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St Mary's Church,
Lasborough Park,
Lasborough, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded before 1086, and we understand it is still open.

St Mary's Church is a Grade II Listed Building - see the British Listed Buildings website for details (listed with Westonbirt). It is of medieval foundation but was completely rebuilt 1861-2 by Lewis Vulliamy for R.S. (Robert Stayner) Holford. It consists of nave and chancel, with south porch and small north vestry. There is a cross finial at the east end of the chancel roof, and an unusual bellcote at the west end of the nave. The stained glass, with various flower and geometric designs, was ordered from James Powell & Sons in 1861. The designs, called "quarries", were made by pressing or rolling semi-molten glass into moulds, which were then painted or stained to the indented pattern; the glass then fired in the conventional manner. Examples of the beautiful panels Powell & Sons' workshop produced may be seen on the website of The Stained Glass Museum. This type of glazing was once very fashionable, but is now becoming rare. The Firm was later known as Whitefriars, and closed in 1973.

Kelly's Directory of 1923 provides the additional information that the western bellcote (or turret) contains 2 bells, the tenor bell presented by Mrs. G. Thomas, a former churchwarden. The altar, of fine carved oak, came from a farmhouse on the Holford estate at Arlingham. Its location was described as "in a valley or "bottom", near the Bath and Cheltenham road, 5 miles south from Nailsworth terminal station of the Midland railway from Stonehouse and 5 west from Tetbury station on the branch of the Great Western railway from Kemble Junction". The parish records date from 1827 - earlier entries are included in the registers of Westonbirt, or occasionally in neighbouring parishes.

The reason for this is that although Lasborough had a priest (and presumably a church), at the time of Domesday, and in 1284 and 1318 a rectory in the gift of the lord of the manor, it had become depopulated by 1381, with the lord and lady of the manor alone being assessed for tax that year. By the 15th century the living was described as a free chapel, which by the mid 17th century was united with Westonbirt for civil purposes, until 1868, when the benefices themselves were united, though the parishes remained separate.

Lasborough Manor itself is first recorded in the 11th century. In1066 it was held by Lewin, but had passed to Gilbert bishop of Lisieux by 1086, when it was occupied by his tenant Hugh Maminot. An early manor house was recorded in 1319, but this was replaced about 1610 by Thomas Estcourt, who had purchased the estate in 1598. This property, now known as "Lasborough Manor", is a Listed Building in its own right.

At the time of the 14th century manor house, a Deer park and woodland were laid out around it. It became a farm when the Estcourt family built a new country house in the late 18th century. "Pleasure Grounds" were also laid out at the same time as the house, now known as Lasborough House.

Please note Lasborough Park and Lasborough Farm are now private properties, and NOT open to the public. [Other Sources: the Parks & Gardens UK, and the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (1976), pp.285-293 (Westonbirt with Lasborough)]

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church is located at OS grid reference ST8219094137. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St Mary's Church, Lasborough shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Lasborough shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Lasborough, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)
• “The fascinating history of stained glass, an art-form that has been practised in Britain for at least thirteen hundred years”… The Stained Glass Museum (null) (verified 2018-11-21)
• The leading on-line resource for historic parks and gardens, Parks & Gardens UK (null) (verified 2018-12-21)
• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (null) (verified 2018-11-06)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.