The Domesday Book of 1086 records a church in Langar in which William Peverel, owner of the major estate there, had half a share. The present building is in the early english style of circa 1200.
There was a previous church in Langar dedicated to St Ethelburga.
In Saxon times, Langar was a place of pilgrimage, where, as Vatican archives reveal, "great multitudes resort" to seek release from their sins. St Ehelburgas was probably a late Saxon priory which served a wide area and was supplanted by the establishment of the local churches at Langar and Granby.
Archaelogical excavations, approximately one mile south of the present church, have revealed traces of a medieval building, which is probably the site of the original priory.
For seven centuries, four families owned Langar, since Richard I granted Gerard de Rodes the Lordship of the Manor in the 12th Century. The de Rodes were soldiers in the service of King John, a visitor to Langar in 1215.
During the late 13th Century the estate passed to the Tibetots who went on crusades with Edward III. In 1373 Margaret Tibetot married Richard Le Scrope. He was descended from a large and powerful family which owned huge estates in the north of England. The Sropes built a new stone house on the hill, described by historian Leland in 1540 as "embattled like a castle".
Langar's last Lord Scrope, Emanuel, was created Earl of Sunderland by Charles I, but as a royalist his properties were sequestered during the Civil War. The 10,000 acre estate was inherited by his illegitimate daughter Annabella who married Gloucestershire politician, John Howe in 1677.
That same year, Thoroton wrote that Langar Hall and "nearly the whole of the parish had lately become the estate of Mr Howe, who made a convenient park of the closes around the mansion and stocked it with deer." A contemporary illustration shows the three-storey mansion with tall chimneys. The Howe descendants included the celebrated Admiral, Richard 1st Earl Howe.
The south transept of the church contains monuments to the Howe family and Thomas Lord Scrope and his wife with their son Emanuel.
Langar Village as it is today
In addition to the church and Langar Hall which are detailed elsewhere on this website, there are many of the original buildings still present.
The Unicorn's Head
The Unicorn's Head was built in 1717, the dtae still visible in the brick work of the gable end. The unusual three-tier chimney at the end of the building nearest the road identifies the original brewhouse. The original inn was known as "The Feathers" after the plume of five ostrich feathers on the Howe family crest. The inn aquired its present name in 1825 when John Wright, then Lord of the Manor, was able to use his family's newly granted coat of arms.
The "Unicorn" was a coaching inn in the 19th century and there are stables at the rear of the building.
The Old Rectory
This was the birthplace of Samuel Butler in 1835 and dates from 1722 when Rev Bennett Sherard (grandson of the historian Dr Robert Thoroton) was the rector.
The Rectory was sold by the church commissioners in the 1950's and is now a private dwelling, Langar House.
Church Cottage
Across the green from the church stands Church Cottage, an early eighteenth century building which was formerly two labourers' cottages. The steep roof would originally have been thatched and the top floor of the cottage would have been used as a storing barn. The dormer windows would have been added in the nineteenth century when the roof was tiled.
The Old School
The school was founded in 1842 by Rev Thomas Butler and Francis Wright. The school was built for 100 pupils and Mary Ann Stedall was its first mistress.