St Mary’s is an Anglo Catholic church and there is a strong smell of incense as soon as you enter the church.
The earliest parts of the church date from the C12th, although it was rebuilt in the C15th when the clerestory was added. The splendid tower with its blind arcading was added in the C13th, with the spire added around 1300. The south porch and north chancel chapel date from the C15th.
Inside it is quite a small church, with a two pillared arcade separating the nave and side aisles. The back of the church is very plain with a glazed doorway leading into the tower and two filled in windows above.
The stained glass is C19th although there are pieces of stained glass in one of the plain glass windows.
The rood screen, pews and chancel ceilings date from the Arts and Crafts refurbishment in the lateC19th/early C20th. The Rood was dedicated in 1920 as a war memorial to the dead of the Great War. The Pulpit dates from this refurbishment.
The door in the rood screen were locked, so I had to take photographs through the screen. This was a shame as the chancel and side chapel looked the more interesting part of the church. Both have painted ceilings. That of the Corpus Christie Chapel, to the north of the chancel, dates from around 1484. Between the two is the massive tomb of Sir David Phelphs who died in 1506. He fought alongside Henry VII at Bosworth Field and was steward to Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII.
On the north wall of Corpus Christie Chapel are two empty tomb arches. Beyond them, hidden behind the lectern, is a late C14th tomb with a mutilated effigy which may have served as an Easter Sepulchre. The stone statue of Our Lady in the north east dates from around 1330 and was found behind some panelling during the refurbishment.
The church is open daily. There is no parking by it. The nearest post code is PE9 2DF and the grid reference is TF 030071.
There are more pictures “here.”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/churches/england/lincolnshire/lincolnshire_five/stamford/stmary/index.html
