The Chapel Of St. Laurence ~ Some Notes Of Interest, written by Geoffrey Tout, July 2003:
The Chapel of Saint Laurence, Warminster, is known as a “Peculiar’, existing outside of the Church of England control. It is in distinguished company among other churches. Westminster Abbey and St. George’s Chapel. Windsor, being two Royal “Peculiars’.
The Chapel of Saint Laurence, is an independent foundation, held in trust since 1575 by twelve feoffees for use by all the townspeople of Warminster with no particular denominational basis. It is within the C. of E. parish of St. Denys and on the appointment of a new Vicar (of Warminster, for the Minster Church) the feoffees invite that person to take the services and he has assistance from the C. of E. clergy from the Cley Hill Team Ministry which covers that part of the town and some of the adjacent villages. He also, from time to time, invites other Anglican priests, the Roman Catholic priest, the Garrison (Army) Padre from St. Giles (Anglican) Church, the Baptist Minister, the United Church Minister and other retired ministers. Many live in the area, having been trained at one time in Warminster as part of Kings College. That is no longer so and the Kings College property at Church Street, Warminster, is now occupied by Warminster School – an independent school of some 500 pupils from all over the world. We are very grateful to the clergy for their voluntary work in taking the services – we are indeed fortunate.
There is Holy Communion on Wednesdays at 10.00 and Evensong on the 3rd Sunday in each month at 3.30. All are most welcome.
Requests for baptisms, weddings and funerals occur from time to time but there needs be a clear link to the chapel – it is an exceptional place and the feoffees do not encourage such occasions if the intention is to be “fashionable’ or “different’! In any case for a wedding to take place, apart from local considerations, there is a need to obtain an Archbishop (Of Canterbury) Special Licence (fee at present £125). Funerals do take place from time to time, but the undertakers have great difficulty in manoeuvring the coffin inside the chapel!
It is also used for ecumenical services, e.g. CTW (Churches together in Warminster), Amnesty International and also by other denominations when there has been a problem with the use of their premises, e.g. fire/extensive repairs, etc. This has resulted in the Chapel being used for several months by the Roman Catholic Church and, on another occasions, by the Methodist Church (no longer as such). There are also four Anglican Churches, a Baptist Chapel, a United Church and a Christian Scientist Hall in the town. During the War St. Laurence’s Chapel was used for services to save the cost of blacking out all the other churches’ windows!
It was purely voluntary on the part of the townspeople without any suggestion by or agreement of the feoffees. At the time of Princess Diana’s death we found that the public of all denominations were laying wreaths on the front lawn and in no time it was covered. This provided a perfect setting for a moving memorial service on 6th September 1997. Again, for the duration of the on-going Iraq conflict, CTW arranged for a meeting at 12 noon each day (except Sundays) for Prayers of Peace and Justice. That gives some idea of the very nature of the Chapel in the life of the town, sandwiched as it is in the main street with neighbours being the Town Hall (now in private ownership), Woolworth’s. Bristol & West Building Society, Halifax Building Society, Oxfam, a dry cleaner and a solicitor. The Chapel is open every day from approx. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the visitors’ book is very interesting – from all over the world. Most years we have a flower festival around the Patronal Service in August, and in recent years we have had a Christmas floral festival – donations amount to around £300 each Christmas and a charity is given the proceeds – Cancer UK, MacMillan Nurses, Multiple Sclerosis, the local hospice, etc.
Whenever I go into St. Laurence’s Chapel, and it’s sometimes three or four times a week, there is nearly always someone or a couple sitting quietly in contemplation. It is an oasis in the midst of the traffic and commerce of the town. Most of the feoffees are on a security rota. Luckily there’s very little trouble – and we have CCTV covering our doorstep. We locked up one night and left someone asleep on one of the pews. He broke a stained-glass window to get out and then apologised next morning and paid for the damage (£800) in cash!
The organ is on the side of the chapel and the organist sits out in the congregation facing the altar with them. When the organ was completely overhauled in 1974, the chapel was closed for a few weeks so that all the parts could be laid out on the pews for cleaning, repair or restoration.
There is a clock in the tower but it does not have a face. It has a 36-hour movement and in consequence needs winding at least every 24 hours and this entails some 24 winding steps to the clock room and the same down, unless you miss your footing – the feoffees are on rota. The clock chimes the quarter and dongs the hour. In 1985 an attempt to put a face on the tower was not permitted by the District Council.
At the west end of the Chapel there are name boards showing many of the feoffees since 1575. Again, when we came to having it updated, we only had to pay for the gold leaf – the lettering was done by the Technical College as a project.
We have a cottage behind the Chapel, not seen from the road, which used to be used by the Sexton who had to ring the rising (4 a.m.) bell and the curfew (8 p.m.) bell each day. The cottage is now available for office purposes and brings in much needed income. We have to be self-sufficient otherwise we, as feoffees have to raise the necessaries. That’s how I became a feoffee and also the Treasurer – they thought in 1969 to raise £5,000 it would be easier, in my capacity as the then Urban District Council Treasurer (having to deal with all the ratepayers, tenants and businesses in the town) to suggest that they might like to add a bit to their rent or rates and I could put it to one side for the Chapel. That was not on!
At that time we needed to replace the front parapet – some £1,500 in intricate stonework – we had an anonymous donor – the work was done and then the stones had to remain in the Chapel for six months until we raised the £1,000 to position them, etc. We had to take in the stones as VAT was due to come in the next week and that would have increased the costs. When they were in situ they looked brand new compared with the rest of the building so they gave it several treatments of cow dung and it soon looked as mellow as the rest that had been there some 200 years. As they were about 18 feet up we couldn’t smell the parapet.
To give some idea, we have just had to renegotiate the insurance policy for the Chapel, with a professional valuation for fully rebuilding in its present form – although that would not be possible – to the tune of £1,400,000. We have therefore adopted the normal practice of insuring for 75% of value. This would enable us, if there was a complete rebuild, to replace with more modern materials etc. We are now looking to improve the external floodlighting which is on all year. With the Town Council and the District Council we might get most of it in grants – we will see.
A perusal of the minutes for the last 175 years provided some interesting notes:
1824 Cottage built.
1828-30 There was only one feoffee.
1832 New Deed of Feoffment covering 12 new members.
1854 Chapel insured for fire loss. Cover £400.
1856 Nave rebuilt. Six old houses standing in front of the chapel were demolished.
1879 Cover increased to £1,000.
1883 Improvements including new altar.
1887 Railings to be painted – but couldn’t be done in time for Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations.
1888 New heating stove. £19. 1s. 0d. Water to cottage.
1889 Fire cover increased to £2,000.
1890 Harraway & Scott to maintain gardens and stock with flowers £5. Some feoffees thought it was too high.
1897 Spire and cottage struck by lightning – claim settled for £393. 11s. 11d. – but organ damage £7, not paid.
1898 Spire restored to original design for £294. 5s. 7d. Lightning conductor installed for £10. Minute Book – changed St. Laurence to St. Lawrence.
1903 Bible repaired for £1. 7s. 6d.
1907 New altar cloths worked by the Ladies of St. Denys. Cost of materials not to exceed £5.
1909-1916 No minutes prepared.
1921 H.A. Wakeman appointed Steward, £8. 8s. per annum. New Prayer Book provided at cost of £3. £2. 10s. paid for new surplice and cassock for Priest.
1922 Several old properties sold, realising £654. 9s. 8d.
1926 Inside of chapel completely renovated £21. 10s. New carpet for main aisle £4 1s. Minster font transferred to the Chapel.
1926-1937 No minutes found.
1937 Mrs Joseph Penn appointed Sexton. Wages £16 per annum (included cleaning) plus use of the cottage.
1939 Only one church to be used for worship during the War. St. Lawrence was chosen. Windows blacked out.
1947 Steward’s honorarium £12. 12s. per annum.
1948 Mr. A.J. Grace to repair clock (£10) and wind daily for £5 per annum. He continued until 1985.
1949 New St. George’s flag purchased. New pole given by Mr. Hedley Curtis.
1950 Stripping and retiling north roof and gutterwork. £300.
1952 Collections falling off. Only £10 this year. Clock-winding now £7. 10s. per annum.
1953 New electrically heated boiler in place of coal.
1954 Electricity very expensive. Switched off.
1955 Maintenance of front garden by Urban District Council not accepted.
1960 Front railings removed and sold for scrap.
1961 Request for use by Free Church Council for United Day of Prayer and Universal Week of Prayer, not approved as “since the reformation all services were according to the rites of the Church of England”.
1967 Gardeners’ Society no longer able to maintain grounds.
1968 Sexton, Mrs Amy Penn, retired (thus ending 59 years of continuous service by the Penn family).
1969 Eight new feoffees appointed. Appeal target of £5,000 agreed – to carry out extensive works in time for the 400th Anniversary of the chapel being bought by the townspeople (1975).
1971 New heaters installed by Mr. Des Bishop.
1972 Cottage leased to Warminster History Society.
1973 Old deeds passed to the County Archivist.
1974 Organ repairs – £650 plus VAT – paid by anonymous benefactor.
1975 Appeal target reached and 400th Anniversary celebrated. Lectern drape – embroidered by Dr. and Mrs. Graham-Campbell presented to the Chapel (“1575-1975”).
1976 Appeal closed. Total £5,858.
1977 Used by the Methodist Church during their repair project.
1982 Cottage leased by the Citizens Advice Bureau.
1984 Extensive clock repairs carried out by David Pollard and his helpers.
1985 Generous legacy received from the late Eustace Middleton.
1988 Used by St. George’s Roman Catholic Church during their major refurbishment.
1991 Aninymous gift of specially designed “St. Lawrence chair”.
1994 Generous legacy received from the late Elizabeth Ryall.
1995 Leadwork to the tower carried out. £4,000 plus VAT.
1997 Feoffees’ Name Boards removed, renovated and relettered.
1999 Wash-hand basin installed.
2003 Water ingross. Extensive renovation works, £4,000.
