St Mary's Church is an active

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Mablethorpe Mablethorpe is a seaside town in the civil parish of Mablethorpe and Sutton, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.OS Explorer map 283:Louth and Mablethorpe: (1:25 000): In 1961 the civil parish had a population of 3,611. On 1 Ap ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. Built in the early 14th century, it was renovated with additions in 1714, and in 1976 it was extensively rebuilt. In 1966 the church was designated a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

In 1300 Sir Roger de Montalt donated the land for the church and paid for the original

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, octagonal piers and double-chamfered arches. The nave was rebuilt in 1714 and in 1976. In 1978 the arches of the nave were timber struts fortified with the old piers left in place. In the church a

communion rail The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and ot ...

dates to 1714. It features a set of turned baluster altar rails. Located at the junction of Church Road and Church Lane it is the town's parish church. On 31 May 1966 it was designated a grade II listed building. In 1976 G.R.A. Mack of Louth rebuilt the majority of the church. The

1976 British Isles heat wave A period of unusually hot summer weather occurred in the British Isles during the summer of 1976. At the same time, there was a severe drought on the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. It was one of the driest, sunniest and warmest summers ( ...

caused the clay bed to shrink and cracks developed on the structure.

Description

The church has been described as having a camel-back appearance. It has a low tower made of stone and brick. The lower part is stone and the upper part is brick. It has diagonal stepped brick

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es which are offset to the

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

and embattled

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. The materials used for construction were random mixed rubble stone, red brick and it has a slate roof. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

is built from brick and stone and has an eastern-facing window. The font is panelled and dates to 1400. The west side of the aisle has a limestone ledger slab with a full-length figure. At the north aisle there is a brass plate with inscription for Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam (1403) and in the south aisle his wife Elizabeth (1403). There is brass plaque above the north door, for Elizabeth Fitzwilliam (1522) with a full-length portrait. There is a tomb and Easter Sepulchre which dates to 1494 and it is thought to contain the remains of Thomas Fitzwilliam.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:St Mary's Church, Mablethorpe Grade II listed churches in Lincolnshire Mablethorpe 1300 establishments in England