Back
in 2002, this site was reviewed by the Sunday
Times, which pronounced it brilliant,
and refered to me as an English eccentric,
both of which I am still uncommonly proud. The
sub-editor contacted me and asked to use St
Lawrence, Lackford, as seen across the oilseed
rape fields, a photograph of which at that time
graced the entry on my site for this church. When
the article in the newspaper came out, there it
was at the top of the page. There was an irony
about this, and I didn't mention it to the
sub-editor. Simply, St Laurence was one of the
least welcoming and accessible churches I had
found in East Anglia. From the time of my first
visit in 1998 to my most recent visit during Open
Churches week 2011, I have never found it open,
never found a keyholder notice. The years in
between have been punctuated by e-mails from
other church explorers and pilgrims bemoaning the
same experience. I have no idea why this should
be. True, Lackford is in an area where several
churches are kept locked (but can the crime rate
in the area to the north of Bury St Edmunds
really be so much higher than, say, in the
area to the north of Ipswich, where virtually all
the churches are kept open?). But the other
churches in the Lackford area have keyholder
notices, and Lackford church doesn't. And, in my
experience, it never has. It all seems terribly
sad.
The real irony, I suppose, is that
during the considerable restoration of 1868 the
words from Genesis were inscribed above the south
door: This is none other than the House of
God, and this is the Gate of Heaven. Beneath
this inscription, the Gate of Heaven is barred by
a heavy metal grill, closed by a brass padlock.
One is reminded of what the antiquarian David
Davy wrote in his journal when he visited
Lackford in 1829: I have not seen a place of
religious worship so utterly neglected as this;
it is a great discredit to the Rector and to his
parishioners.
Well,
St Laurence's fabric certainly isn't being
neglected today, as we shall see in a moment, and
the setting at the top of a hill is idyllic. Sam
Mortlock finds plenty to say about Lackford
church, from the fine 14th Century font to the
capitals of the north arcade, from the medieval
bench ends incorporated into 19th Century
woodwork to the 13th Century sedilia. However, he
pronounces the Henry Holiday glass in the east
window poor stuff. Perhaps the parish
are embarassed by it.
The late, great church
explorer Tom Muckley, a regular fellow
traveller with me on this site, once
e-mailed me with a list of possible
reasons why a particular church in
Norfolk was kept in a similarly
locked-no-access-to-pilgrims state. The
PCC responsible for running such a
church, he observed, must be
inhospitable, or unfriendly, or
unhelpful, or disinterested, or
suspicious, or unenthusiastic, or
ungenerous, or thoughtless, or
mean-spirited, or lacking in energy, or
rude, or incompetent, or even downright
lazy.
Well,
that is more than I know of course. One
wonders what such people think a church
is for. I was struck whilst
researching this article that St Laurence
has received several substantial grants
from public bodies in recent years,
including English Heritage and the
Suffolk Historic Churches Trust. It has
always been my understanding that such
awards carry with them the proviso that
access to the church should be provided
for at reasonable times. Because if not,
of course, all that has happened is that
the parish has taken a rather large wodge
of money for the upkeep of a posh venue
for its private Sunday club, and that
cannot be the way forward for the Church
of England, I think.
Postscript: In December 2011, the
churchwardens of St Lawrence, Lackford wrote to
me: As churchwardens of Lackford
church we are prompted to write to you,
at the instigation of a parishoner, to set the
record straight on inaccuracy in your personal
view of our church and its custodianship by the
PCC. We are prepared to accept
that you have visited the church on
ocassions and found it locked. At one
time, the church was never locked, but after the
theft of a very valuable medieval bishop's
chair, and severe vandalism on another occasion,
it was decided that we would be failing in our
duty not to protect the church and its contents
to the best of our ability. You may feel
that locking the church is an overaction,
but please try to understand our
attitude when I explain that the law has provided
no protection or recompense. The position
of our beautiful little church is one of its
attractions, set on a rise away from the village,
overlooking Lackford Lakes,with a mature wood to
the east and surrounded by open
countryside. But it is this very position
which makes it so vulnerable. It is
difficult to keep watch on the church from the
village, and it is easy to access it from three
directions by footpaths, making approach and
getaway easy. To improve observation, we
have removed overgrowth from the north and west
sides of the churchyard, but it is still very
easy to get to the church unobserved.
The message is that we are doing our best
to preserve our church's heritage. We are
conscious that a place of worship has stood on
this site since before the Conquest, and that we
have an obligation to protect it for future
generations. Not to do so would be
irresponsible. You claim that the church
is never unlocked, except for worship, and that
there is no notice of keyholders. This is
totally untrue, and has been for several
years. There are in fact several notices on
the door to the church, including the names and
phone numbers of three keyholders. All of
us are very proud of our church, and
are pleased to show visitors round.
During the months of April to September,
inclusive, the church is unlocked every sunday
and bank holiday between the hours of 9.00am
to 5.00pm, which again is clearly stated on the
notice board. How could you have missed
this, if you genuinely visited? We
also strongly refute your inference that
we seek to preserve the building solely for
regular worshipers. Quite the
contrary. We encourage use of the church by
other groups in the parish. It is used
regularly by the Community Council, Parish
Council and the PCC, also for ocassional fund
raising events such as charity quizes.
If you are genuinely serious about providing
information on Suffolk churches, perhaps you
could kindly replace the misinformation on your
private website with something nearer the truth.
Colin Smith and Harry Lidster, Churchwardens.
Simon Knott, October 2011
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