments from the previous building, dedicated to All Saints, still survive. Of these, the seventeenth century Penell family plaques remind us of a family who lost their lands to the Stuart cause. The other relics of the previous buildings are the four bells. One, a survivor of mediaeval times, is inscribed “Ave Maria Gracia Plena Dominus Tecum” and is stamped with the heads of Henry 1V and Queen Margaret. It was cast in Worcester around 1480. The others date from 1626, 1663, and 1702. The plate consists of a silver cup and paten from 1698 and a silver flagon, a gift of Mrs Mary Winwood of Eardiston, in 1771. The parish registers date from 1574.