The Church of St. Mary-le-Wigford

 

The west door at the church of St. Mary-le-Wigford

When planning my day out in Lincoln, to fit in with the bus timetable from Treeton and to reduce the cost of the train fare, I caught the 9:53 train from Sheffield and arrived at Lincoln station at 11.18, giving me just over 5 hours to explore the places on a comprehensive itinerary.

 

A general view from the platform at Lincoln railway station

Before I had even left the platform, I caught a glimpse of the first of these, the church of St. Mary-le-Wigford – the oldest in Lincoln – which is set on the corner of High Street and St. Mary’s Street, with no churchyard and its south side hemmed in by the railway.

 

A general view of the east end

Leaving the station and approaching the east end of the church, the two lancet windows in the wall of the chancel indicate a C13 date to this part of the church. Its Lincoln stone masonry comprises coursed rubble, with massive stones used for the window dressings and buttresses. The limestone is yellowish in colour with a darker patina but, looking closely, occasional orange coloured blocks can be seen and these display a greater degree of weathering.

 

The north elevation

Moving on to the north elevation, it can be clearly seen that the roof of the chapel at the east end was raised, during the restoration of 1872 by R C Clarke and Son of Nottingham, with the removal of the original castellated parapet and its replacement with several courses of ashlar masonry, topped by a Welsh slate roof.

 

A detail of the masonry on the south elevation

 

General views of the elevation were partially obscured by large trees and I didn’t look closely at the details of the stonework; however, the Perpendicular Gothic style 3-light square headed windows, which are of slightly different sizes, have had their tracery at least restored.

 

A view up of the belfry

Looking up at the top of the tower, the belfry windows in the its upper stage have double round arches and a central shaft, and are considered to be transitional Anglo-Saxon/Norman in style and dating to the later C11, although parts of the tower adjoining the nave are believed to date back to the late C10.

 

Details of windows in the belfry

Adjacent to the pavement on St. Mary’s Street, behind the street sign, a floriated capital from the rebuilt south aisle forms the uppermost part of the Offerings Box that is formed with various salvaged pieces of ornamental masonry.

 

A feature formed of salvaged masonry

 

Continuing to the base of the tower, the coursed rubble masonry rises without any change in pattern to the upper stage, with large sometimes crudely finished side-alternate quoins providing further evidence of the lingering Anglo-Saxon architectural influence.

 

A detail of the quoins to the tower

 

The very tall west door, which has a restored nail head moulding, further points to the antiquity of the tower and, although I didn’t notice these due to the weathering of the stone, the large simple imposts are decorated with a chequer-board pattern.

 

A detail of the west door

Looking generally at the tower, apart from the Perpendicular Gothic flat headed 2-light window that has been inserted immediately above the west door, the masonry appears quite consistent in style, although work has been undertaken to it over the years and it was restored by Watkins & Son in 1908. 

 

A view up the west elevation of the tower

A particularly interesting feature to the right of the west door is a reset Romano-British gravestone, with added Anglo-Saxon inscriptions. It serves as a dedication stone and the latter reads “Eirtig had me built and endowed to the glory of Christ and St. Mary, XP”.

 

The dedication stone

I finished my very brief exploration of the church by taking a quick look at the south aisle, which was added in 1877. At the time of my visit, access was blocked by heras fencing and, having no opportunity to look for the various fragments of mediaeval masonry that have been incorporated into the fabric, I just took a couple of general photographs.

 

The south aisle