Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a medieval parish church with a complex construction history spanning from the early 13th century to the late 19th century. There was a church on this site by the 12th century. The present building is dominated by its outstanding early 13th-century west tower and 14th-century spire, which form an important landmark in Stamford's townscape.

The west tower dates to circa 1220 but was built against an older nave. The chancel was also rebuilt and extended around 1220. The west end of the south arcade was begun at the same time but not completed. The south arcade and aisle were finished in the late 13th century, when the north aisle and north and south chancel chapels were added. The nave arcades are largely late 13th century. In the 14th century, the north chancel chapel was widened and the spire added to the tower.

Substantial rebuilding occurred in the 15th century, including the nave, aisles, north chapel and south porch. The nave and aisles were rebuilt in the later 15th century, a substantial south porch was added, the chancel arch was rebuilt and enlarged, and new windows were installed. This late 15th-century rebuilding may be partly associated with destruction during the sack of Stamford in 1461, but the richness of the work also reflects the prosperity of the town's late medieval wool merchants. The north chapel ceiling was given by William Hikham and his wife circa 1484, and they are commemorated by an inscription on its cornice.

The tower was restored and strengthened in 1788 and again in 1842. The church was repewed in 1859–60 to designs by Reverend T James. It was further restored and the chancel east wall rebuilt in 1859–60 by Edward Browning. The vestry was rebuilt and the chancel refurnished in 1890 to designs by John Dando Sedding (1838–1891), a noted Victorian church architect and influential figure in the Arts and Crafts movement.

Materials and Construction

The church is built of rubble and limestone ashlar. The nave and aisles have lead roofs, while the chancel and north chapel are roofed with stone slates.

Plan

The plan consists of a chancel with north and south chapels and south vestry, a nave with north and south aisles and south porch, and a west tower. There is a vault under the north chapel.

Exterior

The church is dominated by the richly decorated 13th-century tower and 14th-century spire. The tower is early 13th century and has five richly decorated stages with tiers of varied blind arcading and tall lancets in the bell stage. The 13th-century west door has decorated orders and a carved tympanum. The opening was apparently reduced in height in the 18th century. The 14th-century broach spire has statue niches retaining their original statues and gabled lucarnes.

Otherwise, the exterior is largely of the 15th century and has low-pitched roofs and embattled parapets throughout, except for the north chapel, which has a steeply pitched roof with embattled gables. The lower part of the chancel east wall is early 13th century, but the upper part was rebuilt in 1860, when the east window was replaced. Part of the east wall of the north chapel is 13th or early 14th century. The rest of the north chapel was rebuilt circa 1380, but it was given new windows in the 15th century, when the north aisle was rebuilt and the rood stair turret between the north aisle and chapel was added. The south aisle, south chapel and south porch are also 15th century. The south vestry was added in the 19th century. The windows have a range of late 15th-century tracery forms, mostly with vertical tracery and cusped lights. The 13th-century window in the vestry was brought from Number 17 St George's Square in 1881.

Interior

The interior reveals the complex, multi-phase history of the church more clearly than the exterior, with evidence of rebuilding around an existing church from the early 13th century onwards. The east end is dominated by Sedding's very fine refurnishing scheme of 1890.

The early 13th-century tower arch is richly moulded and has stiff-leaf capitals. The weather courses for two former roofs are visible against the east face of the tower. The lower relates to the pre-13th-century roof; the other was probably for a roof built at the same time as the tower or perhaps when the aisles were added or rebuilt in the later 13th century. Above the tower arch are two 13th-century openings with trefoiled heads, but it is unclear if these opened externally or internally, as they are below the lowest visible weather course for the former roofs.

The southwest respond of the south nave arcade is also early 13th century and similar in character to the tower, and was probably for an extension of an earlier arcade that was subsequently entirely rebuilt in the later 13th century, the date of the east respond of the south arcade. The north arcade was rebuilt at the same time, as the east and west responds of the north arcade are also late 13th century. The arches and the piers on each side were rebuilt in the 15th century, probably when the aisle walls were rebuilt and the clerestory was added. The arches are double-chamfered on piers with four shafts and crenellated capitals; the moulded bases to the piers are particularly fine. The tower vault with panelled ribs and a central opening for the bell ropes was also a 15th-century insertion.

The development of the chancel is equally complex. The chancel had reached its present length by the early 13th century, presumably replacing an earlier, shorter chancel whose presence may still be detected in the differing widths of the chancel south wall seen in the internal offset between the south chapel and the vestry. The 19th-century chancel south window replaced a medieval window. The north chapel, narrower than the present north chapel, and the western part of the south chancel chapel were added in the late 13th century. Shafts in the corners of the south chapel suggest that vaulting was intended. The western arches to both chapels are late 13th century.

The north chapel was widened in the later 14th century, when the eastern arch to the north chapel was inserted or rebuilt; there are three tomb recesses in the north wall, one of which contains an effigy of circa 1380. A late 14th-century window in the chapel west wall was blocked when the rood stair turret was added in the 15th century. The upper and lower rood stair doors are visible in the north chapel. The chancel arch was rebuilt and enlarged in the late 15th century, presumably at the same time that the rood stair turret and now-lost screen were added. The north chapel roof was ceiled circa 1480, and the chapel was further modified in the early 16th century when the Phillips tomb and adjacent door were inserted into the northeast chapel arch.

Roofs and Ceilings

The richly decorated nave roof is late 15th century and has foliate bosses, wall posts on grotesque corbels, and angels on the intermediate principals. The north aisle roof is also 15th century. The steeply pitched north chapel roof is probably 14th century, but is covered by an elaborate waggon ceiling of circa 1480 with carved bosses and painted plaster panels with relief decoration. An inscription on the south cornice commemorates the benefaction of William Hikham (died after 1486) and his wife Alice (died 1484). The chancel ceiling was designed by John Dando Sedding and painted by R Farrell and Wilson with E Sedding in 1890.

Principal Fixtures

The church was largely refitted in the 19th century, and the Arts and Crafts scheme of 1890 by John Dando Sedding is particularly fine, but it retains some medieval furnishings including an octagonal, carved 15th-century font, a 15th-century stoup outside the north door, a 15th-century piscina in the north chapel and another undated medieval piscina in the south chapel. There is a circa 1300 statue of the Virgin in the north chapel. A few fragments of 15th-century glass survive in the north chapel and north aisle.

Nave benches with traceried ends date to 1852–3 and are to designs by Reverend T James. The reredos (not visible in 2009) dates to 1860 and is by Robert Tinkler. The Sedding scheme includes the excellent bronze altar frontal in an Italian style by Stirling Lee. Choir stalls by Sedding are similar to those in Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London, also by Sedding. The choir screen is also by the same architect, with a rood of 1920 by Howard Bailey, added as a war memorial. There are two lecterns by Watts.

Stained Glass

Some very good 19th-century glass includes the east window of 1860 by Wailes & Company and the north chapel east window of 1890 by Christopher Whall.

Monuments

Some impressive monuments are found in the church, notably in the north chapel east arch the canopied chest tomb with effigies of Sir David Phillips, died 1506, and his wife Anne, who is buried elsewhere. A small contemporary door to the south of the tomb provides access between the chapel and chancel. Also in the north chapel north wall are three late 14th-century tomb recesses, one with an elaborate surround and a tomb chest with a military effigy of circa 1380, probably for a male Brown or Usher, the others plainer. There are also many good wall tablets of the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Historical Context

There was a guild of St Mary founded circa 1310 and another to Corpus Christi by 1350 that may have used the north chapel.