Church of St Laurence is a Grade I listed building in the Westmorland and Furness local planning authority area, England. First listed on 6 February 1968. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Laurence
- WRENN ID
- frozen-nave-peregrine
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Westmorland and Furness
- Constituency
- Westmorland and Lonsdale MP: Tim Farron (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 6 February 1968
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Laurence, Morland
- OS grid reference
- NY 598 225
- Coordinates
- 54.59653, -2.62354
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Laurence is a parish church that dates back to the 11th century, with later additions and alterations, and it underwent extensive restoration in the 19th century. The building is constructed from coursed, squared rubble, featuring quoins on the tower and angle buttresses on the transept. It has graduated slate roofs with copings and kneelers, and a short lead spire on the tower that carries a weathercock from 1769. The church comprises a west tower, a three-bay aisled nave, a transept arm, and a chancel.
The three-stage tower is pre-conquest and has large balusters that support imposts for paired openings on each side. A 17th-century gabled south porch includes stone benches on either side. The inner door, which is panelled and from the 18th century, features a 13th-century surround with a pointed head. There are two 19th-century windows to the right set in 18th-century openings. The nave parapet has two dated panels, one from 1753 at the center south and another from 1772 at the west end on the south side. The south transept arm contains 13th-century lancet windows that were restored in the 19th century.
The chancel has two 16th-century windows on the south side, with a doorway between them and an east window, all featuring segment-headed lights. The doorway has a four-centred head with moulded jambs. A vestry built in 1896 is located to the north. The east and west sides of the north transept arm have single lancets from the 13th century, while other windows are from the 19th century. The north nave windows are 18th-century with semicircular heads and decorative leading, and the two largest have re-used architraves similar to those in Morland House. Below these windows is a door with medieval fittings.
Internally, the nave floor is set down steps. The tower features a massive chamfered plinth and a narrow central door with a semicircular head. The pointed arcade arches have two chamfered orders, with waterleaf capitals on the 12th-century west responds and chalice capitals with filleted shafts on the 13th-century east responds. The central pier on the north side is 12th-century with a scallop capital, while the other piers are from the 13th century. The transept and chancel arches were rebuilt in the 19th century. For further details on fixtures and fittings, refer to the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments and "Past Alive: The story of the Parish Church of St Laurence, Morland," written in 1979 by the Reverend Canon Gervase W. Markham M.A. for the church's 800th anniversary.
Local climate
Church of St Laurence sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,230 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 85% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 56 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 96% of listed buildings. Of these, 35 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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