Lincs Crawl 2
Edenham was a hard act to follow, but Corby Glen had a good punt at it. Like most of the churches so far it was open and soon I was enthralled by the fine wall paintings here. High up in the clerestories are some great, almost life size figures of kings and shepherds in lifelike postures, whilst on the north aisle walls we see well dressed young men and horny tailed devils in close harmony. Other features of this fine church are box pews in the aisles and a neat 13th C quatrefoil window with 15th C stained glass.
Time is pressing on, turning south now towards the great North Road, the next village is Swinstead and the small church of St Mary’s is an attractive mix of EE and decorated styles. The chancel is longer than the nave and the strangely truncated west tower is topped by a perpendicular crown of battlements, pinnacles and gargoyles. The church is open, as it is Maundy Thursday there is a vigil going on and an elderly chap was enjoying himself whizzing around the churchyard on a large ride on mower in the bright sun. Inside there were a couple of monuments, a cross legged knight and not a lot else of interest, I am soon on my way to Creeton.
Creeton St Peter is at the east end of the village, up a steep (well steep for Lincolnshire) hill, well away from the B road that links the village with the wider world. It is tiny, with a 13thC tower and stump of a Saxon cross in the churchyard. It is here that my luck runs out, it is locked with no keyholder details so I am unable to obtain access to the interior. There is a south transept that looks too large for the church, so I record the outside and head on hoping for better luck at the next village.
Little Bytham is soon in sight, past my brother’s house and on to the oddly named SS Medard and Gildard. Here my luck improves, two ladies are giving the churchyard a makeover in readiness for Easter and the usually locked church is open. The church has Saxon origins and the Norman period has left a fine priests doorway into the chancel with a tympanum with three roundels, the centre on once held a relic, flanked by birds in the other roundels. There is also a late 12th C north doorway. The two ladies see me a fair game for a chat so I was somewhat distracted from my task and spent 20 minutes bemoaning the fate of the world and other issues that concern sixty something women.
My final Lincolnshire church of the day was Careby’s St Stephen, once again at the extreme east end of the village, well away from the main road. Sadly this church was locked, a keyholder was listed, but I was running late so had to miss this one out. A well presented church, a mix of EE and perpendicular, with an early 13th C tower. The churchyard was a mass of small spring flowers, improving my positive feeling about the church. Pictures taken, it was time to head for home.
IMore photographs from Chris Stafford's Lincolnshire Crawl. The two photographs at the top of the page are both from Corby Glen, as is the magnificent image of a shepherd pictured left.. Underneath that, we have an interior and exterior shot of St Mary's church, Swinstead.
Below that, on the left, is an exterior shot from St Peter's church, Creeton. Please note that we are nearing the end of Chris' Lincolshire crawl and still not a single cloud to be seen in any of the photographs. What a truly gorgeous April afternoon.
To the right of the photograph of Creeton, we see an exterior shot from the church at Little Bytham, with another exterior view from Careby below that, ending Chris Stafford's crawl.
Photographs and text on this page and are kindly provided by Chris.
