We recently had an inspection by Thomas Kupper of the stained glass windows of St Mary – here are some extracts from his report which I hope you will find interesting.
Andrew Alsop, Churchwarden

It was a pleasure to see the windows of St. Mary.

Your windows:
You have some very fine late 19th century pictorial windows at St. Mary and the narratives are all based around the life of Jesus, with inscriptions underneath commemorating members of the Carr family. The south window, No.5, near the font is of particular interest. Looking at the two female figures positioned in the lower register on the left and the right hand lights, the faces are quite detailed and very much painted like portraits. I wonder if these are representations of Mary Jalland and her sister Charlotte Carr.

Although the small window in the south wall in the chancel dates also from the 19th century, but it is rather earlier than the nave windows and stylistically it is very different with the design being based on a 14th century style, setting single figures against a lightly painted backdrop containing some silver stained grisaille motives.

The east window also dates from 19th century and it has been designed in a similar style and fashion to the small chancel window but with much more sophistication. As we have discovered the painted and stained grisaille glass contain a number of painted fish type creatures and perhaps these creatures link the window directly to the incumbent, Thomas Dolphin, who dedicated the window to some of his relatives.
It would be fun to do some further research into the windows at St. Mary and it would provide you with a little more context which you could include into your stained glass guide.

After my visit to St. Mary, I went to see the windows at St. Michael and All Angels at Bassingham and the windows by the Zettler studio are indeed magnificent, particularly the east window is absolutely fabulous.

(Please see the photographs in the St Michael’s entry).

In summary you have a good set of stained glass windows which could do with a little more research.

The church is approached through the parish lych-gate, erected as a War Memorial after the Great War. The Victorian stained glass windows depicting scenes from the life of Jesus are perhaps the most striking feature of the church interior. The building has 11th,13th,15th and late 16th century features and was restored by Fowler in the last decade of the nineteenth century.   The most recent additions to the church are the air-source heating units, the first in the diocese of Lincoln.