STAMFORD : CHURCH OF ST GEORGE
Church Post Code PE9 2BN
Open for Friday coffee morning
Visited January 2025
It was a Friday in mid January 2025; market day in Stamford, the town which John Betjeman described as being ‘the finest stone town in England’. To put a little geographical detail, Stamford is some 14 miles north west of Peterborough, with Oakham 11 miles off to the west, with those travelling along the A606 from Stamford towards Oakham being rewarded with some fine views of Rutland Water off to the west. Stamford is in Lincolnshire, but the country boundaries on Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and Rutland are all in close proximity; that confusing area when you can be in four counties almost in as many minutes!
Stamford is a very rewarding place for the visiting churchcrawler to spend some time, both in terms of church architecture and high quality tea rooms to rest in between the churches!
At one point there were no fewer than 14 churches in the town as well as six monasteries and six religious colleges. Today six medieval churches still stand, with All Saints, St Mary, St George and St Martin still open for worship; the latter on the South side of the River Welland with part of the parish being in Northamptonshire. Of the other two St John the Baptist is redundant and cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust whilst St Michael; a Victorian rebuilding of an earlier medieval structure, is converted in to shops.
This page is concerned with St George but the others, with the exception of St Michael, are covered by this site. Architecturally, the church of St George is probably not the most impressive of the churches in Stamford. In terms of setting it ranks very highly; being found at the west end of St George’s Square and lined with the most beautiful Georgian buildings, with mid 1990’s BBC costume drama Middlemarch having St George’s square as one of its filming locations.
In terms of its life as a working church St George is second to none within the catchment area covered by my sites; with three services on a Sunday, all of which are heavily attended, with services livestreamed. I attended an evening service here several years ago and was staggered at the size of the congregation.
The church of St George is normally closed to visitors, but it is open on Fridays for Friday Connect, coffee and cakes, between 10 am and noon; and I took advantage of this to see inside. This did mean though that I was a little limited as to what I could shoot due to the number of people present.
The church here has origins that date back to the 12th century, but the earliest surviving parts of the church that we see today is the west door and the bases of the arcades and some of the piers, which date to the 13th century.
The nave arcades were remodelled and heightened during the 14th century, with the bases and parts of the piers being retained. The chancel arch was rebuilt during the late 14th century and in the mid 15th century the chancel itself was rebuilt following a bequest from William Bruges, the First Garter King of Arms who died in 1450.
There was considerable restoration work here during the 17th century, which included a remodelling of the tower; which was reduced in width from east to west, making for the unusual rectangular design that we see today. There was further restoration in the 19th century with the church being enlarged in 1887 with the introduction of the north and south transepts.
The present consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, north and south transepts, north vestry and chancel.
The four stage battlemented west tower as mentioned earlier is an unusual rectangular shape. It looks normal from the west but looking at it from the north or south the reduction from east to west is pronounced. The church clock faces out from the west face of the tower in the traditional colours of blue and gold.
The west walls of the north and south aisles each butts up against the west wall of the tower; each being battlemented and having a three light window; making for a very pleasing perpendicular feel to the west end.
Moving around to the south, the rest of the church is perpendicular and battlemented; with the clerestory consisting of four two light windows to north and south. A gargoyle in need of a haircut looks on with a look of wide eyed surprise. Its neighbour tilts its head slightly upwards in an inquisitive manner.
The exterior here does not have the soaring grandeur of St Mary or All Saints but this is a pleasant structure, beautifully put together, in an elegant setting.
There are four bells in the ring here, with the first being cast by Thomas Eayre of Kettering in 1761. This has a long Latin inscriptions, part of which reads ‘VOX MEA EST DULCIS MEA SCINTILLANS VULTUS’ which translates as ‘My voice is sweet, my appearance sparkling’. The second and third of the ring were each cast by Edward Arnold; the his being dated 1777 when he operated out of St Neots with his subsequent bell dated 1797, by which point he had moved to Leicester.
The fourth of the ring was cast locally by Tobias Norris III of the Stamford bellfoundry in 1697. It is right and fitting that there was a bell here from the Norris family with Tobias Norris I, who set up the foundry in the town being church warden here for a time, with both himself and other family members being buried here.
The visitor enters in through the west door of the tower. There was a pleasant buzz around the place; Friday Connect had started and was to be well attended.
Those entering are greeted by a drum kit and wall mounted screen against the chancel arch and some will immediately be up in arms due to the ‘artistic’ look of the interior. If this works for this church, which is obviously does, then great. I travel a few thousand miles each year and see many churches struggling for numbers; the vast majority in fact are struggling. As I am typing my own church (a Salvation Army plant the west of Peterborough) is in its final few weeks; its closure hastened by illness in an ageing congregation; this reducing the congregation by half in the space of six months!
This church though is thriving; with a quick look at the vast number of chairs stored in the transepts illustrating how many are to be set out on service days! What they do may not be to everyone’s taste, but it works and this in one church which doesn’t have to worry about its immediate future.
Having started my visit here with a cup of tea and a slice of lemon drizzle; the camera finally saw action and I headed in to the chancel.
The east window here is of five lights with a stained glass depiction of the ascension. Jesus rises on the central panel, hands raised in blessing with the Holy Spirit pouring down on him in the form of fire; wounds visible on hands and feet. To each side are the 11 disciples (Judas had betrayed Jesus by that time and Malchus had not been replaced him at that point) with Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene also present. Mary the mother of Jesus, as always, is shown wearing blue and has her head veiled in mourning; John is easily identifiable by his young age and Peter is shown with the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven draped across his arm.
High up in the tracery we see a celestial band of angels each of whom are playing stringed instruments; the Holy Spirit in the form of fire descending on to the scene below, with angels at prayer to either side.
There is oak panelling around three sides of the chancel, with this dating from a period of Victorian restoration. On the south side, this panelling wraps around a trefoiled piscina, which would have been used in the washing of the holy vessels used during the Mass in pre reformation days.
Against the south wall of the chancel we see some surviving medieval glass, with depictions of St Catherine and St Anna. St Catherine is crowned and holds a sword point downwards; she also holds a wheel, which was a key in the story of her martyrdom.
Close by is St Anna, who is said to have been the mother of Mary the mother of Jesus; although she was never mentioned in the Bible. Here, Anna is depicted with her daughter, with Mary holding and writing in a book. These two medieval survivals are flanked by more modern depictions of St George slaying a dragon and St Paul, who as always is shown with receding hairline and carrying a sword; this time though the sword is pointed upwards rather than down.
The 15th century roof contains angels holding shields; with long flowing hair and wings unfurled. These are brightly painted but they do not have their original paintwork.
At the western end of the south wall of the chancel we see a four light window which has the four Gospel writes at the centre, with four smaller panels below which include Moses and the burning bush and Abraham being prevented by an angel of the Lord from sacrificing his son Isaac.
Against the north wall of the chancel is a fine memorial to Sir Richard Cust, whose head is depicted on the top of a column, who was High Sherriff and Justice of the Peace for Lincolnshire. He passed away in 1734 aged 53 years. His wife, Dame Anne, lived until she was 85 years old, passing away in 1779. There is an epitaph below recording the lives of their numerous children; difficult to read in that wonderful old English where ‘S’s become ‘F’s bringing to mind that wonderful scene from the Vicar of Dibley where Alice Tinker is attempting to read a lesson from the Old King James Bible!
Close by is a wall plaque to Ursulah Cust, the wife of Pury Cust, who died in 1683/4 aged 24 years. A close look at this monument shows how hard, and often short, the lives were of people in those days; even for people of means such as these! They had five children Mary, Richard, Pury, Elizabeth and Ursula. The epitaph reads ‘Pury and Elizabeth God has taken unto himself and they lye buried with their mother in a vault beneath. The other three the Almighty hath been pleased to leave for a comfort to their disconsolate father’.
The epitaph goes on to record that Ursulah died in childbirth, or ‘Child Bed’ as the inscription reads. She died giving birth to Ursulah, her fifth child who was baptised on the same day as her mother’s funeral. Ursulah survive though and died in 1757 at the age of 73 years.
Instances where a mother died during birth were sadly quite common and these were sometimes known as a Benoni birth. The term Benoni birth is Biblical. In Genesis Chapter 35 verses 16 - 18 Jacob's wife Rachel dies soon after giving birth. Just before she dies she names her son Benoni, which means son of my suffering or son of my sorrows.
Elsewhere in the nave there are a few other surviving fragments of medieval glass, which include a very faded crowned female figure and a male figure with golden hair which appears to be wielding a censer. At the top of this panel is a lion like figure, with ferocious teeth and tongue out in gesture of insult.
An interesting wall plaque commemorates Tobias Norris I, who founded the Stamford bell foundry in the early 17th century. As a founder, Norris was active between the years 1603 and 1626 and there were members of the Norris family running the Stamford bell foundry until 1699, at which point the foundry was taken over by Alexander Rigby who had been an itinerant founder until 1684, at which point he joined the Stamford bell foundry, taking over the running of it in 1699, on the death of Tobias Norris III, until the foundry finally closed in 1708.
Norris was a church warden here and the plaque records his death in 1626. Interestingly, the letter ‘N’ and the figure ‘2’ on the plaque are reversed, which mirrored the inscriptions on some of his bells. Today, in a building that dates back in parts to 1280, and which was owned by Norris, we have an award winning pub called the Tobie Norris, with the letter ‘N’ reversed on the pub sign and menu!
It was time to move outside, and I was very taken by the view looking out in to the town from the west door of the tower. Looking out through this ogee headed west door we see an elegant Georgian town house immediately in front with the top of the broach spire of St Mary rising up above that. This is a scene that will have not altered much in 300 odd years!
The gravestones are not in situ; now propped up against the churchyard wall. There is nothing of any great interest or rarity to be fair and the majority of the stones are weathered very badly; but a couple of things to note; an hourglass on one stones indicates that the sands of time have run out for the deceased ‘Tempus Fugit’ time flies. Close by is a skull and crossed bones, each an often used symbol of the mortality of Man. In each case there is a warning to the onlooker; you will go the same way as the deceased, therefore live a good Christian life, trust in God and do not be caught lacking when your own time comes!
St George is a fine church; a thriving church, which is well worth taking a look at if you are in the area. Its normally closed to visitors but is open between 10 and noon on a Friday, which is market day in the town. If anyone is planning visiting here on market day please also note that All Saints across town also has a coffee morning which is I think held during the same times. To the surprise of no one I can vouch that the cakes at each of these coffee mornings are really good!