Parish Church of St.Lawrence, Ridgewell : Introduction

This noble church serves a village of antiquity, for Ridgewell (Old English changed, meaning a 'reedy stream'), was a village in Saxon days and found mention in Domesday Book (1086). But of the church there is no note until a century and a half later, and the medieval dedication to St. Lawrence may well reflect Norman influence. It is a relatively large church, for in the Middle Ages Ridgewell was a comparatively prosperous and important place, - a market and fair town. Its fair went back to at least 1245 A.D. and was held on the vigil, feast and morrow of St. Lawrence's Day (August 9,10,11); and its weekly market (held on a Tuesday) dated back to at least 1318. One record suggests the fair may have survived here into the early nineteenth century. Another old feature of Ridgewell worthy of note is the common or green which certainly existed by 1365.

Contents:

  1. Architecture
  2. History
  3. Chronology of Vicars
  4. U.S.A.F. : 381st Bomb Group
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