June 2013:
Markby, St Peter's.
Left: St Peter's Church, Markby. Right: The medieval font.
Left: The Chancel Arch and Altar. Right: The box pews and West end of the church.
About twenty members of the group travelled on one of the rare, pleasant , warm and sunny days of June through quiet countryside, stopping about three miles short of the North Sea in the tiny hamlet of Markby.
Lying back from the road and somewhat concealed one can easily drive past St Peter’s Church (indeed I did just that!) without noticing it. The church is small and has no tower and sits in a very well kept cemetery. Its striking feature is its beautiful thatched roof the only one in Lincolnshire. Pevsner dismisses Markby church as “nave and chancel, no longer even a bellcote. The church is thatched – that is the most interesting thing about it”. I prefer the description in the handout given to each of us on our visit. It starts “As one enters the ancient church of St Peter, Markby, one feels rather to be living in a dream…for the visitor is rather breathlessly taken back several centuries in this old church…that definite atmosphere of age from the moment one enters the door.”
Five hundred years ago Markby was the site of a Priory and the church was built after the dissolution with materials from the ruined Priory. The very striking dog-tooth ornament of the chancel arch is evidence of this as well as parts of the window tracery. The original tiled roof was replaced with thatch in 1672. (The last replacement cost £30,000)
Although there is no bell-cote an opening has been left in the thatch so that a bell which was cast circa `1370 and hung in the roof can be heard. This is said to have come from the refectory of the Priory. There is also a medieval front which appears to have come from the Priory Church.
Our group was most warmly received by three ladies, who seemed genuinely delighted to see us and provided us with tea and coffee. One of them gave us a talk about the church and revealed how much she and her family, past and present has been associated with it. Not for the first time I was struck by how many of these small churches are sustained by the work, dedication and devotion of elderly ladies. Eric Wilson
Acknowledgments : I am grateful to Eric Wilson for the text and to Malcolm Pritchard and Max Kitchen for photographs. JRK
Lying back from the road and somewhat concealed one can easily drive past St Peter’s Church (indeed I did just that!) without noticing it. The church is small and has no tower and sits in a very well kept cemetery. Its striking feature is its beautiful thatched roof the only one in Lincolnshire. Pevsner dismisses Markby church as “nave and chancel, no longer even a bellcote. The church is thatched – that is the most interesting thing about it”. I prefer the description in the handout given to each of us on our visit. It starts “As one enters the ancient church of St Peter, Markby, one feels rather to be living in a dream…for the visitor is rather breathlessly taken back several centuries in this old church…that definite atmosphere of age from the moment one enters the door.”
Five hundred years ago Markby was the site of a Priory and the church was built after the dissolution with materials from the ruined Priory. The very striking dog-tooth ornament of the chancel arch is evidence of this as well as parts of the window tracery. The original tiled roof was replaced with thatch in 1672. (The last replacement cost £30,000)
Although there is no bell-cote an opening has been left in the thatch so that a bell which was cast circa `1370 and hung in the roof can be heard. This is said to have come from the refectory of the Priory. There is also a medieval front which appears to have come from the Priory Church.
Our group was most warmly received by three ladies, who seemed genuinely delighted to see us and provided us with tea and coffee. One of them gave us a talk about the church and revealed how much she and her family, past and present has been associated with it. Not for the first time I was struck by how many of these small churches are sustained by the work, dedication and devotion of elderly ladies. Eric Wilson
Acknowledgments : I am grateful to Eric Wilson for the text and to Malcolm Pritchard and Max Kitchen for photographs. JRK
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