Lorton, St Cuthbert

The first mention of a church at Lorton is as a chapelry of the parish of Brigham in the Pipe Rolls of 1198 - the site of that chapel is not known. Lorton became a parish in its own right in 1883, when it entered the Diocese of Carlisle, having previously been within the Diocese of Chester, as part of the northern-most parish of that Diocese.

The earliest known dedication of the church to St. Cuthbert is 1416, with burials being recorded in the parish records from 1538.

Most of the earliest gravestones now in the churchyard date from the mid 1700's, but the earliest of all is that of Edward Thompson, which reads "who died February 16th 164½", the only known case of the double dating of old and new calendars in the parish records. (The headstone can be found 10 yards north of the church door)

By 1805 the church building was said to be unsafe and the curate wrote to the Bishop to declare "the villagers take their life in their hands by entering the building". In 1806 parishioners petitioned for a complete rebuilding of the church adjacent to the original building, but records of the Vestry meeting that year show that a complete repair and restructure of the existing building was voted. This work had certainly been completed by 1809, but there are no records of the exact work done or the costings.

Features to note include the Victorian chancel added around 1880; the west window by Mayer of Munich, inserted in 1903 as a bequest of Mr Steele-Dixon of Lorton Hall; the altar, gifted by Mrs Burrows of Broomlands in 1911, and carved by Hawtle of Southport; the magnificent set of kneelers and communion rail cushions donated in 1994, representing 4,600 hours of detailed needlework by a group of ladies in the valley

The present-day church has fine acoustics, and is host to annual concerts by top ranking instrumental performers, which attract capacity audiences.

Opening Times
Daily during reasonable daylight hours

Service Times

1st Sunday	8am	Holy Communion BCP
2nd Sunday	10.30am	Holy Communion BCP
3rd Sunday	8am	Holy Communion BCP
4th Sunday	10.30am	Matins or Holy Communion CW (alternate months)
5th Sunday	8am or 10.30am	Evensong BCP