St Vincent's Church is a Grade I listed Church of England parish church in Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, England. It is at the southern edge of the Lincoln Cliff in South Kesteven, and north from Grantham.
St Vincent's is only one of four churches in England dedicated to Vincent of Saragossa."Church History", Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council. Retrieved 21 October 2013 The church is noted in particular for its double nave (one of only four existing in EnglandKelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1955, p. 57), and monuments to Sir Charles and Sir Edward Hussey, and to the 18th-century astronomer Edmund Weaver.
The church is in the ecclesiastical parish of Caythorpe, and is one of the Caythorpe Group of churches in the Deanery of Loveden and the Diocese of Lincoln. Other churches within the group are St Nicholas' at Fulbeck, and St Nicholas' at Carlton Scroop with Normanton."Caythorpe P C C" , Diocese of Lincoln. Retrieved 21 October 2013
History
There were two churches at Caythorpe in the 11th century, recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book."Caythorpe", Domesdaymap.co.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2013, The present church building dates from the early, and chiefly completed before the middle of, the 14th century. The construction was probably sponsored by the niece of Edward II, Lady Elizabeth de Burgh who held the local lordship. The patronage of the present church at origin was held by the Knights Hospitaller, whose earlier Knights Templar had their Lincolnshire headquarters at Temple Bruer, to the north-east.
The parish register, which includes the adjoined hamlet of Frieston, dates from 1663 for baptisms; 1692 for marriages; and 1673 for burials.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1933, pp. 133 The earliest record of a Church of England rector at Caythorpe is of Christopher Mallam, parish priest in 1551. In 1842 the living was a rectory, valued in the Kings Books at £20. 11s. 10d., with 13 acres of glebe land, a residence, and a yearly modus—a payment in lieu of tithes—of £1,080. The incumbent was Rev’d George Woodcock, under the patronage of George Hussey Packe JP, Lord of the manor, principal landowner and High Sheriff of Lincolnshire. By 1855 the glebe acreage and modus had slightly increased, the incumbent being Rev'd Charles Daniel Crofts, BA, formerly of St John's College, Cambridge, rector until 1893. Between 1898 and 1938 the living, sponsored by Sir Edward Hussey Packe KBE, DL, JP, was held by Rev’d Frederick Markland Percy Sheriffs BA, formerly of Trinity College, Dublin, who was also the rural dean of Loveden.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, pp. 356–357White, William (1842); History Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire, p. 676, reprinted Nabu Press (2012).
On 30 December 1859 lightning struck the church spire causing the upper portion to fall through the roofs of the chancel and transepts. The spire was rebuilt in 1860 by George Gilbert Scott, the Gothic Revival architect. Its height, which was shortened by , was compared by a contemporary Kelly's Directory as of a "general outline [that] is more graceful." At the same time a north aisle was added to the nave to a Scott design. Cox, in his 1916 publication Lincolnshire, described Scott’s new aisle as detrimental to the plan of the church, with Pevsner believing the nave "would be even more impressive if Scott had not added an outer aisle."Cox, J. Charles (1916): Lincolnshire p. 97. Methuen & Co. Ltd.Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John; The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire pp. 494–495; Penguin, (1964); revised by Nicholas Antram in 1989, Yale University Press. The spire was again struck by lightning in 1937 with no damage caused to the structure."The Exterior", Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council. Retrieved 21 October 2013
Above and around the west arch of the transept crossing within the nave was previously the remains of ‘Doom’ mural paintings which included the Last Judgment and the Archangel Michael weighing souls. The paintings, damaged by weather during the 1859 lightning strike, were whitewashed over in the 1960s as restoration would have proved too expensive—only traces are visible, although the murals are capable of future recovery. An 1855 report described the paintings: "extending across the upper part of the west end of the nave is a beautiful fresco of the Last Judgment." By 1840 a gallery with seating for 150 had been built. Concurrent installations were a tower clock by E J Dent of The Strand, London, and a ring of eight "very fine bells" by Mears of Whitechapel, London, both presented to the parish by George Hussey Packe. These bells were recast in 1912 at a cost of £300. The eight bells are credited differently in Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers: being by George Oldfield (1639 and 1656), Thomas Eayre (1744), and John Taylor & Co (1913). John Taylor is also credited with a 1913 recasting.Lewis, Samuel (1840); A Topographical Dictionary of England, reprinted Ulan Press (2012), Vol. 1, p. 480"The Interior", Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council. Retrieved 21 October 2013"Caythorpe St Vincent", Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 21 October 2013"Bells", Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council. Retrieved 21 October 2013
In 1871 the church’s organ was supplied by Forster and Andrews of Hull, at a cost of £270. By the 1980s woodworm attack had necessitated a restoration, with only five ranks of the original pipes, diapason front pipes, and the organ casing remaining unaffected. The restoration was carried out by Henry Groves & Son of Nottingham in 1986, who amalgamated the original with a Gray and Davison organ from Christ Church Chilwell, and added a separate organ console within the north aisle. From the previous organ remained 456 pipes, to which were added a further 362. The refurbished organ was dedicated by the Bishop of Grantham."The Organ", Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council. Retrieved 21 October 2013
In 1947 the 16th-century funerary armour of Baron Hussey, executed at Lincoln in 1538 (or 1536"Sleaford History", Sleaford Town Council, Internet Archive. Retrieved 21 October 2013) for participation in the Pilgrimage of Grace, was donated to St Vincent’s by Sir Edward Hussey Packe KBE of Prestwold. In 1997 these artifacts and other valuables were stolen from the church and remain unrecovered. The brackets that held the armour are on the south wall of the chancel, although National Heritage continues to note the funerary armour as existing within the church.
St Vincent's received an English Heritage Grade I listing on 20 September 1966. In 2011 the church received £102,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the maintenance of the church spire and nave roof.Caythorpe Parochial Church Council, Heritage Lottery Fund. Retrieved 21 October 2013"Caythorpe Church Today", Caythorpe and Frieston Parish Council. Retrieved 21 October 2013
The church was closed temporarily in February 2012 after damage to the spire from the 2008 Lincolnshire earthquake was discovered.
Yearly memorial services for the No. 216 Parachute Signals Squadron have been hosted at St Vincent’s on the first Sunday in September. The Regiment was stationed at Caythorpe, and took part in the Second World War 1944 Operation Market Garden. Stained glass windows were installed in the north aisle in 1994, a memorial to the Airborne Signals (Royal Corps of Signals), and to those of its number who died in the 1982 Falklands War and other historic campaigns., Statement of Needs, Diocese of Lincoln, North Loveden. Retrieved 21 October 2013 In 2011 and 2012 the Band of the RAF Regiment Brass Ensemble gave concerts of jazz and military music within the church."Brass Ensemble Return to Caythorpe", Royal Air Force Music Services. Retrieved 21 October 2013
Architecture
Exterior
St Vincent’s is a church of chiefly limestone rubble and ironstone fabrication, with ashlar details, and slate roofs. Of cruciform footprint, it comprises a chancel, double nave, tower with spire and belfry above a central crossing, north and south stub transepts, a north aisle, and a south porch. It dates in construction from the 13th to the 18th century, with 1860s additions and rebuilding, in mainly Early Decorated style, and Perpendicular.
The tower sits centrally at a crossing between the nave and chancel (west and east), and north and south stub transepts, and, with its crocketed spire, reaches a total height of . The octagonal spire contains six small flush lucarnes each side in an alternating pattern, and is topped by a weathervane. The parapet above the belfry is a curvilinear open structure topped by a straight rail, and joins, at each corner, crocketed pinnacles attached to the spire by slender flying buttresses. The belfry stage is supported by two buttresses at each corner, and contains two clocks, one each on the south and west face, and a window on each side, each of two lancet lights topped with simple traceried openings, and edged by a hood mould arch—moulded arch projections against the wall—ornamented with label stops. The roof is drained through two grotesque gargoyles on each side, set between the base of the parapet and the belfry stage.
The nave, as with the chancel and north aisle, shows a banding construction from the ground to eaves in alternate courses of ironstone and ashlar. On its west are gabled buttresses, two at each corner, and one at the centre running to the point of the ridge—a further buttress supports the south wall, and all are topped by pinnacles inset with arched panels below crocketed spires. A bas relief Annunciation is worked into the top of the central west buttress, and this, and south facing buttresses, contain gabled statue niches with trefoiled inset surrounds. Two Decorated late 13th-century windows are placed in the west wall, one either side of the central buttress. They are of three lancets, with pointed heads, geometrical tracery—typically circular rosette devices dating from c.1250–1310—and hood moulds. Below the west wall south window is a late 14th-century door, now blocked, within an ogee-headed stone surround. The spandrels between the ogee and outer rectilinear enclosure contain on one side a dragon motif, and on the other, a shield. Beneath and attached to the ogee head are three grotesque bosses—a probable fourth is missing—as stops to the foiled moulding. The nave south wall is surmounted by a plain parapet holding projecting gargoyles. It contains two windows, each of four lights—one Decorated, the other with Perpendicular tracery—and both with hood moulds. Two small 15th-century windows sit beneath the easterly window, one of two lights, the other single.
The chancel is probably largely the result of 18th- and 19th-century rebuilding. The east wall contains a five light 15th-century style stained glass window, and the south and north walls with a two-light window each, the north with geometrical tracery. In the south wall are the remains of a 13th-century priest’s doorway with a trefoil head.
During Scott’s 1860 additions, what is now the north aisle west window of four lancets, contemporary with the 13th-century geometrical nave west windows, was re-sited from the original north wall of the nave. The aisle also contains Scott’s run of four windows on its long north side, all of three lancets with cinquefoils—lobes formed by the overlapping of five circles—set in a rosette above within a pointed head, and at the east one window of two lancets with a quatrefoil rosette above. Above the aisle east and west windows are small glazed trefoil openings. Between the north wall windows, and at the aisle corners, are buttresses with steeply angled double steps to the eaves of the slate roof, with their socles, or base plinths, continuing around the faces of the aisle walls.