St Lawrence Crosby Ravensworth

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The Church

Open Church

We are open each day from 9am  to 5pm for private prayer and contemplation.

The Church of St Lawrence Crosby Ravensworth stands proudly besides the remains of the old cross, which dates back to around 700AD. It has a fine Early English doorway and nave arcade of the same period. As a result of Victorian ‘improvement’, it is the largest church in the group and we are proud of it, but it constantly needs a lot of work to be done in repair and refurbishment. However, we have made progress in replacing all the electrics, stemming leaks, replacing downspouts and gutters, adding the underpew heating, glassing in a large transept for winter services, installing a dehumidifier to help keep the church dry and better lighting to focus on the beautiful stonework.

We are referred to in the 1994 Cumbria version of Pevsner/Hyde  [ISBN  978-0-300-12663-1] pages 307-311 as ‘unexpectedly grand and fully developed church’ Grade I listed.

Our organ is a rare, double manual complete pipe organ made by Wilkinson of Kendal in 1850. It has been taken apart and carried up and down to Kendal once or twice, on a train which stopped at the long-closed Shap station. However it was seriously damaged by damp during a brief closure period ten years ago, and was under repair in York. The Wilkinson organ, having been entirely overhauled, has now been returned from York and is in place. It has a fine flutey sound, much appreciated by all who hear it or come to play it [only experienced organists please].

We have a Commonwealth War Grave in the cemetery for which we have approved the positioning of a sign, and the cemetery also contains the well-visited grave of a cyclist who died shortly after passing through the village.

The PCC is working to bring the school, village and church closer together. We usually take events such as Harvest Festival and Christmas carol-singing into the village hall or pub, and church members are encouraged to be active in other community groups in and around the parish, which also includes Maulds Meaburn and Reagill.

Our church tradition is relatively ‘low’ with a minimum of ritual and ceremony. We have Holy Communion once a month, with another service being lay-led and we have recently re-introduced a monthly evening service. We endeavour to keep the church open daily during daylight hours, and receive appreciative comments from hikers and cyclists who often call in for a look around whilst stopping for lunch.