Follow the brown signs

Fantastic carved figures from Tudor times

Nothing about the rather unremarkable exterior of this small Medieval church prepares you for the breathtaking surprise of the interior of this wonderful church.

St Lawrence has some of the most spectacular memorial sculptures in Lincolnshire. The largest, from the 1580s, features life-size figures of Sir Thomas St Paul and his wife, members of a dynasty of rich lawyer-politicians.

Sir Thomas reclines dressed in armour with a gold chain round his neck; his wife lies beside him elegantly dressed with a ruff and headdress. Round the canopy above kneel their eight children.

Gazing on from the wall, propped on one elbow, is his rakish relation Sir George with his wife Frances, both fashionably dressed. Poignantly, in a little alcove below, is the tiny effigy of their only child, Mattathia, who died as a baby.

All the figures are eerily life-like – look closely at the veins on Sir George’s hands and Warwick’s piercing blue eyes and ample, aristocratic cheeks. 

The alabaster monument to Sir George St Paul who died some 30 years later dominates the north chapel.

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