Pittington Church: A Walk Through Time

St Laurence Church in Pittington Durham is a fine example of 1100AD Norman architecture that even pre-dates the magnificent Cathedral in the City. The arches and pillars of the old church were even practice models for the building of the Cathedral and the similarities in the design are evident to see. The Church was built on an earlier site of worship that housed a wooden structure used by Saxon tribes.

Today, St. Laurence is still used by the residents of Pittington and being one of the oldest buildings in the area, it gets a steady flow of visitors and ramblers throughout any given year.

Internally, the building is a window into our past; the stone structure, original timbers and drawings on the ceiling have remained unchanged for centuries, but the fascination for the site goes a step further when one wanders around the grounds and ancient churchyard.

Amongst the crumbling headstones in the churchyard lie former vicars and reverends; one of whom was so afraid of death that he insisted on being buried with a looking glass, candle and hatchet. There are knights from the crusades, murder victims, rich and powerful landlords and coal mine owners. There’s poor hand inscribed stones, badly spelled and carved and there’s gravestones that have actually merited listed building status. There’s a Mount Calvary stone cross to commemorate the village dead and evidence throughout the yard of the toll residents paid when King Coal visited this tiny agricultural settlement in the 19th century

The exterior of the church boasts a Danish sundial carved into the wall, leper windows that were used to feed a colony of lepers from nearby Pittington hills and a magnificent brass and copper click on the main bell tower. Although the building has been added to throughout the centuries, there are still large sections that remain original.

Pittington Church remains one of the best examples of our past and its settings, surrounded by natural woodland and countryside, makes it an idyllic scene that masks an ongoing turbulence in man’s efforts to reach the modern world we live in today.