St John the Evangelist's Church, Corby Glen

St John the Evangelist’s Church stands in the village of Corby Glen, Lincolnshire, nine miles south-east of Grantham. Built of ashlar-faced limestone and rubble, it mixes Norman, Decorated and Perpendicular styles. The church has a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, a square tower and a chapel. The tower rises in three stages to a battlemented parapet, with 15th-century louvred bell openings and gargoyles. A 13th-century north aisle doorway and a two-storey Perpendicular south porch with a priest’s room above survive from earlier phases. The church is especially noted for its medieval wall paintings from the 14th and 15th centuries. A giant St Christopher, nearly eleven feet tall, dominates the north aisle, while Nativity scenes, the Seven Deadly Sins and a unique St Michael weighing souls appear elsewhere. Pevsner calls the scheme “very extensive,” and Cox highlights the odd Norman imposts on the chancel arch. A Tree of Jesse in an ogee frame decorates the south aisle wall. The interior also contains 15th-century iron-bound chests, 19th-century box pews and a 13th-century octagonal font on a later shaft. Visitors find seating for 206 beneath a late-14th-century nave roof braced by grotesque corbels. The arcades rest on faceted piers with octagonal capitals, and the chancel arch shows earlier roof lines. A 17th-century communion rail keeps dogs from the sanctuary, and a 1609 chalice is part of the church plate. The six-bell peal includes four cast between 1580 and 1628, with two newer bells added in 2013. A small single-manual organ from Stamford School, installed in 1949, provides music. The churchyard gate has Grade II listed wrought-iron gates set in ashlar pillars.