Church Of St James

Church of St James

This is a parish church in Spilsby, founded in 1348 as a college of priests by Lord Willoughby. The building dates from the late 14th century and early 16th century, with a substantial rebuilding of the chancel and addition of a south aisle in 1879 by the architect W. Basset Smith. The walls are constructed of squared greenstone rubble with ashlar dressings and rockfaced limestone ashlar, and the roofs are lead. The plan comprises a western tower at the end of the inner north aisle, a nave, two north aisles (the inner one being the former nave), a south aisle, the Willoughby chapel in what was formerly the chancel, the chancel itself, and a vestry.

The tower is a three-stage structure of early 16th-century date in greenstone, with facetted corner buttresses, a tall plinth decorated with a quatrefoil frieze, chamfered string courses, and an embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles. The belfry stage has triple louvred lights with triangular hoods to each side. The west door, dating to the 19th century, has quatrefoil spandrels and a square surround, and above it is a 16th-century four-light window with panel tracery and a pointed, moulded surround.

The north aisle of the 19th century has a pointed continuously moulded doorway and three-panel traceried windows. The clerestory to this aisle contains four triple-light windows with trefoil heads and square labels. The 19th-century chapel has two three-light windows with panel tracery, and at its east end is a matching four-light window. The original 14th-century east window of the chancel comprises five lights with reticulated tracery. The 19th-century vestry has two-light windows to the east and south.

On the south side are four triple-light and three two-light windows, all with reticulated tracery, probably dating from the 14th century and reused. The clerestory on this side contains five paired lights matching those to the north. At the west end is a 14th-century pointed and continuously moulded doorway that has been reset, along with a 19th-century light and a four-light reticulated window.

The interior preserves the original nave as the inner north aisle, while the former chancel and sanctuary are now the Willoughby chapel. The original nave arcades are of four bays, dating to the 14th century, with octagonal piers and capitals decorated with fleurons, and double chamfered arches. The tower arch is a tall 16th-century structure with octagonal imposts and hollow moulded capitals, and a continuously chamfered outer arch. At the east end is a double chamfered arch, probably reset, with statue brackets. The original nave roof dates to the 16th century and has moulded principals. The 19th-century work includes a five-bay south arcade, a wide chancel arch, and an arch braced roof to the present nave. In the chancel is a two-bay arcade into the Willoughby chapel with octagonal piers, responds, and capitals, all with double chamfered arches. On the south side is a 19th-century pointed opening to the organ chamber and vestry, a three-seated sedilia with cusped heads, and an adjacent piscina also with cusped heads. The font is octagonal with a columnar base, and the stained glass is all of 19th-century date.

The monuments are of particular importance. In the Willoughby chapel are stone effigies of John, 2nd Baron Willoughby, and his wife Joan, dated to 1348. The male figure is in armour with sword and shield, with legs crossed and feet resting on a lion, while his wife wears a skirt and mantle. Both have bedesmen supporters, the chest is decorated with quatrefoils in the panels, and there are paired angle pinnacles with crocketed canopies and figures of saints and angels.

An alabaster tomb effigy depicts John, 3rd Baron of Willoughby, who distinguished himself at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and died in 1372. He is shown in full armour with sword, feet on a lion, and head on a jousting helm. The frieze around the margin shows monks holding rosaries, and the chest is decorated with shields in octofoils.

Alabaster effigies of Robert, the 4th Baron, and his wife date to 1396. The male figure is in full armour with sword, feet on a lion, and head on a crowned jousting helm, while his wife wears an elaborate dress with her head on a pillow and supporters. The chest has blank shields and quatrefoils.

A brass figure depicts Robert's second wife Margaret Zouche, who died in 1391. She has feet resting on a dog and is surrounded by shields. A pair of brass figures shows William, the 5th Baron, and his wife Lucy, dated to 1410. He is in plate armour with dagger and sword, feet on a lion, and she wears an elaborate dress, with canopies above and an extensively decorated matrix surround.

A large sideboard tomb is dedicated to Richard Bertie and Catherine his wife, the former Duchess of Suffolk, who died in 1580 and 1582 respectively. In front is a chest bearing armorial escutcheons and an inscription dated 1582, all with pilasters, plinth, and moulded cornice. Behind is a pair of niches containing busts of the deceased, with composite pillars and an all-over pattern of geometric shapes. The cornice is supported by three figures of a monk and two wildmen, each holding aloft a shield of arms, and the frieze contains flowers, fruit, and escutcheons. The back of this monument forms the screen and reredos.

On the north wall is a tall sideboard tomb to Peregrine Willoughby, who died in 1600 and whose monument was erected in 1612. It is constructed in alabaster and features a reclining figure of Lady Katherine, daughter of Peregrine, with a baby in a crib. Above is a standing figure of Peregrine in a niche with strapwork embellishments, all supported on composite columns with a dentillated cornice.

In the nave at the west end is a white marble tablet to Captain Sir John Franklin, the Arctic navigator and explorer who was born at Spilsby in 1786 and died at sea in 1847. There are also tablets to two of his brothers: Major James Franklin, who made the first survey of India and died in 1834, and Sir Willingham Franklin, a judge at Madras who died in 1866.