St Andrew and St Mary's Church, Stoke Rochford

St Andrew and St Mary's Church is a Grade I listed Church of England parish church dedicated to Saint Andrew and Saint Mary, in the parish of Easton and the village of Stoke Rochford, Lincolnshire, England. The church is south from Grantham, and at the western side of the Lincolnshire Vales in South Kesteven.

St Andrew and St Mary's is significant for its association with, and memorials to, the Easton Hall Cholmeley and the Stoke Rochford Hall Turnor families.

The church is in the ecclesiastical parish of Stoke Rochford with Easton, and is part of the Colsterworth Group of Parishes in the Deanery of Loveden and the Diocese of Lincoln. Other churches in the same group are St John the Baptist's, Colsterworth; St James’, Skillington; Holy Cross, Great Ponton; and St Cuthlac's, Little Ponton." St Andrew and St Mary, Stoke Rochford", The Colsterworth Group of Parishes web site. Retrieved 1 February 2015 St Andrew and St Mary's is within the Stoke Rochford conservation area."Stoke Rochford", Lincolnshire Heritage at Risk, Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire. Retrieved 1 February 2015

History St Andrew and St Mary's parish register dates from 1663.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1855, p. 224Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p. 663Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1933, p. 550

Domesday 1086 settlements associated with the present church and parish included Stoke, North Stoke and Ganthorpe (Ganthrop) in the Winnibriggs, and Easton in the Beltisloe Hundred. At the time the settlements were described with no priest or complete church."Stoke Rochford", Open Domesday, University of Hull. Retrieved 1 February 2015 However, from physical dating evidence South Stoke church might have an 11th-century origin. By the late 12th century the church of St Andrew at North, and St Mary at South Stoke existed in records. At some point the deserted medieval village of Ganthorpe with its chapel was at the north of what became the Stoke Rochford Estate, the Hall itself sitting further south between the townships of North Stoke at its north, and South Stoke at its south. North Stoke was demolished in 1841–1843 during the rebuilding of the previous 1794 Stoke Rochford Hall and its Estate's further enclosure, redesign and expansion.Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John: The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, Penguin (1964); revised by Nicholas Antram (1989), Yale University Press, pp. 642, 643. "Deserted Medieval Village, North Stoke", Reference Name MLI33933, Lincs to the Past, Lincolnshire Archives. Retrieved 1 February 2015

Until 13 June 1776 the living for North and South Stoke had been held as a mediety—tithe, glebe, rent and profit income shared equally between the two churches—after which the living and incumbency was combined as one parish, and included the hamlet of Easton to the south, to become the ecclesiastical parish of South Stoke cum Easton, under the patronage of Salisbury Cathedral’s Prebendary of South Grantham. The St Andrew dedication of North Stoke church was added to South Stoke, its church becoming St Andrew and St Mary (sometimes St Mary and St Andrew). Some transferred elements from the North Stoke and Ganthorpe churches are incorporated."Stoke (Rochford)", Open Domesday, University of Hull. Retrieved 1 February 2015"Stoke-Mandeville - Stoke, West", in A Topographical Dictionary of England, ed. Samuel Lewis (London, 1848), pp. 220–224Moule, Thomas, The English Counties delineated; or, a topographical description of England, 1837, Vol 2, p. 193Marat, William (1816); The History of Lincolnshire, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive, vol. 3, pp. 337–362. Reprint: British Library, Historical Print Editions (2011). The previous mediety parsonage at North Stoke had burnt down in 1697, and an 1824 map of North Stoke did not indicate a church. The possible site of North Stoke St Andrew's was excavated in 1968, which revealed 11th- to 14th-century pottery, with further 16th- to 17th-century and Saxo-Norman pottery nearby. In the early 20th century parts of an 11th-century limestone cross with interlace patterns were found in St Andrew's Church ruins; the remains are now in the churchyard of St Andrew and St Mary's.

The oldest parts of the church are the nave, essentially Norman, and a west tower hood mould which could be 11th-century (Pevsner). Chancel chapels were added in the 15th century: the south in 1448 by Ralph Rochford, and the north in 1460–70 by Henry Rochford, brother of Ralph. The Rochfords, who came to England under the Norman Conquest, took their name from the town of Rochford in Essex, and gave their name to the Stoke-Rochford manor and parish.Cox, J. Charles (1916): Lincolnshire p. 294, 295. Methuen & Co. Ltd. Rochford family members include a soldier in Edward III’s French wars who was charged with the safety of John II of France during his captivity at Somerton Castle, Lincolnshire, a commissioner of Lincolnshire banks and sewers (fenland drainage), one given authority by Richard II to oversee horse and cattle selling in Holland and Kesteven, and between 1344 and 1409, six becoming High Sheriffs of Lincolnshire. Sir Ralph Rochford, who provided for the building of South Stoke St Mary's south chapel, was granted at Stoke free warren—hunting privilege from the King in 1448 on condition of preventing exploitation by others—a position previously held by John de Neville of Ganthorpe during the reign of Edward II. A sculptured high relief slab, possibly of John de Neville and his wife, was found in a field at Ganthorpe now lies in the north chapel, having been installed in the 19th century. Henry Rochford who added St Mary's north chapel, and who in 1427 had received lands, house and buildings at North and South Stoke, was the last with Stoke's Rochford family name. He married Elizabeth Scrope (d.1503). She was the daughter of Henry Scrope, 4th Baron Scrope of Bolton who owned the neighbouring manor of Easton, and the widow of Sir John Bigod of Mulgrave Castle, Yorkshire who was killed at the Battle of Towton during the Wars of the Roses. Upon the death of Henry Rochford, Elizabeth married Oliver St John (d.1497), elder half-brother of Margaret Beaufort who was mother of Henry VII. The bodies of Oliver St John and Elizabeth are buried beneath a black marble slab with brass inscriptions in the South Stoke church chancel. The South Stoke manor passed to Joan, the daughter of Henry Rochford, and through marriage and purchase to Stanhope, Skeffington, Ellys, Fountain, Heale and Harrison families. In 1637 Sir John Harrison passed by moiety the manor to his daughter Margaret (1627–1679), who married Edmund Turnor Esqu (1619–1707). Edmund Turnor was knighted in 1663 as a reward for his loyalty to Charles I.Nichols, John (1831); Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, vol 6, pp. 592–602Turnor, Edmund; Collections for the History of the Town and Soke of Grantham Containing Authentic Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton, William Miller (1806), pp. 133-150

The north chapel and north aisle have since been used to commemorate the Turnor family of Stoke Rochford Hall to the north. The south chapel and south aisle have become associated with the Cholmely family of Easton Hall to the south. The Knight's Scrope attained the Easton manor through marriage from the Tybetost family who had been Lords of the manor in the 13th and 14th centuries. Lord Scrope conveyed the manor to Gilbert Bury in 1593, with James Bury selling it to Sir Henry Cholmely in 1606.Urban, Sylvanus (1794); The Gentleman's Magazine: And Hiftorical Chronicle For The Year Mdccxciv, pp. 1184, 1185. Reprint Nabu Press (2011). Allen, Thomas (1834); The History Of The County Of Lincoln: From The Earliest Period To The Present Time, volumes 1-2, pp. 316, 317. Reprint Nabu Press (2011),

In 1816 antiquarian and publisher William Marrat stated that the church was almost devoid of the stained glass imagery that, according to a report, "abounded" in 1640.

St Andrew and St Mary's was restored during the first half of the 19th century at a cost of £2,000, provided by the Turnors, Cholmelys and others. An 1846 restoration added a lower chancel roof, and a lath and plaster chancel arch which was removed by a further restoration in 1936, revealing the down face of the chancel roof below the chancel arch apex. A further tower restoration took place in 1946.St Andrew and St Mary’s Church official guide bookCommemorative plaque on the tower arch The chancel reredos was added in 1911, designed by Mary Fraser Tytler, the wife of George Frederic Watts.

The tower external clock was erected in 1920 as a First World War memorial. The Second World War Operation Market Garden was planned at Stoke Rochford Hall. A commemoration of the role played by 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment in the military operation has been held at the church each year, attended by Battalion members. A memorial service was held at the church in 2006 in remembrance of the Royal Canadian Air Force and RAF crew of a Lancaster bomber which crashed in the grounds of Stoke Rochford Hall on 28 April 1945."Memorial service for bomber crew", BBC News, 19 November 2006. Retrieved 1 February 2015

In 2012 Emily McCorquodale, the daughter of Lady Sarah McCorquodale and niece of the late Princess of Wales, married director James Hutt at St Andrews and St Mary's. Attending the ceremony were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Earl Spencer.Sawyer, Patrick; "William and Harry among the guests as their cousin Emily McCorquodale marries", The Telegraph, 9 June 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2015

St Andrew and St Mary received from English Heritage a Grade I listed building status on 20 September 1966.

Architecture St Andrew and St Mary's is of ashlar and limestone rubble construction. It comprises a chancel with north and south side-chapels, a nave, north and south aisles, a west tower, a north porch, and a south vestry, and is of Norman and Perpendicular period and style, with elements of Decorated and Early English.

Exterior

The tower is of three stages. The lower stages might be part of an 11th-century previously unbuttressed tower, and contains at its west side an early 15th-century chamfered reveal window opening with pointed arch surrounded by a hood mould with label stops in human form. The inset Perpendicular window is of three lights of panel tracery below, and six above. The panels are headed with trefoils, the lower within ogee heads. A church clock is just below the belfry stage. Between the window and clock is a hooded slit window, a repeat slit window is on the north and south sides. The Belfry stage was added in the 13th century and is defined at its base by a string course with repeating dentils. Central to each side of the belfry stage is a chamfered window opening with a plain hood mould following a semi-circular head. Within the opening are louvered and pointed twin-lights, these separated by a central octagonal shaft with a trefoil opening above in the north and south windows. The roof line is defined by a further string course with repeated grotesque bosses, and pairs of gargoyle drains on each side. An embattled roof parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles sits above. The tower is partially clasped at the north and south by the church aisles, and on the north side by an ashlar three-stepped angled buttress against the lower stages.

The nave is defined by the clerestory above the abutted north and south aisle roofs. The clerestory contains three clear glazed windows on the north wall and three on the south, each of twin-lights surrounded by shallow-top arches within deep hood moulds. The windows at the south are point-headed and of plain tracery, those at the north round-headed with cinquefoil cusping—lobes formed by the overlapping of five circles. The clerestory parapet is of plain stone construction, overhangs the wall, and has a coped top.