Church Road North, Skegness  PE25 2QH

Churchwardens:
Gwen Drury
Cynthia Coulson

How to find us

The church is set back off Church Road North through an opening at the side of the Viking School.   It can be reached by car either directly from Lincoln Road into Church Road North or from Burgh Road (A158) via Lyndhurst Avenue and left into Church Road North.   There is a public footpath that runs through the churchyard from Lincoln Road to Church Road North.

St Clements Community Hall,

Church Road North  PE25 2DN

Service times

Sundays                  11.00 a.m.   Holy Communion

Most Tuesdays        10.30 a.m.   Holy Communion

                              (Please check with Parish Office)

For details of how to book weddings, baptisms and funerals please contact the Parish Office.

St Clement's may not be the most elegant of the five churches in the Skegness Group, but a warm welcome awaits you, should you care to join in any of our services.   We have a regular congregation of between 20 and 30 people.   Our worship is led either by one of our ordained clergy, when we have a full service of Holy Communion, or by two of our Lay Ministry Team, when we have a service of Holy Communion by Extension.

 It is possible to book a baptism for inclusion during this service instead of the usual time of 12.30 p.m.   An ordained minister always leads the service of Holy Communion on a Tuesday morning.

Mothers' Union

There is a branch of the Mothers' Union, which meets at 2.30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month from March to December. There are approximately 14 regular members, but new members are always welcome.

  Full details are available from the Parish Office.

The churchyard and cemetery  

Although the cemetery is now closed for new burials, internments do take place in existing plots.   The cemetery and churchyard cover quite a large area and provides an ideal habitat for all types of wild life.   There are benches strategically placed and these provide a tranquil setting where people can just sit and feel close to their departed loved ones, or just enjoy listening to the birds.

Who was St Clement?

St Clement (c30-100AD), to whom this church is dedicated, was one of the early Christian leaders and writers who became known as the fathers of the church and, according to tradition, was the 3rd or 4th bishop of Rome and a disciple of St Peter.

How old is St Clement's?

This question can be answered in three ways:

1.This is the ancient parish church of Skegness, dating back to the 13th century

2. Against this, however, stands the considerable evidence of flooding along this part of the coast and it is believed that around 1526 the church and a great part of the parish were submerged.   This was backed up by an enquiry in 1636 when local residents testified that their parents had witnessed the disappearance of the church and had helped to carry stones from the old church to build the new.   If this is the case, then the present building can only date from the 16 th century, though some of the stone used may have been salvaged from the earlier building.

3.   The third answer suggests the possibility that ancient Skegness possessed two churches, and, whilst one was taken by the sea, the other, St Clement's, remained.   However, there is little historical evidence to have warranted two church buildings.

A closer look at the church building

The exterior of St Clement's is constructed mainly in the perpendicular style from freestone, patched with brick where repairs have been necessary.   The bell tower at the west end of the church is square in plan and unusually large.   It consists of two stages, separated by a sloping ledge:   the lower stage is remarkably tall, and overtops the roof of the nave.   The upper stage is surmounted by a parapet marked off by a continuous molding and has belfry windows in each of its faces, triple on the west front, double on the other sides.   The tower only contains one of the three original bells.   This bell bears the Latin inscription, "I utter sweet sounds and am called St Michael's bell" .   Why St Michael's?   Probably it was bestowed on the church one Michaelmas Day (24th September).

The church is entered through the south porch, which is free of ornamentation, has a gabled south front and a pointed roof rising to the height of the nave wall.   The outer doors are in memory of Peter Hiley Dutton, who was killed in action in World War II and the inner doors are in memory of W F Willson, rector from 1938-44.   After entering the church turn around 180 o and see the unusual stone slab immediately above the door.   The carving, which can just be seen, is probably of a large sword and could be the remains of a mediaeval tombstone, which was used in constructing the wall.

The second window on this wall is in memory of Katherine Ann Savage, who died in 1936.   It depicts St Margaret (shown overcoming the devil in the guise of a dragon), St Katherine (shown with the wheel to which she was bound and tortured before being beheaded), and St Agnes, with her symbol, a lamb.   Below this window is the Gilks pipe organ, installed in 1968.

On either side of the east window are memorial tablets to the Chapman family, dating from 1708.

On the north wall of the sanctuary are memorials to William Everington and the Revd William Disney, rector from 1900-29.

The sanctuary ceiling has, at some time, been decorated with heraldic devices.

Above the pulpit is a window depicting St Clement.   He is shown holding an anchor, because legend has it that he was martyred by being bound to an anchor and thrown in the Black Sea.   This window, erected in 1884, is in memory of Edward Steer, one time curate of Skegness, who later became Bishop of Central Africa.

The next window on the north wall of the nave depicts the feeding of the 5,000 by an unusually young-looking Jesus.   The window was installed in 1952 and is a memorial to the Giles family.

Although the building consists simply of sanctuary, nave and bell tower, in 1949 a 'chancel area' was furnished and a choir vestry formed at the west end of the church by screening off the bell tower;   the screens being presented to the church "by a family of worshippers".   In 1884 the interior of the church underwent partial restoration and was re-seated throughout and in 1907 the nave was again re-seated, chairs now taking the place of pews.   The church has a seating capacity of around 100.   St Clement's, once the parish church of Skegness, was closed down for some years after the completion of St Matthew's church, but was restored and re-opened during the incumbency of Canon Arthur H Morris (1929-1938), whose photograph hangs in the tower vestry.   It is a Grade I listed building.

The stone font is fifteenth century and is octagonal in shape and the bowl, with its support, are richly ornamented.   Mrs F Rear provided a cover in memory of her two sons, who gave their lives in World War II.   Above the font is the third of the plain cross-leaded windows in the main body of the church.   The other two are situated one at the east end of the south wall and the other at the west end of the north wall.

A board by the south door bears a list of the rectors of the church, dating back to before 1290, but until Francis Baldwin was installed in 1880, very few of them actually lived in Skegness.