St Lawrence's Church, Stoak

St Lawrence's Church, Stoak
St Lawrence's Church, Stoak, from the southwest
St Lawrence's Church, Stoak Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°15′12″N 2°51′55″W / 53.2534°N 2.8654°W / 53.2534; -2.8654
OS grid reference	SJ 423 734
Location	Stoak, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Open Evangelical
History
Dedication	St Lawrence
Architecture
Status	Team ministry
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	1 June 1967
Architect(s)	George Edgecombe
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Specifications
Materials	Red sandstone, slate roofs
Administration
Parish	Ellesmere Port Team
Deanery	Wirral South
Archdeaconry	Chester
Diocese	Chester
Province	York

St Lawrence's Church is in the village of Stoak, Cheshire, England, (which lies between the intersection of the M56 and M53 motorways and the Shropshire Union Canal). The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, the deanery of Wirral South and the Ellesmere Port team ministry.

A Saxon chapel was originally on the site. It was not mentioned in the Domesday Book but fragments of architecture still present in the 19th century showed that a new church must have been built soon after the Norman conquest. Ormerod quotes sources from the 14th century which stated that at that time the church was "a sumptuous fabric of stone and wood, of great size, with four bells, but was then becoming ruinous". The present church dates from its rebuilding in 1827, undertaken by George Edgecombe (or Edgecumbe), and very little of the original work remains. A further restoration was carried out in 1911–12.

The church has a cruciform plan with a west tower, nave, north and south transepts and a chancel. The tower dates from 1827, and is in the style of the 15th century. In the 1827 restoration the north wall was left largely intact. The tower has corner buttresses and is embattled. On its west face is a recessed door above which is a two-light window and over that is a clock in a lozenge tablet. The clock has one hand.