Church Tours will start on Monday 11th March 2024 and continue until the end of October. Usually there are 6 tours each week provided by trained guides who love to share the rich heritage and treasures of this impressive Wool Church set in the heart of our Market Place.
The tours cover the history of the church founded about 1150 AD, and the troubled relationship with the Abbey during the Middle Ages. The changes of the Tudor years were more settled, but the Civil War brought more unrest. Throughout, the flourishing wool markets helped the town to thrive and to become the flourishing Market Town in these present modern times. Points of special interest include the Tower and its buttresses. The Tower is open on several Saturdays in the Summer. The stained glass windows in the Trinity Chapel, the carvings and tombs in particular that of the Bridges Family and Dr Masters in the Lady Chapel. There is fan vaulting and wall paintings and the ambry cupboard in the Catherine Chapel.
Monumental brasses ear the Trinity and Lady Chapels
On to the Chancel, with its floor tiles, upgraded by Gilbert Scot in the 1860s, windows and organ pipes. Continuing into the South aisle to see the Garstang Chapel, unique Boleyn Cup and the wine glass shaped pulpit and eagle shaped lectern. Moving up the South Aisle to the Baptismal font, the Ralph Parson medieval cope from 1478, and the tomb of the Monox family, finishing with the Lego model of the Abbey made to celebrate 900 years of its founding in 2017. This is a great favourite for families.
Tours are free but donations are always welcome.
Tours are advertised monthly on the Parish website www.cirenparish.co.uk and in the church, the visitor information centre, and at the Corinium Museum. They are also in most of the local hotels, the RAU, and various business hubs in Town and the caravan park.
Additional private tours can be arranged for societies and special interest groups at a cost of £5 per head and these can be booked and through the Parish Office at 01285 659 317 or email office@cirenparish.co.uk
Deirdre Waddell
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