SPALDING : CHURCH OF ST MARY & ST NICHOLAS
Church Post Code PE11 2RA
Open to visitors
It was a bright, crisp early February morning in 2025 and a long overdue revisit to the church of St Mary and St Nicholas, Spalding, Lincolnshire. My previous visit here at the end of May 2017; warm and humid with an ice cream after shooting the church. It was considerably different on this revisit though, with a temperature difference of around 25 degrees and little desire for an ice cream on the revisit.
The journey over to Spalding was very pleasant, with the sun rising as we left Peterborough. Many of the flat fenland fields had standing water on them which had frozen over; Crowland Abbey looked wonderful, highlighted by the weak winter sunshine; the tower at the church of St Mary at Cowbit a little further north still looked as if it was liable to collapse on to the main road! There were few people out and about on this bitter Thursday morning in the South Holland District of Lincolnshire.
Spalding itself is a large market town which recorded a population of 30,552 at the time of the 2021 census. It can be found some 20 miles to the north west of Peterborough, making this the furthest out in that direction covered by my websites. Bourne is around 12 miles to the west. The River Welland runs through the centre of the town, with the church a little way away to the east. Ayscoughfee Hall (which my spell checker refuses to accept is a proper word) is close to the church. Dating from the mid 15th century this was originally a home built for a rich wool merchant and is now a museum and gardens, with some rather fine meals to be had at their café, by the looks of their Facebook page!
The town, which is known as the ‘Heart of the Fens’ is probably most famous for the annual flower parade which took place between 1959 and 2013, and which reflected the main industry in the area; with the parade being reintroduced in 2023. The local football team’s nickname is the ‘Tulips’ and in my former incarnation as a programme editor for Lincolnshire rivals Stamford AFC, there were many noisy and bad tempered games between the two. I had hoped for a quieter morning on this occasion!
The structure that we see today has its origins going back to the late 13th century; being built by the Benedictine Priory in the town, which existed from 1051 until it was dissolved in 1540. The foundations of this new church were laid in 1284, with the structure replacing an earlier church on a different site. The newly built church was situated on the site of a previous chapel, which was dedicated to St Thomas the Martyr, with some foundation stones from this chapel still visible against the outer east wall of the chancel.
The church was completed by 1318 and consisted of nave with north and south aisles of six bays, north and south transepts of two bays, chancel and bell tower; the latter standing separate from the rest of the structure. The west tower and south porch were each added around 1360.
During the 15th century the clerestory windows were added, along with the fine north porch. Inside the church at that time the rood stairs and rood screen was added. During the 18th and 19th centuries high box pews and galleries were added, with these being removed during restoration of 1865 until 1867 under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott.
This is a fine church, a real statement as to the wealth of the area back in the days when it was built. I approached the church from the west, and the west front is very fine with the west wall of the nave having a large seven light window; the western ends of the nave and the north aisle each extend out to the western end of the tower.
Moving around to the north, the north porch is a wonderful piece of work; a double decker porch with an upper storey, a room above, which was used as an armoury during the English Civil War. This porch was padlocked on my visit but through the railings we see a magnificent north door, with three figures standing above a fabulously ogee headed arch of several orders.
Of the three figures, Christ in majesty is central, with one hand raised in blessing. Christ is flanked by those who the church is dedicated to. To the left as we look at it is Mary the mother of Jesus, who is portrayed at prayer, with a jar of Lilies close by; which symbolise innocence. To the right is St Nicholas; who has several symbols associated with him. Here he carries a ship, with St Nicholas, among other things, being the patron saint of sailors.
Two angels can be seen looking out from the south porch, one of which holds the crown of victory; with the victory being over death for those who believe!
The west tower is heavily buttressed and pinnacled, with flying buttresses attaching tower to crocketed octagonal broach spire, which has two tiers of irregularly positioned gables lucarne windows. Both tower and spire are highly decorated with gargoyle, several of which are defaced, and smaller grotesques throughout.
Moving around to the east, there is a small crocketed bell cote at the east end of the nave, this still holding a single bell. In pre reformation days this would have held a Sanctus bell which would have been rung at key moments during the Mass such as the Elevation of the Host.
As mentioned earlier, there is some evidence of the former Chapel of St Thomas the Martyr against the east end of the chancel.
Today there is a ring of eight bells here, with all of these cast or recast by Taylor of Loughborough in 1926. The situation was different when Thomas North’s study of the church bells in Lincolnshire was published in 1882.
North notes that there was mention of bells here as far back as the 14th century when a dispute arose between the Priory and those living nearby; with the inhabitants claiming that the bells at the parish church were being rung at unsociable hours. A variety of this complaint can still be seen today in local newspapers from time to time when someone moves close to a church and then complains when then they find out that churches have bells, bells are sometimes rung and church bells can be quite loud!
At the time of North’s study there was a ring of six here, with the first and the sixth of the ring being cast by Thomas Osborne of Downham Market in Norfolk in 1801.
The second of the ring was cast locally by Thomas Norris of the Stamford bell foundry in 1629. This bell has the Latin inscription ‘OMNIA FIANT AD GLORIAN DEI’ which translates as ‘Let all things de done for the glory of God’. As is often the case in bells from this founder, North notes that the letter ‘N’, ‘S’ and ‘R’ are reversed on the inscriptions.
The fifth of the ring also appears to be from the same founder; this bell did not have a founder’s name on it but it contained a stamp used by the Stamford bell foundry and a date of 1648 would see this attributed to Thomas Norris.
North was very thorough in his work but he doesn’t mention a founder for bells number three and four of the ring. The third of the ring is dated 1733 and is inscribed ‘OMNIA FIANT AD GLORIAM BEI GLORIA DEO SOLI’ which reads ‘Let all things be done for the glory of God, glory to God alone’. The fourth is inscribed ‘OMNIA FIANT AD GLORIAM DEI GLORIA PATRI FILI ET SPIRITUI SANCTO’ with the second half of this inscription translating as ‘Glory to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit’, with this one dated to 1744.
The visitor enters in through the west door of the tower. The church was open and we were good to go! The light quality was really good and a quick look at the interior showed the north and south arcades of six bays. Hatchments from the great and the good of ages past lined the nave walls. Nave is separated from chancel by a rood screen, with a doorway at ground level providing access to the stairs which led up to the former rood loft, a further door higher up opening out on to the rood loft itself; this including the rood itself, a carving of Christ crucified, with Mary the mother of Jesus and John alongside. These were a staple part of medieval churches but were deemed to be idolatrous by the reformers of the 16th century; being removed and destroyed as a result.
Having an initial walk around the interior; with my only company being a lady whose day it was to clean some of the brasses the light quality was beautiful; especially in the south aisle, with the early morning sun shining through the stained glass with multi coloured shadows being cast on to the window ledges and out across the piers at the western end of the south aisle.
As mentioned earlier, the church here was restored here in the 1860’s and much of the chancel dates from that period of restoration. The altar is very long and had a white altar cloth with gold, this being the colour used for epiphany. There are two bays at the north wall of the chancel, with the western most of these housing the church organ. A small crocheted choirboy over the hymn board is in song, a carving of a human head close by, his hands over ears, is perhaps disapproving of this!
The east window is of three lights, with the centre light extending higher. This centre light contains depictions, from bottom to top, of the Last Supper, The Crucifixion, which for whatever symbolic reasons, shows the crown of thorns on the floor at the side of the cross. We then have the ascension and the resurrection. This is flanked by two lower lights which contain depictions events from Holy Week, with the symbolic colour of blood red running throughout.
There is much stained glass here, which is of high quality. There is no surviving medieval stained glass here, with what was previously here also being destroyed as idolatrous. The east window above the chancel arch is of great interest; being of five lights and having depictions of Isaiah, St Paul, St Michael the archangel, St Stephen and St Nicholas.
Just a couple of notes here; St Stephen carries stones, which denotes the manner of his martyrdom whilst St Nicholas has a pot with three boys in a tub. This refers to the legend which states that he restored back to life three boys who were murdered and their bodies stored in a tub full of brine. St Nicholas also carries three golden balls which refers to the legend which states that Nicholas gave three golden balls as a dowry to three daughters of a poor man so that girls wouldn’t be sold in to slavery.
The west window is of seven light and is a wonderful thing. Set on two main levels, the centre panel at the top depicts Christ in Majesty, with the Virgin and Child central on the lower level. They are flanked on each level by the 12 disciples, with their names unhelpfully included in hard to read Latin; of more help in identifying them are the symbols that each carry, which for the most part denote the manner of their martyrdom. For example St Andrew holds a saltire cross, on which he was crucified; St Simon the Zealot carries a saw which seen him sawn in half and St James carries a club. St Peter carries what are possibly the biggest keys to the Kingdom of Heaven that I have seen on my travels and St John holds a chalice out of which emerged a serpent.
The east window of St George’s chapel depicts the Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah appear alongside Jesus in front of Peter, James and John. Sadly the lower parts of this are lost behind a reredos.
The east window of St Thomas’ chapel has a three light window shows scenes from the story of Mary the mother of Jesus. Three larger scenes show the annunciation, with the Nagel Gabriel appearing to Mary, the Virgin and Child and Mary and Joseph presenting the Baby Jesus to Simeon in the Temple. Smaller scenes below show Mary greeting Elizabeth, who was the mother of John the Baptist, the nativity and Jesus as a child, working with wood with his father.
At the west end of the south aisle is a three light window which depicts three important women of the early church. We see Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha and Lazarus, who Jesus raised from the dead, and who anointed Jesus’ feet with pure nard shortly before the crucifixion. We also see Priscilla who Paul notes several times in his letters and Dorcas also known as Tabitha who was noted for her practical help and kindness to those in need. In a similar vein we see another three light window showing the Fathers of the early church with St Peter who as nearly always is shown with keys, St Paul with sword pointing downwards and each with receding hairlines and the youthful St John, who holds a chalice.
Over in the south aisle there are a number of modern stained glass designs; with possibly the most interesting being the Vision of St John. Here, a considerably older John records his vision that is described in Revelation. Christ is seated on the throne at the top, with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse below on either side. John is depicted left recording what he sees with an angel of the Lord alongside, vibrant wings outstretched across all three lights; and holding a golden censer whilst close by four angels blow their trumpets.
Against the north wall of the north aisle we have a three light window which shows the Parable of the Talents, with the central light showing the master (Jesus) honouring the servant who had made the most of what had been entrusted to him. To the left we see the servant who had simply buried what his master had entrusted to him, cast out in to the outer darkness, where there would be ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’.
To be fair I have nowhere near covered the glass here and I am conscious that this is turning in to a very long page. I suspect that the glass here is as interesting as any of the churches covered by my website. This is a magnificent church but it would be worthwhile visiting just on the basis of the stained glass itself!
There is nothing of any great interest or rarity in the church grounds but it is worth noting that there are three medieval coffin lids mounted on to a churchyard wall. There is also a gravestone with a depiction of a human figure riding or possibly fighting a winged beast, which looks to be a Griffin. No gravestones are listed here but the wall and gate to the north do have a Grade II Listing.
A fabulous church, open and welcoming with a great deal to see! Allow plenty of time if visiting; an absolute must visit if you are in the area. If you are around Crowland Abbey is also open daily, that being ten miles to the south of Spalding. A trip west out towards Kings Lynn is also very rewarding for the interested churchcrawler with several churches including Holbeach, Gedney and Long Sutton usually to be found open.