Church Of St Denys

Church of St. Denys is a parish church at Kirkby la Thorpe, with medieval origins spanning the 12th to 15th centuries. The chancel was rebuilt in 1854–55 and the church underwent restoration in 1911–12. The building is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with ashlar and ashlar dressings, with lead and plain tiled roofs.

The church comprises a west tower, nave, chancel, north aisle, and south porch. The 2-stage 14th-century west tower has a moulded plinth, hollow moulded string course, and an embattled parapet with crocketted angle pinnacles. In the belfry stage are louvred 2-light windows with pointed heads and 4-centred arched surrounds with hood moulds. To the south is a 2-light 16th-century window with 4-centred arched heads to the lights, sunk spandrels, and a low triangular-headed chamfered surround. To the west stands a tall 3-light 14th-century window with cusped ogee heads to the lights and trefoils, beneath a chamfered triangular surround. Beneath the string course are two fragments of 10th-century 2-strand interlace carving, possibly from the arms of a cross.

The low 14th-century north aisle is of ashlar with a lead roof and raised stone coped gables. A blocked pointed doorway is flanked by single 2-light 14th-century cusped ogee-headed windows in chamfered square surrounds. To the east is a matching 14th-century window with quatrefoil above and a pointed head.

The restored 13th-century chancel contains a single recut lancet to the north and a blocked segmental-headed opening. The rebuilt east wall features a tall 3-light window with cusped heads to the lights and geometric tracery containing trilobes. The south side has a blocked pointed doorway and two chamfered lancets. The south wall of the nave contains a tall 3-light 14th-century window with cusped ogee heads to the lights and a chamfered surround, along with a lancet window partially obscured by the rebuilt gabled south porch and a further lancet beyond.

The outer doorway of the south porch has a 19th-century timber-framed pointed head and cusped fretted bargeboard, with side benches inside. The porch roof features arch-braced ties, fleuron-decorated wall plates, and moulded principals of 14th-century date. The inner doorway is 12th-century, much recut, with nook shafts bearing cushion capitals, a roll-moulded flat head, and plain tympanum and voussoirs.

The interior contains a 4-bay late 12th-century north nave arcade with round piers, moulded annular capitals, and double-chamfered arches with hollow-moulded hoods; octagonal responds are positioned at the east and west. The tower arch is 13th-century, with octagonal responds, moulded imposts, and a double-chamfered head. Steps to the rood loft are located in the north aisle. The chancel's north wall displays the rear arch of the blocked doorway visible externally, now 19th-century in form with a single chamfered surround and beast-head stops. The south wall contains a piscina with a plain pointed 13th-century head.

Fittings include fragments of medieval glass, including an armorial shield in the east window of the north aisle. An oak prayer desk was made from 14th-century bench ends decorated with blank cusped panels and fleur-de-lys terminals. A 14th-century tower screen, probably from the chancel, comprises 3 panels with ogee heads and tall lancets above the moulded rail and stiles. Two fonts are present: one 14th-century octagonal font with cusped square panels containing blank shields and a 18th-century panelled wooden cover, and a second 16th-century octagonal font with blank traceried panels, sunk spandrels, plain shields, and quatrefoils to the stem. The north aisle contains a long iron-bound wooden chest with 3 lock plates.

Monuments include a pedimented ashlar wall plaque on the south nave wall to William Willerton (died 1845) by Copeland, and a small rectangular brass plate in the reveal of the chancel south window recording the charitable donations of the Revd Thomas Meriton (died 1685).