Aswarby, St Denys

Osbournby, St Peter & St Paul

 

Threekingham, St Peter

Swaton, St Michael

Heckington, St Andrew

Syston, St Mary

Belton, St Peter & St Paul

Lincoln Cathedral

St Mary Magdalene, Lincoln

 

Abutting the Exchequer Gate, the parish church of St Mary Magdalene is rather dominated by the impressive mass of nearby Lincoln's Cathedral. This tiny church might easily be missed on the way to its famous neighbour, but it has a charming interior and an interesting history worth a short visit on the way past.

The original church was founded by Saxons, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Unfortunately for the parishioners, the site was chosen for the new Norman Cathedral, begun in 1072, and their parish church was demolished. As compensation, they were given the right to hold their services in the Cathedral - by tradition, in the Morning Chapel, also dedicated to St Mary Magdalene - a right still exercised by the parishioners once a year.

This arrangement lasted for two centuries, but in 1280, Bishop Sutton granted land to build a new church on the present site, which was consecrated in 1317. Some of this structure survives in the present building, along with one of the bells, (c.1350), inscribed ‘Sacra Maria Magdalene ora pro nobis’ (Holy Mary Magdalene pray for us). The church was largely rebuilt in 1695, following exentsive damaged during the Civil War. This delivered a simple building with nave and chancel under a single roof, a narrow aisle with a 5-bay arcade, and a small north west tower. The arched west doorway and doors survive from this time.

However, its present appearance owes rather more to George Frederick Bodley, who in 1882 remodelled the interior, providing the new chancel screen, chancel panelling and organ case. Although one of his smaller restorations, his work gives the building its present charm.

The church still holds regular services and has a small but loyal congregation. It is open for an hour before lunch on weekdays for private prayer and visitors.

St Mary Magdalene, Bailgate, Lincoln LN1 3AR

St Michael, Stragglethorpe

St Michael sits in a delightfully rustic setting, next to a farmyard, on the edge of the small hamlet of Stragglethorpe. The simple, unmodernised interior is essentially unchanged since the early 19th Century.

The church dates from the late Saxon period, to which a north aisle was added in the late 12th Century, and a small Gothic porch, later in the mediaeval period. The church is entered through an ancient and rather weathered wooden door, the doorway arch surmounted by simple billet decoration.

The interior is simplicity itself. The nave and chancel form a single undivided space, plastered and whitewashed. The ceiling is remarkably low and flat - and clearly a late addition as it has a cut-away recess to accommodate the fine late 17th Century wall monument to Richard Earle (d.1697). The two bay north aisle arcade has broad, rounded arches and a single octagonal column. A triangular Saxon doorway (now blocked) survives in the west wall, with two simple Norman lancets in the east.

The furnishings are a delight. At the rear is a very solid Norman tub font, with simple blind arcading decoration, and the remains of a Romanesque pillar piscina. The nave and aisle are filled with fine, panelled box pews, still retaining their single candle-holders. Nail holes testify to long-forgotten upholstery - 18th century worship was not quite as spartan as it may first appear!

These face a well-preserved double-decker pulpit, overlooked by a hatchment with the Royal Coat of Arms of George I, with a startlingly well-endowed lion and unicorn rampant. Greater piety is demonstrated by the boards displaying the ten commandments either side of the altar, and the Lord's prayer at the rear.

Perhaps most poignant is the poem on Richard Earle's monument, for his grieving mother, on his  death aged 24:

Stay, Reader, and observe Deaths partial doom,
A spreading Virtue in a narrow Tomb,
A generous Mind mingled with common Dust,
Like Burnish'd Steel cover'd and left to Rust,
Darke in the Earth he lies in whom did Shine
All the Divided Merits of his Line,
The Lustre of his Name seems faded here,
No fairer Star in all that fruitfull Sphere,
in Piety and Parts extremely Bright,
Clear was his Youth, and fill'd with Growing light,
A morn that promis'd much yet saw no Noon,
None ever Rose so fast and set so soon,
All lines of Worth were Center'd here in One,
Yet see, he lies in Shades, whose Life had none,
Yet while the Mother this sad Structure Rears,
A double Dissolution there Appears,
He into Dust dissolves, She into Tears.

The church forms part of a benefice with Beckingham and Brant Broughton.

St Michael, Stragglethorpe LN5 0QZ

St Mary, Marston

St Swithin, Leadenham

All Saints, Hougham

All Saints, Hough-on-the-Hill

St Nicholas, Fulbeck

St Vincent, Caythorpe

St Nicholas, Carlton Scroop

St Helen, Brant Broughton

St Wulfram, Grantham

St John the Baptist, Stamford