St Laurence's Church, Chorley 2.67

St Laurence's Church is in Union Street, Chorley, Lancashire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Chorley, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the diocese of Blackburn. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.HistoryA church was almost certainly present on the site in the Anglo-Saxon era as the daughter church of Croston. The first documentary record is dated 1362 and refers to a priest for the church. A letter dated 1442 refers to a reliquary owned by the church which is said to contain bones of Saint Laurence. The tower in the present church dates from the 15th century. St Laurence's became a parish church in its own right in 1793, and subsequently the mother church of the other churches in the town. A major rebuilding of the church took place in 1859–61, when among other changes, the galleries were removed, and aisles were added. There is disagreement about the architect responsible for this. Hartwell and Pevsner in the Buildings of England series say it was Charles Verelst (formerly Reed) of Liverpool, but Price attributes the work to the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley. Further alterations took place in 1913–14. The interior of the church was reordered towards the end of the 20th century.