Market Rasen is a small market town in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, on the main road running from Lincoln, 13 miles to the SW to Grimsby, 16 miles to the NE. It stands on the River Rase, a tributary of the Ancholme. The church is in the town centre and has an early 15thc. W tower. The rest of the church is mostly of the 1862 restoration by James Fowler who also added the present Lady Chapel on the N side of the chancel in 1877. The only Romanesque feature is the S nave doorway.

In the Domesday Survey William de Warenne was the Tenant in Chief of a holding in Market Rasen which was sokeland of the manor of Tealby, assessed at 8½ bovates. A further holding of 4½ bovates was held by Alvred of Lincoln. The church was given to the Gilbertine Priory of Sixhills by Thomas, son of William, son of Haco of Saleby, and by 1235 that house held the rectory.

The lack of bases on the nook-shafts, the apparent cutting back of the 3rd order capitals, and the major rebuilding of the church in 1862 suggest that this doorway was moved from another location or was rebuilt. The use of very shallow capitals is unusual, while the multiplicity of rolls in the orders suggest a late-12thc date.