Braceborough. church : st margaret
My Saturday Churchcrawling tour of South Lincolnshire continued with a visit to the church of St Margaret, Braceborough, a small village a few miles South of Bourne, not far off the A15. I gained an audience whilst photographing this church, three inquisitive and very friendly kids saw me taking photographs of their village church and wondered what I was doing. Having told them, I then spent a few minutes more trying to convince them that some people were indeed interested in churches and a few people would, in all probability, take a look at my website at some point in the future! Off they peddled, unconvinced I daresay, but I did get a small measure of respect when I told them how far I had cycled myself thus far that morning!
Alone again, and turning my attention back to the church, the first thing that I noticed was a Norman Font in the church grounds close to the porch! Like Morborne church close to home, this was used as a planter and had quite a nice display of flowers in it! The sounds of vaccuuming from inside told me that someone was at home. A very nice and knowledgable man then gave me a quick tour around.
He was very proud of the Royal Coat Of Arms (pictured at foot of page on the right) which was in the porchway. It seems that George III visited the church in the late 1700's, when he was suffering with his mental illness. He was treated by the famous Dr Willis, with the Royal patient being treated in a wing of the nearby Shillingthorpe Hall, now demolished. This later became a private Lunatic Asylum.
I was also shown what was left of the grave of Thomas De Wasteneys, who died here of the Black Death in 1349, once ornate but plundered during the Civil War. The very nice porch dates from the 1660's, and reminded me of a similar one at nearby Baston.
Sadly, I was less than happy with my photographs of the interior, which came out dark and blurred. This was partly the fault of the camera, which was playing up a little, but I suspect mainly the fault of the photographer! I paid a revisit in mid May 2008. This was the fifth day of a cycling tour in which I photographed 56 South Lincolnshire churches. A dreadful Firday morning, with dull conditions and persistant rain all morning.
Managed to re-shoot the interior, with some nice Victorian stained glass in evidence. Sat in the porch for around half an hour listening to the rain pouring down before getting fed up and heading for nearby Greatford.
