St Mary and St Nicolas

St Mary and St Nicolas stands in the market town of Spalding, Lincolnshire, beside the old Priory boundary and the Sheep Market. Built about 1284 on the site of an earlier church, it replaced a chapel dedicated to Thomas the Martyr. The church is a Grade I listed building and still serves as an active parish church. Its cruciform shape once included a nave with six bays, transepts, a chancel and a bell tower. Later additions widened aisles and added a south porch and tower in the 14th century. The church’s history is tied to monks from Angers who came after the Norman Conquest. Prior William of Littleport began the new church in 1284, and his successor Clement of Hatfield completed it by 1318. In the 15th century a rood screen, rood and clerestory windows were added, along with a hammerbeam roof adorned with angels. Sir George Gilbert Scott led a major restoration in the 1860s, removing 18th-century box pews and galleries and reconstructing the rood screen. Inside, visitors find a spacious nave with modern stained glass and a decorated chancel ceiling by Stephen Dykes Bower. The organ has been rebuilt and moved, and a servery sits at the west end. The west door now serves as the main entrance, with an internal glazed porch and a new stone floor. The church’s surroundings include the old cemetery where the chapel once stood, linking past and present in the heart of Spalding.