Building record MLI33191 - Church of St Firmin, Thurlby

Summary

Church of St Firmin, Thurlby. Parish church with late Anglo-Saxon origins.

Type and Period (1)

  • (Early Medieval/Dark Age to Modern - 950 AD? to 2050 AD)

Protected Status/Designation

Full Description

Saxo-Norman to Perpendicular. Brown says that the early features - the long and short work on quoins, the plain tower arch under built with later arch and the triangular-headed opening to nave in the east wall of the tower - cannot positively be pronounced Anglo-Saxon. Restored 1856. In normal use. {1}{2}{3} Anglo-Saxon tower with Decorated and Early English additions, recessed spire. Norman to Transitional arcades of 4 bays. Early English transept details and chancel with Perpendicular east window. Decorated or Perpendicular north chapel windows. Decorated or Perpendicular clerestorey. Early English font. Norman cross set in Anglo-Saxon upper doorway of tower. {4}{5} Stained glass in this church dates to about 1225 AD and to the 14th century. {6} For the full description and the legal address of this listed building please refer to the appropriate List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. {7} Tree-ring analysis was carried out on samples taken in October 2010, from the dismantled bellframe and supporting timbers, and from in situ timbers in the tower. The bellframe timbers were probably all felled in 1792. Only one of the supporting timbers could be dated and this was felled in 1455, however it is unclear if this timber has been re-used. Three of the lower timbers from the tower date to the mid 16th century, however some timbers remain undated. {8} The church is unusual in having medieval documentation for its dedication by the Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Bloet, in 1112 which may well be soon after the construction of the church tower was completed. There may have been an earlier church on the same site or in the village. {9} Paul Everson and David Stocker have made a detailed study of the tower of the church. It is an early tower that seems to represent a half-way house between their true Lincolnshire Towers and the 'late derivative type'. Although scholars have considered the tower to be Anglo-Saxon, they suggest a date in the very early twelfth century and its construction may have been immediately before the dedication of the church in 1112. Everson and Stocker have analysed the morphology of the settlements of Thurlby and Northorpe and have suggested locations for the Domesday manors. They consider that the larger Peterborough manor recorded in Domesday probably stood to the east of the Roman Road of King Street around the church. They argue that this part of the village was a planned settlement created in about AD1100 with the church as an integrated component. Thurlby Church belonged to the Peterborough Abbey manor from before 1146 and it is likely that it was founded by the Abbey as part of its manor prior to 1112. It was, however, passed over to the nunnery of St Michael in Stamford [a cell of Peterborough] between 1186 and 1200. {10}

Sources/Archives (10)

  •  Index: Ordnance Survey. Ordnance Survey Card Index. TF 11 NW: 3.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: John Charles Cox. 1924. Little Guide: Lincolnshire (Second Edition). -.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Gerald Baldwin Brown. 1925. The Arts in Early England. -.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, with Nicholas Antram. 1989. Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Second Edition). pp.765-6.
  •  Index: Lincolnshire County Council. Sites and Monuments Record Card Index. TF 11 NW: L.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Penny Hebgin-Barnes. 1996. The Medieval Stained Glass of the County of Lincolnshire. pp.336-7.
  •  Index: Department of the Environment. 1987. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. 3/207.
  •  Report: English Heritage. 2010. St Firmin's Church, Thurlby: Tree-Ring Analysis of Timbers. -.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Smith, David M.. 1980. English Episcopal Acta I, Lincoln 1067-1185. Appendix 1, Bloet no.6.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Paul Everson and David Stocker. 2006. Summoning St Michael: Early Romanesque Towers in Lincolnshire. No.55, pp.269-73.

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Location

Grid reference Centred TF 10508 16800 (33m by 21m) Surveyed
Civil Parish THURLBY, SOUTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

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Record last edited

Dec 6 2023 10:34AM

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