St Michael’s Church, Lamplugh

St Michael’s Church in Lamplugh, Cumberland, has been built at least four times. The first and final dates are rather common for church construction, being 1150 and 1870, but the middle two are unusual, for very few church buildings were constructed during those periods. In 1658, during the puritan Protectorate, the country was still recovering from the financial losses of the civil wars, and the prevailing puritan theology saw little advantage in enlarging or aggrandising existing structures. The third re-build of 1771 witnessed a different spiritual and intellectual climate, but the parish structure was settled and it was the dissenters who tended to build and enlarge rather than the more inert and contented Anglicans.

A few traces of the medieval building survive, chiefly the arch between the chancel and vestry, above. The 1650s is a little harder to spot, but the vestry windows have angular drip boards with carved faces, and come from that period, I suspect. The Victorian rebuilding project will have covered a lot of this material up, and recycled the stonework.

Perhaps the days are coming when few churches will be built this century. Secularism, the expansion of Islam, the terminal decline of the major denominations and the growth of house churches may all combine to limit the construction of dedicated Christian buildings in Great Britain. Nevertheless, traces of various pedigrees shall survive, and a heritage shall be preserved, until such time as the Lord returns. We burn our lamps the brighter as the world grows darker; we pass on our mantle to the next generation, no matter how threadbare it now appears.

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Isaiah 46:10

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