St Martin's Church, Stamford

[[File:Cénotaphe de Richard Cecil circa 1553 église Saint-Martin Stamford 04.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of [[Richard Cecil (courtier)|Sir

Richard Cecil]] (died 1553)]]

File:Stamford, St Martin - Tomb of Lord Burghley, d. 1598 - geograph.org.uk - 1497790.jpg (died 1598)]]

A church was first erected here between 1133 and 1147 by Martin de Vecti (also known as Martin de Bec), Abbot of Peterborough from 1133 to 1155. He dedicated the church to the saint whose name he held. It is thought that the church may have been damaged in Wars of the Roses by Lancastrian forces in 1461. By 1473 it was reported as being in a ruinous state. Rebuilding was started in 1482, and completed in 1485 in the Perpendicular style.The Antiquities of Stamford and St Martin's: Compiled Chiefly from the Annals of the Rev. Francis Peck, with Notes; to which is Added Their Present State Including Burghley; by W. Harrod. ... By Francis Peck, William Harrod. Published by printed by and for W. Harrod, and sold by W. Lowndes, London, 1785

The majority of the mediaeval coloured glass was bought by the Earl of Exeter from the Church of the Holy Trinity at Tattershall in 1754.[http://www.httf.org/shorthistory.html Church of the Holy Trinity at Tattershall website]

The church was re-ordered in 1843 by Edward Browning when new pews and a new pulpit were installed. The Cecil Chapel was extended to the north in 1865 and houses the tombs of the Cecil family, including monuments to Sir Richard Cecil, William Cecil, first Lord Burghley, and John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter. During the nineteenth century the church also received a new nave roof, a lowered floor, new bells and in 1890 a new organ. New choir stalls and an altar were erected in 1894 as a result of a general subscription in the parish.{{cite news |author= |title=Stamford |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/18940622/020/0004 |newspaper=Stamford Mercury |location=England |date=22 June 1894 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}

Later additions in 1920-30s include a new screen and pulpit with carvings by Mahomet Thomas Phillips{{Cite web |last=Hughes |first=H |date=17 October 2022 |title=Mahomet Thomas Phillips Part 2 |url=https://reimagininglincs.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2022/10/17/mahomet-thomas-phillips-part-2/ |website=University of Lincoln}} while working at Bowman & Sons.

Properly it is the Church of St Martin Without, Stamford Baron.

Burials include Dutch portrait painter William Wissing (1687), in the churchyard, and Daniel Lambert (1809), in the detached part of the churchyard.

• Sir Richard Cecil (d. 1555)
• William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (d. 1598)
• William Wissing (painter) (d. 1687)
• John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter (d. 1700) (by Pierre-Étienne Monnot)
• Edward Henry Cecil (d. 1862) and Henry Poyntz Cecil (d. 1858) (by Giovanni Maria Benzoni){{cite book |last1=Pevsner |first1=Nikolaus |last2=Harris |first2=John |author-link= |date=1973 |title=The Buildings of England. Lincolnshire |url= |location= |publisher=Penguin Books |page=661 |isbn=0140710272}}
• Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter (d. 1867) and his wife Isabella Cecil, Marchioness of Exeter (d. 1879)
• Lord Thomas Cecil (d. 1873) (by Millward & Co, London)
• Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (d. 1881)
• Thomas Cooper Goodrich (d. 1885)
• Adelbert Percy Cecil (d. 1889)
• William Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Exeter (d. 1895) and his wife Georgiana Sophia Pakenham (d. 1909)
• Brownlow Cecil, 4th Marquess of Exeter (d. 1898) and his wife Isabella Whichcote (d.1917)
• William Cecil, 5th Marquess of Exeter (d. 1956) and his wife Myra Rowena Sibell (d. 1973) (by Bowman and Sons of Ketton stone){{cite news |author= |title=Memorial to Marquess |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/19570222/001/0001 |newspaper=Stamford Mercury |location=England |date=22 February 1957 |access-date=18 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• David Cecil, 6th Marquess of Exeter (d. 1981) and his first wife Mary Theresa (d. 1984) and his second wife DIana Mary (d. 1982)
• William Martin Alleyne, 7th Marquess of Exeter (d. 1988)

The church tower holds a ring of 6 bells. They were all cast in 1850 by Charles and George Mears.{{cite web |url=https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/tower/12129 |title=Stamford Baron, Lincolnshire, S Martin |author= |date=24 April 2023 |website=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers |publisher= Dovemaster |access-date=15 October 2023 |quote=}} The tenor weight is {{convert|1505|lb|kg}}.

File:Stamford St martins case.jpg

Until 1890 the organ sat in a gallery at the west end. It comprised two manuals and 14 stops.{{cite news |author= |title=To be disposed of |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/18900502/066/0007 |newspaper=Stamford Mercury |location=England |date=2 May 1890 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} The current organ is by Bevington and it was dedicated on 23 May 1890.{{cite news |author= |title=Organ Dedication |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/18900523/006/0004|newspaper=Stamford Mercury |location=England |date=23 May 1890 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} At the dedication service at 11.00am Haydn Keeton, the organist of Peterborough Cathedral, presided at the organ. Haydon Hare gave a recital in the afternoon on the same day. A specification of the organ can be found on the [http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=D02512 National Pipe Organ Register].

• John Speechley ???? – 1833,Norfolk Chronicle – Saturday 2 November 1833 (afterwards organist of St Paul's Church, Bedford, later organist of Peterborough Cathedral)
• Charles C Noble 1833Stamford Mercury – Friday 6 December 1833 – 1836 (afterward organist of St Mary's Church, Nottingham)British Musical Biography By James D. Brown
• Richard Layton 1836Stamford Mercury – Friday 1 July 1836 – ca. 1846Chronology of Stamford: Compiled from Peck, Butcher, Howgrave, Harrod, Drakard, Parliamentary Reports, and Other Important Works, George Burton. Published by R. Bagley, 1846 – ca. 1876
• William Jonathan Bettle
• John Clare Billing 1918 – 1927{{cite news |author= |title=Organist Retires |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/19270506/086/0004 |newspaper=Stamford Mercury |location=England |date=6 May 1927 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• Miss D. Tebbutt 1927{{cite news |author= |title=Presentation |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000237/19270722/090/0004 |newspaper=Stamford Mercury |location=England |date=22 July 1927 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} - 1935
• R. Frost 1935 - 1938
• F. Rony 1938 - 1939{{cite news |author= |title=Stamford Organist |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003330/19381005/161/0012 |newspaper=Leicester Evening Mail |location=England |date=5 October 1938 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }}
• E. Willey 1939{{cite news |author= |title=Stamford Organist |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003330/19391104/040/0003 |newspaper=Leicester Evening Mail |location=England |date=4 November 1939 |access-date=15 October 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription }} (formerly assistant organist at St Modwen’s Church, Sutton-in-Ashfield)
• Ernest John Charles Warner 1952 – circa 1987
• Graham Johnson
• Harold Harvey (Also St Mary's)
• Gary Seiling (Also St Mary's)
• Fergus Black (Also St Mary's)

{{Incomplete list|date=October 2008}}

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{{Commons category-inline|St Martin's, Stamford}}

• [http://www.stamfordchurches.co.uk/st-martins.shtml Stamford Churches]
• [http://www.musicatstmartins.org Music at St Martins]

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