Owing to the proximity of the priory, the rich and influential persons who had died before the demolition of monasteries were buried in the convent church. The parish church was most ably restored by the late Sir Gilbert Scott in 1866. The high pews and galleries were removed. The organ was erected in a new chapel built on the north side of the chancel. The west window of the nave was filled with new tracery, and the whole of the windows filled with stained glass. The roofs were thoroughly overhauled, and new pews erected.

Weston St. Mary

The next church of which we have to treat is the village church of St. Mary’s, Weston, another of the Spalding Priory churches. The parish of Weston formed part of the at one time large Manor of Spalding and its members, of which the Priors of Spalding were lords; and all records point to the able and philanthropic way the monks treated the places within their jurisdiction. With respect to the mode in which they treated Pinchbeck, and the means by which they built that fine village church, the existing records of the monastery give a most interesting account. That Weston Church was restored under the able direction of the then vicar, the late Rev. Canon Edward Moore, F.S.A., is sufficient guarantee that it was a thorough, though conservative, restoration, and those who visit the church will be ready to testify that as a model of a village church Weston St. Mary would hold a very high place.

That the present is not the first church at Weston we have proof, for about the year 1135 Thomas de Multon, who was the chief tenant of the Prior of Spalding, and resided at his castle at Moulton, whilst attending the funeral of his father in the Abbey Church of Spalding, gave to the monks, in the presence of his family, the Abbot of Croyland, and many others, the church at Weston. Weston was in his manor of Moulton. The gift was confirmed in the presence of the Chapter of the Priory of Spalding, and also by Thomas de Multon depositing his clasped knife on the high altar of the Abbey Church. This Thomas was the father of Lambert de Multon, who, with his wife Matilda, was buried in Weston Church; and there is still in the north-west corner of the north transept his sepulchral slab which formerly had two effigies. Lambert doubtless was a benefactor to the church, and so acquired the honour of sepulture within its walls.

In the early part of the thirteenth century (during the reign of King John), and whilst John, a Spaniard, was the Prior of Spalding, a fine was levied between him and Lord Thomas de Multon for the advowson of the Church of Weston, and, judging by the architecture, it was about this time the monks began the building of the present church.

With the exception of the transepts and tower, the whole of this pretty church belongs to the earliest part of the Lancet Period. The two transepts belong to the Geometrical Period, and the tower to the Rectilinear Period of architecture. The student may compare the nave of this church with advantage with the earlier nave of Moulton, another of the Spalding Priory churches—it seems as if the same workmen had been engaged on both buildings. The nave has five compartments of pointed pier arches of two orders, of which the first only is moulded, resting on light clustered piers consisting of circular and polygonal shafts surrounded by four light detached shafts. The piers are low and the shafts not banded. The pier capitals present a series of carved work of the earliest Lancet foliage, and are very stiff, but are more free and of far more advanced character than those at Moulton. The chancel arch of two orders is an excellent example of the early work of the Lancet Period. The clerestories should be compared with those at Whaplode, Long Sutton, and Moulton, which show the gradual change from the Norman to the Transitional and the Transitional to the Lancet styles of architecture. This church illustrates how the Transitional ideas in regard to moulding, &c., show themselves in this early example of Lancet work.

The chancel has single lancet windows and slender buttresses of the early part of the period, and should be compared with the two buttresses at the east end of the south aisle of Moulton Church.

The font is an interesting one, and is of the same date as the nave. The tower, which is the lowest in the district, does not call for observation. The south porch is a very good specimen of the period, and will repay careful inspection.

All Saints’, Moulton

Old though this splendid village church is, it is not the first church the parish possessed, for there was an earlier one which it is believed stood on the north side of the main road leading from Spalding to Holbeach, in the same manner as the Church of Weston now does. The site of this early church was near the present “Bell Inn.” When the turnpike was made in 1761, a great number of human bones were dug up and the foundations of buildings were discovered. The impression then was that the site of an ancient church and burial ground had been disclosed. This church was probably a small Saxon building. Domesday Survey does not record any church at Moulton. That need not cause any surprise, as it was no part of the commissioners’ duty to make a return of churches. It is true some are mentioned, but in the majority of cases, even where churches were known to have existed, there is no mention of them in the Survey.