St Denys' Church is a medieval Anglican parish church in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. While a church and a priest have probably been present in the settlement since approximately 1086, the oldest parts of the present building are the tower and spire, which date to the late 12th and early 13th centuries; the stone broach spire is one of the earliest examples of its kind in England. The Decorated Gothic nave, aisles and north transept were built in the 14th century. The church was altered in the 19th century: the north aisle was rebuilt by the local builders Kirk and Parry in 1853 and the tower and spire were largely rebuilt in 1884 after being struck by lightning. St Denys' remains an active parish church.
The church is a Grade I listed building, a national designation given to "buildings of exceptional interest". It is a prime example of Decorated Gothic church architecture in England, with the architectural historians Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris noting that "it is a prolonged delight to follow the mason's inventiveness". The church's tracery has attracted special praise, with Simon Jenkins arguing that its Decorated windows are "works of infinite complexity". Built out of Ancaster stone with a lead roof, St Denys' is furnished with a medieval rood screen and a communion rail, possibly by Sir Christopher Wren, and has a peal of eight bells, dating to 1796. The church also houses several memorials, including two altar tombs commemorating members of the Carre family, Sleaford's lords of the manor in the 17th century.
Description
St Denys' Church is the parish church of the benefice of Sleaford (formerly called New Sleaford), which encompasses most of the market town of Sleaford in the English non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire. The benefice is a vicarage and falls within the deanery of Lafford and the archdeaconry and diocese of Lincoln; as of 2015, the vicar is Rev. Philip Anthony Johnson, who was appointed in 2013. The church is located next to (and faces onto) the market place at the town centre. It is dedicated to St Denys; the Victorian clergyman and local historian Edward Trollope stated that this is a medieval form of St Dionysius, but does not elaborate on which of the several saints called Dionysius this refers to. According to a pamphlet published by the parochial church council, St Denys is a medieval composite of Dionysius of Paris, Dionysius the Areopagite and Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.
As of 2015, regular church services were scheduled for Sundays and Wednesdays. Holy Communion was conducted weekly at 8:00 am on Sundays, followed by Sunday School and an all-age family worship at 10:00 am. A parent and toddler group was scheduled for Wednesdays at 9:30 am.
History
Background and origins
The Sleaford area has been inhabited since the late Iron Age; people settled around the ford where a prehistoric track running northwards from Bourne crossed the River Slea. A large hoard of coin moulds belonging to the Corieltauvi tribe have been uncovered in this area and dated to the late Iron Age. It was occupied by the Romans, and then by the Anglo-Saxons. The place-name Slioford first appears in 852, meaning "crossing over a muddy stream", in reference to the Slea. The settlement around the crossing came to be known as "Old" Sleaford in 13th-century sources to distinguish it from developments further west, around the present-day market place, which came to be known as "New" Sleaford. The origins of New Sleaford are not clear, leading to a theory that it was planted by the Bishop of Lincoln in the 12th century as a means of increasing his income, hence the epithet "New". The town's compass-point layout, the 12th-century date of St Denys' stonework and other topographical features offer evidence for this theory.