St Laurence’s Church

About St Laurence's

St Laurence Church is a Grade I listed building, and occupies a site to the south of the High Street near the centre of the village. Parts of the building date back to the 13th century, although a church has stood on the site for more than 1000 years. The tower houses 5 bells, which can be rung or chimed, and an electrically driven clock strikes the hours.

The church stands in a regularly maintained graveyard, which is still in use for burials. There is also a designated area for interment of ashes.

Inside the church, the nave has fixed pews for about 150 people, and choir stalls in the chancel for 20.  There are sufficient chairs for about an extra 50 seats.

A new kitchen and toilet with disabled access have recently been installed, including a baby changing table. Funds are regularly raised for various work that is needed to maintain and repair the fabric of the Church, by a local secular fundraising group, STREAM (St Laurence Trust for Restoration and Maintenance). See below for further information about STREAM.

A new sound system has also recently been installed, funded by gifts from a member of the congregation.

Our greatest challenge in recent years was to replace the lead roof to the nave of the church which cost in the region of £90,000 and came mostly through grant funding and the generosity of local residents. Sadly the church fell victim to lead thieves in 2016 and the lead from both the side aisle roofs has been stolen. These are currently protected by felting but the lead will have to be replaced next year which will be a challenge needing the support of the whole community.

There are strong links with Foxton Primary School, and we are regularly invited to lead assemblies. Occasional school services (such as Harvest Festival, Carol Service and even mock weddings and baptisms!) are held in the church for the children and their parents.

STREAM

STREAM is a Community Trust set up in 1999 as an ongoing campaign to secure the survival of St. Laurence’s Church as part of Foxton’s village heritage. Trustees raise funds to maintain this important Grade 1 listed historical building for present and future Foxton generations.
We do this through regular fund-raising activities, for example a Quiz and Curry evening, an annual Cream Tea afternoon and various other events. Every year we host a Cheese and Wine evening for our highly valued Friends of STREAM members. Anyone can be a Friend of STREAM – email foxton.stream@hotmail.com for further information.

Scarecrow Festival

Every year there is an event in the village that St Laurence’s loves to get involved in.  On ‘odd’ years the village holds a scarecrow festival, and on even years it holds a Christmas Windows events.

The scarecrows are truly amazing.  TV, films and books clearly provided some inspiration as the village played host to an army of Harry Potter-themed creations (including a dementor, a basilisk and Harry himself disappearing onto Platform 9¾!), plus a midwife on her bicycle, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, Willy Wonka, Fireman Sam and Spiderman.

Then came the environmental ones – extinction rebellion, protesting in support of the poor crows, climate change protesters, a conservationist in the Dovecot Meadow and a plastic pollution robot, made by the Guides.

Animals also featured this year, with a beautiful sloth in a tree and a pig cooking sausages on the barbecue and there were some wonderful musical ones, including Ed Sheerin, a ‘festival’ performer and the ‘Wurzels’ in a JCB digger on the A10.

Visitors were treated to bacon butties, warming soup and delicious home-made cakes and entertainment in the Village Hall.  Recently, we introduced online voting and the public chose three winning designs as their favourites – previous winners being Stick Man, a dog walker and dog, and Paddington Bear.

In 2023 a considerable amount was raised for St Laurence’s Church and Foxton Primary School.

Who to contact

Our rector is Rev’d David Lee – see Contacts for how to get in touch.

The Churchwarden responsible for St Laurence’s is  Mrs Karen Butler-Clark who you can call on 07884 214600 or email at foxton.churchwarden@thefourchurchbenefice.org