On the bus to Stamford -All Saints
Delaine’s 301 bus will drive you smoothly through Tallington, on to Uffington and deposit you in the centre of Stamford right by All Saints Church, which as you know is the home of the Peregrine Falcons. They set up home in the tower in the quiet lockdown months of 2021 and fledged two chicks. They have settled ever since feeding on Feral Pigeons and Wood Pigeons, supplemented with the occasional Jackdaw and Woodcock. A Peregrine can reach amazing speeds up to 200mph! Go into the church and you have a bird’s eye view of the nest on a TV screen as two cameras have been installed to keep a watchful eye on the birds.
Entering the church you will first notice the highly ornamented box pews, designed to keep the chill off families in the winter cold, and then look up to see the magnificent stained-glass windows. The Church has recently had similar heating to that at St Guthlac’s installed, and the congregation seized the opportunity to spring clean and redecorate and so you will see the church in its new-found glory!
As with many thriving country towns the church has benefited down the years from a wealthy benefactor. In the case of Stamford, it was the wealthy wool merchant, John Browne, a member of the influential Staple of Calais, and his sons, John and William. The upper walls, windows, and the roof of All Saints were financed by John junior, as was the tower with its unusual crocketed spire. The wooden roof beams in the chapel are supported by carved angels with gilded wings, the roof punctuated with gilded bosses, which include two with storks (Margery John Browne senior’s wife had the family name of Stokke) and the Christ be with me motto of the Browne family. John, d.1442, and Margery, d.1460, are the subject of brasses on the east wall of the north aisle. There are further family brasses for John Browne the younger, his wife Agnes and brother William. Centuries later, in 1888, a descendent of the family, Edward J. Browne of Boston in the USA gifted the great west window to the church.
