THREEKINGHAM : CHURCH OF ST PETER AD VINCULA
Church Post Code NG34 0BA
Open to visitors
Visited September 2025
It was August 2025, a day away from work and a full day’s churchcrawl in Lincolnshire; the day starting off at Great Ponton then working around the eastern and northern outskirts of Grantham before heading back east along the A52, reaching Threekingham in the early afternoon. All of the churches visited thus far had been open; with the help of a friendly key holder at Great Ponton, and that run continued with the church here being open to visitors.
Threekingham can be found just off the A52, which connects Boston to Nottingham, just to the east of the junction of the A15 which links Bourne to Sleaford. Bourne is around ten miles to the south with Sleaford seven miles or so off to the north.
Fond memories of my times cycling here over the years. Being a gardener by trade most of my holidays are taken during the winter and I was last here on a bitterly cold morning in February 2015; the first day of a five day churchcrawl of the area, with snow later on in the trip leaving me questioning my life choices.
There is a great deal of history here. Salters Way runs through the village; this being a major east west road which follows an ancient Roman highway which linked the salt making industries around the Wash to the Midlands.
In 699AD St Werburgh, who was an Anglo Saxon princess and Benedictine nun died whilst visiting the nunnery that she ran in Threekingham. There was a major battle nearby between Anglo Saxons and Viking invaders which took place in September 869AD; during which three Viking kings were killed. There is nothing to indicate that the village changed its name after this battle to reflect the three Kings but rather, Threekingham means the home of Trics people.
It is thought possible that King Cnut commissioned a church to be built here after the battle as he ordered churches to be erected on the sites of battles. There was a church listed here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086 but the church that we see today, which stands on the same site as the previous structure dates back to the 12th century.
The church here is dedicated to St Peter Ad Vincula, which means St Peter St Peter in chains, and consists of west tower with broach spire, nave with north and south aisles but no clerestories, south porch and chancel.
The buttressed three stage tower dates from 1170 with the octagonal broach spire with three tiers of unevenly place lucarne windows, being added around 1270. The whole thing stands an impressive 147 feet tall, with the spire being considered one of the best of its kind in the country. The effect is more striking as there is no clerestory here and therefore less height in the nave. An outline of a previous roofline can be seen against the east wall of the tower.
The south porch dates from the early 14th century and the visitor entering is greeted with a large cross carved in to the stonework. At the east end of the south aisle is an elaborately carved sun dial which has the inscription ‘Gift of Edmund Hutchinson Gentleman 1688’. Below that is a Mass dial which would have acted as a sundial,! pointing out the time of the next mass. Close by is the carved outline of a shoe, high enough up to suggest that the shoe wasn’t being worn when the carving took place. The reasons for this are lost in the mists of time; as always though I wondered if the person is now buried in the grounds here a few hundred years after leaving their mark.
The south aisle used to have a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was taken down at some point after the Reformation; note the square headed window at the east end, different in style from the others.
The chancel dates from the same time as the tower, around 1170 and until 1325 had a chapel on its northern side. The triple east window has beautiful rounded arches.
There is a ring of three bells here, all of which were cast by different generations of the Norris family at the Stamford bell foundry. The first and third of the ring were each cast in 1660 by Thomas Norris; each being inscribed ‘Thomas Norris Made Mee 1660’. The second of the ring was cast by Tobias Norris I, who set up this foundry, in 1615 with this one inscribed ‘God Save His Church’.
The whalebone archway to the south east of the church photographed on an earlier visit.
Moving inside it is immediately obvious that this church is much loved and well cared for. Walls are whitewashed and there is much evidence of the hands of the Victorian restorers visible throughout. The north and south arcades are each of five bays, with circular piers and capitals except for the most easterly bay on each side which are quatrefoil in design with still leaf decoration on the most westerly capitals. The east end of the north aisle has a bay and a half which are bricked up, which at one point in time would have led in to the former north chapel.
Moving in to the chancel there is oak panelling covering three sides, with some panelling to the south covering up a triple sedilia; the seating for the priests during the Mass in pre reformation churches. Still visible is the piscina in which the holy vessels used in the Mass would be washed, with alongside an aumbry in which the holy vessels would be stored. The aumbry would usually be found at the east end of the north wall of the chancel but that was not possible here as there was an arch leading through to the old north chapel.
The east window is of three lights, with three single lancet windows with rounded arches, which depicts Jesus being presented to Simeon in the Temple. Central Jesus holds the baby Jesus; each shown with nimbus, flanked by Mary and Joseph. Mary is to our left as we look at it; Jesus’ right. She is nearly always shown in that position, as the right hand side in Jewish custom was the place of honour. That is why Mary is virtually always shown on Jesus’ right hand side in depictions of the crucifixion.
Here she is dressed in her traditional blue with nimbus and with hands crossed over her chest. To our right we see Joseph again with nimbus, and who carries the temple sacrifice of two doves; this being the sacrifice requested for those of limited means. Each of them are smartly but modestly dressed, as fitting with their status at the time.
Across the top of this design angels hold banners on which are words from the start of the Nunc Dimitis, the Song of Simeon, which reads ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace’
The east window of the south aisle two light window shows the parable of the Good Samaritan. The first panel shows the Jew lying injured, with his own countrymen, a priest and a Levite, each ignoring his plight and walking on. A Samaritan, the sworn enemy of the Jew, is the only one who stops to help. This parable was prompted by an expert in the Jewish Law asking Jesus, ‘who is my neighbour?’ This parable was very challenging then (and still is now to be truthful) and I suspect that the expert in the law regretted asking the question when he received the answer!
At the west end of the nave we see three tombs which date from the 14th century, and probably for members of the Trykingham family, with the old village stocks along with whipping post and irons. Close by is a larger than life memorial to Sir Lambert de Trykingham who died in 1280 and his wife, whose name is not known but is thought to have been a member of the Spayne family who lived at the manor at nearby Spanby.
They lay recumbent with hands raised in prayer, looking east towards the chancel. He is dressed in armour with shield at side, which has the family crest on it; she wears a long flowing gown. At the feet of Sir Lambert are two lions, symbolic of courage. At the feet of his wife are two dogs, symbolic of fidelity.
Size wise, this is a large monument with Sir Lambert measuring in at seven feet seven inches! He has his legs crossed which was taken by some in the past to mean that he had fought in the Crusades. However, this is now seen as a myth with the thought being that this posture was simply the fashion of the day with no real symbolic significance. This monument used to sit in the family chantry chapel but was moved to its present position in 1860.
A quick look in the church grounds didn’t show anything of any great interest or rarity to be fair and there is nothing that has its own Grade II Listing; however the small remains of the medieval church cross can be seen surrounded by modern gravestones.
Before leaving I headed out of the church grounds off to the south east a little to photograph the church at distance through a whalebone arch. This arch, which is the jawbone of a whale was erected during the 19th century by the Cragg family to commemorate a whaling expedition in which a family member was involved. Since my last visit though some new houses had been built and the uninterrupted view of the church through the whalebone had gone. Therefore, enclosed is a photo from a previous visit.
It was time to move on, with four churches left to visit on this 11 church Lincolnshire crawl. We headed off south east to Horbling, a church that I had visited before but not found open. This church is now open to visitors, as was Billingborough, Aslackby (which is featured on this site) and Kirkby Underwood, which was a fluke as there was someone working in the tower.
The church of St Peter at Threekingham is a delight; full of interest for the churchcrawler and the area as a whole is also well worth a visit with plenty of open churches close by.