St Wulfram's Church, Grantham

St Wulfram’s Church stands in the centre of Grantham, a market town in Lincolnshire. The building is an Anglican parish church and holds Grade I listed status. Its most striking feature is a tall spire that rises 274 feet, making it the third highest parish church spire in England. The spire is topped with a distinctive weathercock and can be seen from far across the flat Lincolnshire countryside. Inside, the church contains fine woodwork and memorials from different centuries. The tower also houses a set of bells rung by local ringers. The church has long been recognised for its architectural importance. In 2020 an online vote judged it the finest non-cathedral English church. Simon Jenkins, in his book England’s Thousand Best Churches, called its spire the finest in England. The stained glass windows date from the 1960s and 1970s and were designed by artists including John Hayward and Harry Harvey. Harvey’s window shows St Michael defeating the Devil, while Hayward’s depict Jesus walking on water and the seven Christian sacraments. The organ, rebuilt several times since 1735, is regarded as one of the finest in Lincolnshire. Visitors enter through a west door beneath the tower and find a spacious nave with high arcades. The north aisle leads to a chapel containing a modern font. The organ case, designed by Sir Walter Tapper, stands at the west end and took eight years to complete. The tower offers a narrow spiral stair to a ringing chamber and a viewing platform high above the town. From there, views stretch across Grantham and the surrounding farmland. The churchyard contains old gravestones and a war memorial.