St Laurences Church in Ludlow – the Cathedral of the Marches

It is known as The Cathedral of the Marches and attracts 65,000 visitors from all over the world every year.

And when the Ven Colin Williams got the chance to become rector of St Laurences Church in Ludlow five years ago, it wasnt a hard decision to make.

I knew Ludlow a little bit because I used to live in Liverpool, and that was just about near enough for me to get to for walks across the Long Mynd, he says.

So when I saw this job advertised, I thought it seemed ideal.

St Laurences, which has stood in the market town for 800 years, is one of the greatest parish churches in Britain.

In 1999 it became one of just 18 churches to be given a five-star rating in Simon Jenkins acclaimed book Englands Thousand Best Churches.

It is also the 13th most popular free visitor attraction in the whole of the West Midlands.

We get people from most of the countries in the world, and we also get visitors from all over the UK, he says.

I think places like Canada and the US are where the largest number come from, but we also get quite a few from Western Europe.

Mr Williams, who worked as a solicitor before training as a priest in the early 1980s, says it is both daunting and rewarding being responsible for such an important part of English history.

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St Laurences Church in Ludlow - the Cathedral of the Marches