St Laurence in Thanet: Story of a Parish

St Laurence church has stood overlooking Ramsgate for almost a thousand years. Over the centuries, countless couples have married there and brought their children for baptism and many have laid their loved ones to rest in the churchyard. This volume looks at the development of the building and the stories behind the monuments, from the well known such as John Collis Browne and William Garrow to lesser known military heroes and pioneering seafarers. It considers the role played by the clergy and looks at the various ways in which the church has tried to serve the community, such as the creation of the Tudor school and the Georgian and Victorian schemes to provide medical assistance to the poor. It tells the stories of other people associated with the church such as Princess Victoria and Thomas Cranmer. Through the study of changing patterns of worship, it seeks to place the church in context with wider movements such as the Reformation and Tractarianism. Based on over twenty thousand hours of study of original documents, this book aims to show what has made it the church it is today.