Above: Carols at St Mary, Thoresway

St Mary, Thoresway

The church of St Mary dates from the Norman period. It was extensively refurbished by Fowler in 1889-90 and has an unusual (for Lincolnshire) clapper board bell cote.

As well as regular services of Holy Communion special events are held during the year to encourage the local community to become part of the church in its widest sense whilst allowing the word of God and his worship to flourish. These include Open Churches, Harvest Festival and a Christmas Carol Service. The celebrations of Harvest and Christmas attract congregations of over 80.

St Mary is located at the centre of the village and is built of yellow sandstone. It was extensively rebuilt by James Fowler in 1889-80, incorporating into its interior the 13-century arcade of the former church. The Norman arch from the original tower can be found on the west side of the building and the northern doorway is of a Transitional (1150-1200)

The current clapper board bell-cote with its shingled spire would look more in place on a Parish Church in East Sussex than this part of England.(Lincolnshire Life Oct 1982)

The nave arcades are late 13th century (Pevsner 1989,pp757). A little older are seven floor stones, three of them enriched with floriated crosses. One marked the grave of Johannes de Gothmvndham (John de Gothmund), who was a rector of the church around I300.The inscription actually says: ‘+ lohannes de Gothmvndham quondam rector istivs ecclesie’

The slab itself seems to be made of an English marble, probably ‘Purbeck Marble’ from Dorset. Whilst we can tell from the style of the letter-cutting that it belongs to a group of monuments that were made in London. This monument shows how wide Thoresway’s connections were at this period. We don’t know where John de Gothmund came from but Gothmund is a village in Germany, near Lubeck. (David Stocker)