St Michael

The Perpendicular west tower dominates this large village church and is unusual in having the churchyard path running through its base. The lofty nave has oddly shaped clerestory windows being curved, squat triangles, however, these may be what remains of previous lancet shaped windows before the aisles were added. The apsidal chancel was added in the 19th century by TC Hine and Son.

The south porch has a carving of a monkey. It is linked to the tragedy at Culverthorpe Hall in January 1733, when the 3 month old son of Margaret, Countess of Coningsby and her husband, Sir Michael Newton KB, was snatched from his cradle by the family pet monkey. The monkey carried the baby to the roof of the house and dropped him, with fatal consequences, which also ended the earldom of the Coningsby title.

RAF Coningsby is half a mile away and is home to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight as well as being the Main Operating Base for the RAF Southern Typhoons and its two connected squadrons. There are many RAF memorials in the church including a chapel which has been furnished by members and friends of No. 83 Pathfinder Squadron. It is dedicated to the memory of those airmen who lost their lives on flying operations from RAF Coningsby in World War II.

By the altar in this chapel is a Dutch flag. It was dedicated on 8th May 1983 in memory of a Dutch resistance worker, Coba Pulskens. She hid RAF officers at her home after they had been shot down. The flag was used to cover their bodies when they had been shot in her garden by the SS having been discovered. She was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, where she died.

The six bells in the tower are rung regularly. The oldest dates from 1616 and the newest from 1959, when all the bells were recast at the Whitechapel Foundry. The tenor bell is the heaviest at over half a ton.

A good example of a mass dial can be seen on the south porch.