St Cyriac's Church, Lacock

St Cyriac's church, viewed from the south-west

St Cyriac's Church is a 14th-century Church of England church, located in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire.

History[]

The Norman architecture base to the current church, funded jointly by local landowners Edward of Salisbury of Lacock and William II, Count of Eu of , may have been built on the site of a previously established Saxon church. It is dedicated to a Norman saint, St. Cyriac. The interior has many later monuments to local land owners, including the Baynards, Bonhams, Crokes, Sharingtons, Talbots and Awdreys.^[1]

The church was partly rebuilt in the 14th century, with decorated tracery in a north transept window. But with Lacock a prosperous market town on the Bath, Somerset sheep droving route to London, a more extensive 15th-century rebuild was undertaken from the substantial local tax revenues. This created the perpendicular church on a traditional cruciform plan that exists today, and included the addition of a two-bay east chapel funded by the Bonham and Croke families, which has an east chancel arch window of 6 lights.^[1]

The interior of the church

In 1604 the recessed octagonal tower was rebuilt, followed later by the "cottage" or south annex, comprising two storeys; an attic was built in a rusticated style, described then as the "new Yle" in 1619. After his death in 1636, a series of brass plaques were placed in the church floor commemorating the life of Sir Robert Baynard. (These were stolen in mid-2004, but quickly returned after a national appeal by police.)^[2] The chancel was rebuilt in 1777, in a style out of keeping with the main late-medieval church.^[1]

In the late 1800s, the new owners of Lackham House, the Baynard family, had the then named Lackham chapel, now the Lackham or Baynard, chapel completely rebuilt. A new roof was put on the transept, which was filled with north-facing pews for the Baynard family and their estate workers. In 1861, again funded by the Banyard family, A.W. Blomfield undertook restoration work on the church, including: raising of the transept roofs; a new front; breaking up of the high box pews; taking down the galleries and organ at the west end; breaking in half of ledger stones from the floor. In 1902, Sir Harold Brakspear remodelled the church in a way sympathetic to his friend and local resident, the photographic pioneer William Henry Fox Talbot.^[1]

In 1960 the church was designated as Grade I listed.^[3]

Present day[]

In recent years, the church has been subject to a series of improvement programmes, enabled by public donation, private subscription and funding from national bodies. These have been co-ordinated by both the Friends of Lacock Church and the Lacock Parochial Church Council (LPCC) and included the re-roofing of the Nave and South Transept in 2006.^[4]

Lacock Cup[]

The Lacock Cup on display at the British Museum

Until 1962, when it was lent to the British Museum, the church was home to a medieval silver chalice, known as the Lacock Cup. Dating from the mid-15th century, the cup has been described as "one of the most significant pieces of secular English medieval silver".^[5] In 2009, LPCC had the cup valued at £1.8M.^[6] After approval of the cup's sale by a Consistory court in December 2012,^[7] it was sold to a joint bid by the British Museum and the Wiltshire Museum, Devizes.^[5] With the funds being invested to raise income to allow restoration of St Cyriac's infrastructure,^[8] as part of the sale agreement two replicas will be made: one for liturgical use at the church, and one to go on display at the Wiltshire Museum, when the original is not on display.^[5]