The foundation stone of the new St Lawrence's church, was laid on 10 August 1885 by Sydmonton's Mrs. Kingsmill (Constance Mary Portal,William Howley Kingsmill (1838-1894), of Sydmonton Court, maternal grandson of William Howley, DL, JP, (1766-1848), Archbishop of Canterbury, accordingly William Howley Kingsmill was born in Lambeth Palace. His paternal grandfather was Rev. John Stephens (1769-1814), (later Kingsmill from 1806), of Oriel College, Oxford, vicar of Chewton Mendip with Emborough, Somerset. In 1802 Stephens/Kingsmill married (in High Littleton) miss Dorothy Mogg, daughter of Jacob Mogg. wife of William Howley Kingsmill),Saturday 15 August 1885, Berkshire Chronicle 'dedicated like the ancient fabric to Saint Lawrence', on a more convenient site. In 1852 William White described the old St Laurence : 'The church is a small ancient fabric, without tower, situated in low swampy ground'. The new was consecrated by Harold Browne, the Lord Bishop of Winchester, on Friday 15 October 1886. Rev Canon (George Raymond) Portal (1827-1889), rural dean and uncle of Mrs W. H. Kingsmill, read the Epistle, and the Gospel was read by the Ven. Archdeacon who also gave the sermon. Archdeacon Sumner, George Sumner, Ven. Archdeacon of Winchester, was husband of the founder of the Mothers' Union and son of a previous Bishop of Winchester, Charles Sumner, KG (1790 – 1874). Sumner's sermon was on Revelation 21, verse 22 : And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.Saturday 16 October 1886, Portsmouth Evening NewsSaturday 16 October 1886, Reading Mercury, Oxford Gazette, Newbury Herald and Berks County PaperSaturday 16 October 1886, Berkshire Chronicle The church cost £5,000.Kelly's Directory of Berkshire and Hampshire, 1931.
