In 1838 Sir George Gilbert Scott won his first church competition, in partnership with Moffatt. ‘This was at Lincoln and I cannot say anything in its favour excepting that it was better than many then erected’. St. Nicholas, Newport, Lincoln, was certainly an improvement on Flauden, although it repeats the lancet theme and the broach spire, and upper parts of the south west tower seem to be identical with Sleaford's thirteenth century spire. The emphasis was on value for money, particularly in the first phase. This meant that the Commissioner's churches were characterised by their plainness, lack of ornament and basic plan form. They invariably had no chancels, but they usually had galleries to accommodate the large number of ‘sittings’ and were built of the cheapest materials. There was little scope for architectural expression. Gothic, or at least windows with pointed arches, proved to be the cheapest and most popular style. As Scott said when he built St. Nicholas at Lincoln in 1838, ‘Church architecture was then perhaps at its lowest level’. It was consecrated in 1840.

Scott’s Recollections, I 295.