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"The Stump", as viewed from across the River Witham. This famous landmark has been here since building began in 1309. On the Monday following the Palm Sunday of 1309, many miners began digging the foundations of the tower and this continued until Midsummer; at which time they were deeper than The Haven by 1.5 metres, and there they found a bed of stone. On the Monday next, after the feast of St John the Baptist, was laid the first stone, by Dame Margery Tilney.
The remains of an ancient church were discovered during the repairs and restorations of the present church in 1851. It was very similar to the church at Sibsey. It consisted of a nave, with aisles, tower, and chancel and in the style of Anglo-Norman, not massive, but light, having tall columns and a lofty interior. It is said that when the workmen were digging to prepare for the new floors, it was found that the ancient level was 1.2 metres below the present one and from the singular manner in which one of the present piers is built upon an earlier one, it is most probable that the old church was allowed to stand whilst the new one was actually being built over it. The new church was several years in building, and during this time the old one was still in use.
Several Norman stone coffins were found during the progress of the late restorations, one of which is now placed in an arched recess in the south aisle.
An early engraving by Bolton - Link