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Welcome!
Kirkby Stephen Parish Church, sometimes referred to as "the Cathedral of the Dales", stands to the north of the Market Place in the centre of our town in the beautiful Eden Valley. Our worship is of broadly central Anglican tradition and has a rich diversity. Our principal Sunday service is at 10.30 am, and we warmly welcome visitors and families with young children. Coffee and biscuits are served after the service.
We have many small groups meeting regularly, including the choir and the bell-ringers, the Mothers' Union and the Thursday Club, a weekly prayer group and a monthly reading and discussion group, and we hold series of bible-studies during the year. We are active members of Churches Together in Kirkby Stephen. For over twenty years we have happily shared the use of the building with the Roman Catholic congregation - mass is celebrated each Sunday at 9.00 am. Once a month the two congregations share a joint evening service.
It is believed that at least three churches have stood on this site, the earliest being pre-Conquest. Testimony to this early history is the Loki Stone - an Anglo-Danish cross shaft with a carving of a chained devil, representing the old Norse go Loki. The whole church was rebuilt around 1230 and the nave arcades and the north transept survive from this time. The south aisle was rebuilt in the 15th century and the tower was added shortly afterwards. The chancel and north and south chapels were rebuilt in the mid-19th century, with the clerestory added in 1871.
We hope you enjoy your visit and encounter something of the wonder and peace of God in this ancient place of prayer and worship.
We now have a website where you will find much more detail about our church and be able to view parish records going back to the 1600's.
Off the Market Place
Kirkby Stephen
Lancaster
CA17 4QX
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