Covenham St Bartholomew Village & Church History
Covenham St Bartholomew lies quietly nestled out of the way in the Lincolnshire Wolds a few miles from Louth - it’s a delightful spot with a lovely church
It’s pretty much contiguous with Covenham St Mary and not far from Covenham Resevoir a place I’ve visited several times.
The village church is, prepare for a surprise, dedicated to Saint Bartholomew and is mostly 14th century in origin although heavily restored in 1863 by Rogers and Marsden of Louth.
Sadly, in 1980/81 it was made redundant, sad but understandable I suppose with St Mary’s so close. Originally it was cruciform in shape though this was lost when when the north transept was destroyed.
The bell tower looks a little different, quant if you will excuse the expression, and unusually has a slate roof.
Arthur Mee mentions the fine 15th century font, that was in the 1940s, now, presumably with the redundancy, the font has gone to All Saints, Newton Heath in Manchester according to Pevsner - quite why and there I’ve no idea.
The ‘odd-looking fowl for a weathercock’ as Mee refers to it is still extant though. Mention is also made of a fine brass dated 1415 of Sir John Skypwyth dressed in armour with sword.
St Bartholomew’s Church Covenham
Covenham Village History
William the Conqueror ‘founded’ a Priory of Benedictine monks here around 1070 - 1082, it’s mentioned by Mee but no trace remains today.
It was a very small cell and is listed as Covenham Priory.
Some of the land was gifted by William the Conqueror to the Abbey of St Karalehus in Normandy. The Bishop of Durham had a small Benedictine cell founded there and it remained attached to the abbey in Normandy until it transferred to Kirkstead under whom it remained until the dissolution. After the Dissolution it was given to William Skipworth - surely related to the Sir John Skypwyth mentioned above.
More information is eagerly sought about the church and priory and I shall be writing up St Mary’s church separately
If you know of anything at all please do leave a comment - many thanks
All the best
Rod
Brian Jones said,
August 9, 2010 @ 9:38 am
Hi Rod
Do you mean 1070 for the foundation of the priory? William was long dead by 1170.
VCH says that it started life as an alien house belonging to St Carileph at Le Mans - the link being at the request of the bishop of Durham who had been a monk at Le Mans. It doesn’t appear to have transferred to Kirkstead until the early 14th century. In many respects it looks as if it was one of the many ‘religious’ houses that were set up for estate management.
Hope this is of use
Brian Jones
Rod said,
August 9, 2010 @ 11:39 am
Brian,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site, I do indeed mean 1070, or 1070 to 1082, thanks fr spottingthat - I’ll correct it immediately and thanks for the useful information Brian, much appreciated
All the best
Rod
chris keyworth said,
November 10, 2010 @ 12:07 pm
I was here yesterday once again stopping at a good friends house it is right next to what was the priory, the earthworks here are very much still extant, anyway can anybody shed any light on the site of moat farm covenham, there must be some documentary evidence out there and i would like to pick the brains of Lincolnshires Best on this one.
regards
chris
Rod said,
November 10, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
Hi Chris,
I’ll have a dig around and hopefully if anybody else can come up with anything they’ll post it here
Moat Farm Covenham
Regards
Rod
Astrid said,
April 2, 2011 @ 8:16 am
Hello Rod - Just wondered if there is any written link with St Bartholomew’s Church at Covenham and some ancestors I have found by accident. I’m just in East Yorks but my granny had a load of Locking and Freshney ancestors from Lincs, but then I found this amazing name of John (Jean) Ricalde Rigaud, Count de Vaudreuil who came to Covenham in approx 1500. My feeling is that he fled from the religious wars in France, being a Huguenot, and I believed he settled in the area and had family, which gradually watered down that fabulous name to John Rigalde of Covenham, then it became Rigauld, Riggall, Rigall and Riccall. It seems there are hundreds of Rigalls or Riccalls around now who have no idea of their illustrious ancestry. The bit of research I have done says that this family were in medieval times one of the most important 4 French families. One of the same name was the first governor general of Canada. But I cannot find out anything about the Count, except that his family carried on in Lincs to this day. Any ideas where I could find any church records. Hope you don’t mind me asking but I have reached a full stop for now.
Thanks for your time
Astrid.
Rod said,
April 2, 2011 @ 8:59 am
Astrid,
sounds historically fascinating, I normally don’t authorize genealogy comments as I can get a few hundred every week but I do if they are truly interesting historically or to the area.
For church records I would suggest the ‘Lincoln Archive’ a Google search will get you the site and contact details.
Best of luck with the search Astrid
All the best
Rod
Chris Keyworth said,
April 2, 2011 @ 11:20 am
there is an old gentleman in covenham that holds all the church records, im sure i could get his details, a good friend was telling me about him again just the other day Rod it would be worth you talking to him also the me know if you are interested and i will set up a meet for you..
regards
chris…
Rod said,
April 2, 2011 @ 6:29 pm
Hi Chris,
thanks for the info, really useful as always.
We’ll need to arrange some days out now the weather’s turning, need some new historical blog fodder as well
best
Rod
Brent said,
September 9, 2011 @ 8:20 pm
Today for the first time I visited All Saints, Newton Heath in Manchester [a once industrial part of the inner city] I was amazed with the splendour of the font you mentioned from St Bartholomew. I would suspect looking at it, the date is 14th century if not before [ It looks very very old ]. It can be seen to have some deep secret history, which the attendant knew very little apart a card that gives the name of its previous home. One of the scenes depicts the Virgin Mary holding the baby. With the initial W to her right and A on her left, [facing you] what do they stand for? All Saints is one of the oldest churches in Manchester and linked with the cathedral which is situated close by. However today it is Georgian in style and a little out of context with the font. Rest assured it is in safe hands and I would expect in constant use. I feel the fine people there would be only too pleased to respond to any questions. The font is indeed a gem and well worth viewing and recording, its visual images my have meaning when in the context of St Bartholomew? I wish you luck getting to the bottom of your history. My personal feeling is it should be in its original situation or area as a testament to the good people of your county.
Rod said,
September 10, 2011 @ 7:30 am
Brent,
absolutely fabulous, thank you so much and welcome to the site.
I never for one moment thought we’d be lucky enough to get a report on this from Manchester, really appreciate you taking the time out to leave a comment Brent.
In appreciation
Rod
Astrid said,
November 20, 2011 @ 6:32 am
Hi Rod, Sorry not not have noticed you responded to me straight away. Have been very busy with my 5 grandchildren, kitchen garden, starting a blog etc (all the things retired people do nowadays - aren’t we lucky. Anyway, I will try and find out more about the illustrious Count de Rigalde, and if I do find more I will let you know.
Many thanks
Astrid (Angela)