Highways and Byways in LincolnshireRawnsley, W. F. (Willingham Franklin)
History
Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire
Rawnsley, W. F. (Willingham Franklin)
Lincolnshire (England) -- Description and travel
Three miles north is _West Theddlethorpe_ (All Saints), one of the
largest and finest of all the Marsh churches. Here, as elsewhere,
the green-sand, patched with brick, on which the sea air favours the
growth of grey lichen, gives a delightful colour to the tower. The
battlemented parapets are of Ancaster stone, and were once surmounted at
short intervals by carved pinnacles, and the nave gable, as at Louth,
is beautifully pierced and worked, with carved bosses and rosettes set
in the lower moulding. There are five two-light clerestory windows on
either side, and inside are many good bench ends, both old and new,
and a Perpendicular chancel screen with doors, and two chantries, each
still keeping its altar slab in position, and having good oak screens
ornamented with rich and unusual Renaissance carved open-work panels. In
one of these chantries is a shallow recess with a beautiful carved stone
canopy which once held a memorial tablet. A list of the vicars from 1241
to 1403 gives first the name of William Le Moyne (the monk), and in 1349
we have Nicholas de Spaigne on the nomination of Edward III. An important
little brass of Robert Hayton, 1424, shows, as Mr. Jeans tells us, the
latest instance of “Mail Camail.” In the churchyard is a most singular
tombstone to Rebecca French, 1862, the stump of a willow carved in stone
about four feet high with broken branches and—symbol of decay—a large
toadstool growing from the trunk.
Three miles further north, and still close by the sea bank, we come to
the church of _Saltfleetby-All-Saints_. A most provoking habit prevails,
possibly with reason, but none the less trying to those who come to
see the churches, of keeping the keys of the locked-up church at some
distance off, even when there is a cottage close at hand. The church is
in a sadly ruinous condition, and the picturesque porch literally falling
to bits. On it is a shield bearing a crucifixion. The tower, which leans
badly to the north-west, has two Early English lancet lights to the west
and double two-light windows above. The gargoyles are very fine, and
cut, as usual, in Ancaster stone. In the north aisle are two beautiful
three-light windows with square heads and embattled transoms. There are
some Norman pillars and capitals, also a good rood screen and a handsome
Decorated font set on a reversed later font. This church, like so many
in the Marsh, is only half seated, though even so it is too big for the
population, as probably it always has been.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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