Rivington Church

Rivington Church is an active Anglican parish church in Rivington, Lancashire, England. It is in the Deane deanery, the Bolton archdeanery and Diocese of Manchester. The church has been designated a Grade II listed building. The church has no patron saint and is not named after a saint or martyr. It has been variously called St Lawrence, St George, Holy Trinity, and St Catherine but its correct title is Rivington Church.HistoryA deed of 1280 mentions three acres of "terra ecclesiastical" in Rivington. A Saxon font, found in the locality, is housed in the church's Millennium Room. The church has a circular graveyard which is typical of churches of early foundation. That, and the Saxon font, may be proof of pre-Conquest foundation. The arched windows on the south side are cut from solid stone, a Saxon feature.At the enclosure of the manorial waste in 1536, the priest was given 30acre.Richard Pilkington, whose son became the Bishop of Durham, appealed to Doctor Bird, the Bishop of Chester, to dedicate the chapel and chapelyard. They were consecrated in October 1541. At the consecration, the village residents stated on oath they had worshipped at the site for generations. Queen Elizabeth I, at the petition of Bishop Pilkington in 1566, granted letters patent for a free grammar school and licence to provide a curate or minister and allow baptisms, marriages and burials at the church for the inhabitants of Rivington, Anglezarke, Hemshaws and Foulds. Before this time the inhabitants had to travel to the surrounding parishes.