St Mary's Church Lydiard Tregoze

Visiting St Mary’s

All the practical information to help you plan your trip to St Mary’s.

Image Credit: Steve Evans, Swindon Photographic Society

General Information

Find Us

Lydiard Park’s postcode for Sat Nav directions is SN5 3PA. The park has two main entrances, Hay Lane and Hook Street.

Hay Lane is situated near Lydiard House and St Mary’s Church, please follow the brown signs for House and Church.

Hook Street is situated near Forest Café, please follow the brown signs for Lydiard Park.

St Mary’s Church is located in Lydiard Park. It is behind Lydiard House and best reached from the Hay Lane entrance.

From the M4 motorway: From M4 Junction 16, take the exit towards Swindon (A3102). At the next roundabout, turn left onto the B4354 (Whitehill Way). At the second roundabout on Whitehill Way, turn left into Grange Park Way.

By public transport: the nearby major town of Swindon is well-connected by rail. Stagecoach West operates a bus from Swindon to Lydiard Park every 30 minutes. The bus numbers are 1 and 1A.

Disabled Visitors

One of the church’s priorities is to improve the experience of our disabled visitors and we do accommodate many people with disabilities in our regular and life event services.  The majority of the church, but not the churchyard, has wheelchair access.  If we know your needs in advance, we will do our best to meet these, and we therefore encourage all of our disabled visitors to contact us prior to their church visit.

Free parking for Blue Badge holders is available in designated spaces in the carpark by the church. The adjacent Coach House Café has a disabled toilet facility. Lydiard House Museum and much of the parkland is also wheelchair friendly.

Address

St Mary’s Church
Lydiard Park
Hay Lane
Lydiard Tregoze
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN5 3PA

Opening Times

St Mary’s will be open on Sunday afternoons, and some other days. Planned opening times are here.

The conserved wall paintings, polychromy, Tudor barrelled ceiling and South Porch & including the recently-cleaned stained glass window of the Virgin Mary & Christ Child, will be on view.

For private visits please contact –

 Paul Gardner

Chair, St Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze Conservation Project

07831868429

Parking

Parking is available close to the church and is pay and display. The charges are:

  • £2.10 for up to 2 hours
  • £4 for 2 – 4 hours

Other Churches

To discover other interesting churches visit the Explore Churches website.

Image Credit: daysey, Swindon Photographic Society

Pilgrimage and Prayer

St Mary’s is a sacred space where visitors can worship or simply reflect.

As a living church, we have a full programme of worship events that we encourage our visitors to join. Please see the Worship & Community page for details, or our Home Page for forthcoming services. The church also offers a peaceful and contemplative space where you can step back from the busy everyday world. Please feel free to visit us for quiet reflection and prayer and, if you wish, to light a candle.

Group Visits

St Mary’s Church welcomes groups of visitors. As a highly regarded and well-documented heritage building, the church attracts groups with a diverse range of interests. Recently, these have included writers’ groups; historical, heraldry and biblical societies; Women’s Institute, Ladies Groups and descendants of families associated with the church. Please contact us for information.

Education

Schools, Special Schools, FE and HE institutions all make use of St Mary’s as an educational resource both to understand its Christian purpose and learn about its rich history. The church building, fixtures and decoration reflect key historical events, architectural and artistic movements and social changes. We are currently developing exciting new sessions for Primary Schools inspired by the conservation project.

If you are interested in an educational visit to St Mary’s, please contact us.

Research & Family History Visits

St Mary’s offers a range of research opportunities. Recent visits to the church have benefited researchers interested in polyptychs, memorial portraits and Christ of Trades wallpaintings. Others tracing ancestors who lived and worked in Lydiard Tregoze have discovered family graves in the churchyard. We encourage researchers from the UK and worldwide to make use of this accessible and well-documented site.

For detailed historical information and for those researching St. John family genealogy please visit The Friends of Lydiard Park website.

Lydiard House & Park Visitors

Many visitors to St Mary’s also choose to visit Lydiard House and the surrounding park which was restored as part of a £5.3 million Heritage Lottery Fund project in 2005.

The House and Park are the ancestral home of the St. John family – the Viscounts Bolingbroke. Their story is interwoven in the history of the House, Park and Church. Visitors can experience the elegant state rooms containing original family furnishings, portraits and ornamental plasterwork. The house is complemented by a delightful restored 18th century wall garden. The surrounding park’s lawns, woodlands and lake then offer a tranquil place to relax. A café can be found in the old stable building near the church.

Entrance to Lydiard Park is free and it opens from dawn to dusk every day except Christmas Day. You can learn more about the Lydiard House and the walled garden, including entrance costs and opening times, at the Lydiard Park website.