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Description: | In 1835 the decision was made to replace the run down St Laurence's Church with a new church in the town centre. On 9th May 1836 HRH Prince George laid the foundation stone of the new building: it was consecrated on 1st July 1837 by the Bishop of Lincoln and also dedicated to St Laurence. The new church cost £3,200; it was a plain building with uncomfortable pews, planned to hold 700 people. By an oversight, the church was not registered for marriages and all those that took place until 1850 were consequently illegal. In 1850 registration took place and a special Act of Parliament was passed declaring all previous marriages legal. With the rapid increase in the town's population, various plans were made to enlarge the church. Several schemes fell through, but in 1876 HRH Princess Christian laid the first stone of the enlarged church which was consecrated on 24th September 1878 by the Bishop of Oxford. This was an opportunity to put an end to the complications which had arisen by the restoration of the old St. Laurence's Church. The new church was consecrated to St. Mary as this name had already found its way in error on to an Ordnance map. Further growth in Slough led to the enlargement of the nave in 1912; the work was done by a local builder, H.D. Bowyer. At the same time a new organ was installed.
James Elliman, a local businessman, provided much of the money. His generosity allowed for the tower and spire to be constructed - also by Mr Bowyer. On 2nd April 1913 a flag flew on top of the spire to celebrate the laying of the last stone.
The tower, spire and newly installed bells were dedicated by the Bishop of Stepney on 19th June 1913. The spire that still features so prominently on Slough's skyline is thought to be the last one in the country to have been built of stone.
The postcard is dated March 29th 1904. The reverse bears the trade mark of the "Peacock Brand" and states that it was "Printed at the works in Hamburg". | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Slough Library | Subjects: | Churches St. Laurences's ; St. Mary's ; James Elliman ; H.D.Bowyer ; Peacock Brand | Temporal: | start=1878-01-01; end=1904-12-31; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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