Bainton. CHURCH : ST MARY
A glorious Saturday morning in mid October 2008, and a trip out to Bainton and Barnack, two neighbouring villages close to Stamford. Bainton is a quaint sleepy village, or as sleepy as a village can be given that a busy main road runs through the middle of it.
Bainton can have few claims to fame.I was told though that the family
of ex England international cricketer Jonathan Agnew came from the village. This was my third visit to Bainton. A first, ill fated, trip saw a very novice churchcrawler, armed with a poor camera, come back with very little worth keeping. A second trip some months later was little better due to poor lighting conditions. Third time lucky though with beautiful sunshine, a clear blue sky and some delightful Autumn colours starting to form on the trees. The sun was warm and all was well!
The church was open, as it was on my two previous visits, and a lady walked in whilst I was taking some photographs. She was helping to set up for the following days Harvest Festival. We chatted for a while, and spoke of open and locked churches. Full marks to Bainton, and other churches in the area such as Glinton, Peakirk, Helpston and Barnack, all of whom normally have their doors open to visitors.
Even with the Sun shining, it was a little dark inside St Mary's. No pretensions here, just an honest church serving a small village. The flowers set out for the following days Harvest Festival looked, and smelled, beautiful! Highlight of the interior for me was a memorial to one Robert Henson Gent. He passed away in June 1755 aged 69 years. The legend continues..."In The year 1734, He was the Returning Officer for the Borrough of Stamford. His conduct and intergrity was such that he not only obtained the Approbation but the applause of all wise and honest men: Bribes not being able to corrupt, Promises suduce, nor Threats deterr him from doing his duty".
Those who know me will probably know my liking for gargoyles and grotesques. Just one gargoyle here but certainly worthy of note. Just take a close look at the photograph below right and tell me that the stonemasons of days long gone didn't sometimes have a little fun with regards the spouts went!
Church grounds are always well kept and there are one or two nicely carved gravestones here. Sadly though, most of the graves are very worn. One or two very ancient looking graves in evidence, but far too worn to be able to date.
As always, a very pleasant few minutes spent here. Always seems to be someone to chat too, and they all seem pleasant. Mind you, hard to live in a village as nice as this and not have a good outlook on life!
Nice to see a church open and welcoming and nice to actually be thanked for coming through the doors and having a look around. If only it was always like this!
Anway, in a good frame of mind, I set out on foot for nearby Barnack. I always enjoy visiting Barnack and the walk between
