St Denys, Sleaford

   In the summer the bf came over for a few days and we went on an expedition to Gunby, the delicately beautiful house owned by the National Trust, that sits at the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  Our first port of call however was Sleaford: the Hub, and the church of St Denys - Lincolnshire flowing Decorated in all its pomp.  It was Market day and there was an auction taking place outside  just in front of the church. Not a common thing anymore; I can just remember the auctions taking place on 'The Stones' outside Bryan Browning's interesting Town Hall in Bourne.
   The west front of St Denys is particularly lavish; influenced, I think, by the east end of Old St Paul's (as depicted by Wenceslas Hollar) with extra pinnacles over the apex of the windows. The spire is much earlier however - one of the first stone broach spires in the country.  The clerestory is Perpendicular Gothic, and the outer N aisle is a Victorian addition, but very sympathetically done.
 The interior is very spacious and has a number of interesting furnishings: Jacobean and baroque monuments and a medieval Rood screen that was praised by Pugin and restored by Comper in 1918 and who added the loft and figures.