Parish church of St Vincent

Parish Church of St Vincent

This parish church in Caythorpe spans multiple centuries, with significant construction phases in the 13th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, together with an 1860 addition and restoration by Sir George Gilbert Scott. The building comprises a nave, north aisle, central tower, north and south aisle stubs, and chancel. It is constructed of coursed and banded ironstone and limestone rubble with ashlar quoins and dressings throughout, and slate roofs.

The west end features banded ironstone and limestone with ashlar dressings and ashlar work in the gable. Three buttresses rise from the west face; those at the outer angles and the central buttress all carry panelled and crocketed finials. The central buttress displays a carving of the Annunciation with a statue niche below, featuring a trefoil head and crocketed gable. Two geometric decorated three-light windows with pointed heads occupy the west wall. The late 14th-century ogee-headed doorway in the south side of the west front features human mask label stops, with cusping on the underside of the arch head and grotesque masks, shields and dragon motifs on the spandrels.

Scott's 1860 north aisle is built in banded work matching the original construction. Its south wall contains four three-light windows with geometric tracery, and its east wall a similar two-light window. The west wall has a four-light window in late 13th-century geometric style. The stub of the late 13th-century north transept retains a 15th-century four-light perpendicular window set within the original pointed 13th-century arched opening.

The tower's north side displays a twelve-light reticulated window with quatrefoil above at the belfry stage, surmounted by a curvilinear geometric parapet with two projecting gargoyles. The tower angles have set-back stepped buttresses. The recessed octagonal crocketed spire features four tiers of alternating flush octagonal lucarnes and is supported by four heavily pinnacled flying buttresses spanning from the tower angles; these are pierced by quatrefoils and mouchettes.

The chancel's north wall, constructed in irregular banded work, was probably rebuilt in the 19th century and contains a two-light window with geometric tracery of that period. The east wall holds a curiously shaped five-light window in 15th-century style, which appears to be 19th-century work fitted closely to accommodate the interior reredos. The east and south walls of the chancel were rebuilt in the 19th century above the band at sill level. The south wall has a trefoil-headed 13th-century door, a 19th-century two-light window, and a stair turret at the angle between the south transept stub and chancel wall. The south transept carries a geometric four-light window with pointed head and a 19th-century pointed-headed door.

The south wall of the nave contains two four-light windows, both originally geometric, though the more easterly has perpendicular tracery in its head. Beneath the same window are two 15th-century windows—one of single light and one of two lights—both with cusped heads and segmental hood moulds. The central buttress displays a trefoil-headed statue niche with crocketed gable and a carved panel above. Gargoyles project from the plain parapet of the nave wall. The westernmost buttress on the south side also carries a trefoil-headed crocketed statue niche.

The south porch is built in ashlar with a plinth and banded work above, dating to the 14th century. It has a pointed moulded arch on its outer face and side benches. The south door features a cusped head surmounted by a slightly ogee-headed hood mould and a crocketed gable containing a seated figure of the Virgin, flanked by pinnacles cut by the porch roof.

Interior: The 13th-century nave is divided down the middle by a two half-bay arcade supported on slender octagonal piers with circular capitals. The arches are double chamfered with simple stop chamfers. The north arcade is 19th-century work with similar details but incongruously decorated Southwell-style label stops. The crossing arch is 13th-century, pointed and moulded with five shafts connected by deep hollows; the middle shaft is filleted, and the arches have three sunk waves.

In the east wall of the nave south of the tower arch, the ogee head of a rood loft door can be seen behind the Hussey monument. Above the tower arch, traces of early whitewashed plaster mark the position of a Doom painting, visible earlier in the 20th century. Rood loft doors are present in the west and east walls of the south transept.

The chancel contains good 19th-century stained glass. All interior fittings are 19th-century work, though seven figured corbels and the principal timbers of the nave roof and the decorative bosses on the later south half of the nave roof are apparently 14th-century. The font is a 19th-century octagonal chalice-shaped vessel.

Monuments: The east nave wall south of the tower arch carries a monument to Sir Charles Hussey (died 1664) with an open scrolled pediment, cartouche bearing painted arms and portrait bust, all in marble. North of the tower arch is a marble plaque to Sir Edward Hussey Baronet (died 1724) with cartouche of painted arms and cherub head with garland. The south wall of the chancel displays the achievement of arms of Lord Hussey, executed at Lincoln in 1538, comprising helm, crest, gauntlets and spurs; all save the helm appear original. At the west end of the south nave wall is a crude wall plaque of 1729 with an architectural pediment on Tuscan columns, commemorating Robert Dawson, Gentleman. The west end of the nave contains a 17th-century pillar-type poor box with contemporary painted board.