All Saints Church, Lawshall

All Saints' Church, Lawshall
All Saints' Church, Lawshall, a Grade 1 Listed Building
All Saints' Church, Lawshall Location in Suffolk
Coordinates: 52°09′18″N 0°43′29″E / 52.1549°N 0.7248°E / 52.1549; 0.7248
OS grid reference	TL8643654260
Location	Lawshall, Suffolk
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Edmund Way Benefice, Lawshall Church
History
Dedication	All Saints
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	23 March 1961
Architect(s)	William Butterfield (restorations)
Architectural type	Church
Specifications
Materials	Flint with stone dressings.
Administration
Parish	Lawshall
Archdeaconry	Sudbury
Diocese	St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Rector	Jeremy Parsons
Laity
Churchwarden(s)	Jean Clements Tish Adams

The Parish Church of All Saints' Lawshall, is an Anglican church in the village of Lawshall, Suffolk, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. The church is located between Lawshall Hall and All Saints CEVCP Primary School. The church is part of the St Edmund Way Benefice, whose Rector is Revd Jeremy Parsons.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, Lawshall is recorded as having "a church with 30 acres of free land", and probably long before that time people were worshipping on the site of the present church. As in many churches throughout the country, the building has undergone many changes over the centuries. The two biggest changes took place in the 1440s and 1850s.

The earliest part of the church that can be dated is in the Early English period c.1166–1266, the chancel and possibly the east windows being of this period. The predominant style of construction which can be identified in the aisle window of the nave is known as perpendicular and dates from c.1366–1566.

The church was almost completely rebuilt in the mid-15th century on the profits of the cloth industry. A great deal of rebuilding work took place in the 1440s following a bequeathal in 1426 by William Hanningfield "to the building of Lawshall Church – £40 – for my ancestors to be prayed for". This was a huge amount and would represent millions in today's terms.

Before the violent fracture of the Reformation, All Saints' was where the Catholic priests of the parish ministered. After the Reformation the church became a vast preaching house.

For much of the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern period records are scant but in the 18th century there is greater availability of parish records. Stephen Cambourne, the rector, in his will dated 1704 gave his library of mostly theological books to his successors at Lawshall. About 137 survive and can be viewed at the Records Office library in Bury St Edmunds.

In 1735 the church bells were restored to the tower after being silent for 90 years. The first bells were in place as early as 1553 but were removed about 1650 during the English Civil War. In 1740 the church received the gift of the vicarage house from Baptist Lee, the Lord of the Manor and patron of the church. The vicarage house was on the site of All Saints Primary School. The house was used by assistant clergy until 1820 when Mrs Barrington Purvis gave £500 for its reconstruction as a school.