The first thing that hits you about Stow Church is its size. It is a church of monastic proportions but it is no such thing and is located in a tiny village. There may have been an early Anglo-Saxon church here because St Ethedreda (AD630-679) records having rested at a place named “Stow” on her journey from Northumbria to Ely. Unfortunately, this is not the only Stow in Lincolnshire so all is speculation.
The church we see today was begun by Aelfnoth, Bishop of Dorchester on Thames, in about AD975. It is believed that he intended it to be the Minster of the Lincolnshire territories in his bishopric. Dioceses could be huge in those times.
Aelfnoth’s church was destroyed by fire, some of the molten lead having been discovered beneath the floors. Some of the lower courses of masonry in the crossing and the transepts are still from that building. It was then as now, therefore, a cruciform church with a central tower. The transepts are of considerable size so the church must have been very large even then.
Bishop Eadnoth II rebuilt the church in 1034-1050. Interestingly, it later benefited from endowments from King Leofric of Mercia whose daughter, Lady Godiva, is much better known and who almost certainly did not ride naked on a horse through the streets of Coventry! You know, the Anglo-Saxon nobility didn’t go in much for public nudity, contrary to the legend. Shame!