Wisbech St Mary Web Site

The Parish Church of Guyhirn and Rings End

Designed by the eminent architect Sir Gilbert Scott Guyhirn church is simple and unpretentious yet it has several features that are worth mentioning.

The style is Early English and the building has a lofty nave with north and south transepts. At the west end is a quaint bell-turret containing three bells supplied from Messrs Warner and Sons foundry. The church is built of Whittlesey brick with Ancaster stone dressing. Pitch pine was used in the roof and nave, and the porch was made of oak.

The windows are lancet-headed in pairs under single arches and are predominantly clear or opaque glass. The three-light east window contains stained-glass memorials to the Marriott family who are interred in Wisbech St Mary churchyard, and the infant son of the first vicar of Guyhirn with Rings End, the Revd William Carpenter. Above the east window is a very finely decorated Victorian rose window.

When it was built there was seating for 350. The cost of building the church was £3,600 raised mainly from private donations including £1,500 from the Dean of Edinburgh a friend of Scott and Scott's brother who was Vicar of Wisbech. Donations were also received from the Dukes of Somerset, Bedford and Rutland, and from the Bishops of Ely and Winchester. Further expenditure was incurred because the building was erected on soft clay and settlement was immediately a problem.

A typically large Victorian vicarage was built next door to the church.

The Dean of Edinburgh laid a foundation stone in June 1877. The consecration service in September 1878 was held amidst great rejoicing in the parish. A sumptuous luncheon for 117 people was held in a "large tent" after the service.

The village war memorial stands in the church grounds.

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