The Need For a New Church For Church Lawford and King’s Newnham
In 1870 a survey was commissioned to look at the structure and stability of the existing church (drawn above), parts of which dated back to the 11th century. It was to include a review of which parts of that church might be retained should a new building be commissioned. The survey concluded that the old church had mostly been rebuilt in the 12th century, then enlarged in the 14th century. The roof dated back to the 15th century, and the top part of what was a low tower was from the 16th. It found one of the walls was two feet out of perpendicular, and another almost one foot from vertical. It was considered whether the tower, built in three stages, might be retained in a rebuilt church, but its patched-up state was a problem, and the whole church was described as being in a “deplorable condition”. The advice was thus that the whole church should be rebuilt, and as the current church was also too small for the size of the congregation, it should also be larger than the previous building.
The New Church
The new church was built with a number of features retained from the old church. The cost of rebuilding the church and providing the bells, clock, lamps etc amounted to more than £5,000; around half of this was provided by the Duke of Buccleuch, who was then lord of the manor and patron of the living; the remaining portion was furnished by the parishioners. Notable contributions included those from the long-term benefactors – the Worth / Townsend family from Kings Newnham. The Church Lawford branch of the Townsend family (Manor Farm) paid for the church clock, with a brass inscription on the mechanism stating : “Presented by Mr & Mrs William Samuel Townsend and Miss L. H. Townsend. 1872.” Miss L H Townsend was Louisa Hartlett Townsend (1824-1885), the daughter of Mrs and Mrs William Samuel Townsend, born in Foleshill, Coventry.
Mary Bertha Townsend was the first child to be baptised in the new church. The peal of bells had been increased from three to four bells, with three new bells alongside the largest of the earlier trio.
There was extensive coverage of the various events held as part of the reopening of the church. There was praise for many elements of these events, as well as for all the construction work.
The eminent historian William Dugdale (1605-86) was born in Warwickshire and produced a notable reference work called “The Antiquities of Warwickshire” first published in 1656. It is written in the style and language of those times, but clearly has more information about the earlier structure and history of St Peter’s, and of the Parish. One of the remaining projects for this archive is to look more closely at Dugdale’s words on the two villages, as they are regarded by later historians as being extremely valuable.
The Rugby Gazette provided additional information about the new Church in 1875.
