Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church with a complex building history spanning from the 11th century to the 20th century. The church comprises a west tower with a circular stair-turret, a three-bay aisled nave with a south porch and vestry on the north side, a two-bay chancel with a two-bay Anderson chapel adjoining the north side and a single-bay organ-chamber to the south.

The oldest parts date to the 11th century, comprising the lower section of the tower and the stair-turret. The chancel belongs to the 12th and 13th centuries. The south arcade was added in the early 14th century, with the north arcade following in the later 14th century. The aisles, clerestory and the top stage of the tower date to the 14th and 15th centuries. The north chapel was rebuilt in 1670-71 for the Anderson family. The building underwent significant restoration and alteration in the 19th and 20th centuries: the aisles and nave roof were restored in 1824; the chancel was partly restored in 1871; major works in 1884-85 included re-flooring, re-seating, repairs to windows, new eastern aisle arches and a new south porch; north windows were repaired in 1891; the chancel was re-roofed in 1931; and a 20th-century vestry was added.

The tower is constructed of roughly-coursed limestone rubble and herringbone rubble with squared limestone and ashlar dressings. The stair-turret uses large dressed stones, including reused Roman gritstone. The east end of the north aisle, chancel and north chapel are built of coursed rubble, whilst the vestry is of ashlar and the remainder is squared limestone. Ashlar dressings are used throughout. The nave and chancel have slate roofs, whilst the remainder have lead roofs.

The two-stage tower features a tall first stage with side-alternate quoins. The principal feature is a round-arched doorway of two orders, with the inner order plain and the outer order roll-moulded on chamfered through-imposts supported by shafts with cushion capitals. Above are two narrow round-headed south windows. An inscribed ashlar sundial dated 1781 and a moulded string course adorn this stage. The second stage contains pointed two-light belfry openings with Perpendicular tracery, a string course, and a restored coped embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles. The stair-turret has three narrow lighting slits and a low conical roof.

The north aisle contains restored four-centred arch three-light cinquefoiled windows. The vestry has square-headed trefoiled windows. The south aisle features restored square-headed two-light and three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery. The clerestory has restored square-headed two-light and three-light trefoiled windows. The chancel is buttressed with 19th-century angle buttresses and preserves 13th-century work: a lancet and pointed chamfered door to the south and a pointed three-light east window with geometric tracery, hood-mould and headstops, which was reset in 1871. The organ-chamber has a 19th-century square-headed two-light traceried window similar to those in the south aisle. The north chapel features a restored square-headed three-light cinquefoiled window, two 19th and 20th-century square-headed two-light traceried windows, and angle pinnacles. The south porch is notable for its angle buttresses with crocketed pinnacles flanking a shafted pointed outer doorway with hood-mould and headstops. Above is a crocketed ogee-arched niche containing figures of the Madonna and child beneath a gable with finial and gargoyles. The inner arch is a restored 14th-century pointed wave-moulded form of two orders with hood-mould.

Interior: A fine round-headed tower arch, formerly the chancel arch, has a west face of two square orders with bold chamfered through-imposts and stepped-in shafts with cushion capitals; the northern shaft is much worn from knife-sharpening. The east face has a single shafted order. Above is a square-headed east doorway. The interior of the tower retains original 11th-century plaster and a small round-headed door to the stair-turret with projecting jambs. The spiral staircase has a separate stone newel-column and steps with plastered vaulting beneath, with a narrow square-headed doorway to the upper tower chamber.

The nave arcades feature pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers and responds. Those to the south have plain moulded capitals and bases, whilst those to the north have more ornate capitals and bases with ballflower ornament to the abaci. An image bracket to the north-east pier is carved with a head and upraised arms. An Anglo-Saxon carved interlace stone has been reset beneath the south-west pier, whilst Romanesque moulded bases are reset beneath the north piers.

The pointed double-chamfered chancel arch and responds have moulded capitals, with some Romanesque chevron-moulded stones reused for the arch. A small ogee-headed niche is positioned above. The chancel retains a deeply-splayed round-headed south window truncated by a 19th-century inserted pointed arch to the organ chamber. A small trefoiled piscina with restored base is present, as is a 19th-century shafted surround and hood-mould to the east window.

A particularly fine 14th-century monument to the Redford family stands on the north side of the chancel. It comprises a chest-tomb beneath an arched opening with an adjoining doorway to the north chapel. The arches feature cusped panelling, hood-moulds with ballflower ornament and large headstops. The ashlar chest-tomb has carved side panels bearing coats of arms in cusped fields. Above are reset late 14th and early 15th-century alabaster effigies of a knight and lady. Below this is a fine late 14th-century brass, also probably to the Redford family, featuring large figures of a knight and lady holding hearts; the knight has a lion at his feet and the lady a hound. They stand beneath a crocketed ogee canopy with indents for former side canopies, shields and flanking shafts.

The Anderson chapel contains a fine alabaster and black marble standing wall monument of 1671 to Sir Edmund Anderson and other members of the Anderson family, attributed to Jasper Latham. The monument features a semi-reclining full-size figure in contemporary costume holding a book, positioned on a chest-tomb with oval inscribed tablets in pilastered elliptically-arched surrounds with ornate carved festoons and ribbons. A pair of flanking square columns carry pedestals with inscribed oval medallions and ornate cartouches bearing arms. A fine alabaster wall tablet above, dated 1676 and also to Sir Edmund Anderson, features an inscribed oval panel flanked by open scrolls, carved swags and arms beneath a cornice carrying flaming lamps and a scrolled pediment with bust. Reset against the chapel's south wall are a section of 10th or 11th-century stone carved with interlace and cable moulding, probably part of a former cross-shaft, and a 13th-century ashlar tomb-slab with a cross in relief.

The chancel is furnished with an ornate oak screen of 1892 and a 19th-century font. The knight effigy, reputed to be that of Sir Henry Redford of Castlethorpe (died 1404), was originally located in an earlier north chapel and was moved when the Anderson monument was built, subsequently replacing another effigy on the chancel chest-tomb.

Drawings by C. Nattes from 1795 are held in the Banks Collection at Lincoln City Library. The church is documented in N. Pevsner and J. Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1978, pages 203-4; Associated Architectural Societies' Reports and Papers, 1905, volume 28, part 1, pages x-xii; and H. and J. Taylor, Anglo-Saxon Architecture, 1965, volume 1, pages 115-116.