St Mary le Wigford Church in Lincoln ~ An Illustrated Guide
St Mary le Wigford Church in Lincoln is situated just by the railway crossing following on the main shopping route in the city centre.
I’ve featured this because of the very early Saxon connection and something which brought life into sharp focus !
It was originally built just after the Norman Conquest making it very early and of particular interest in the carved stone built into the church with the Saxon Inscription:
Ertig had me built and endowed to the glory of Christ and St Mary
The tower it’s set in is Anglo-Saxon whilst the nave and the chancel 13th century and Early English in style.
One of my books makes mention of a hidden cat’s face on a tomb cover
Being right by the railway line and very busy roads has taken its toll but the building is still very impressive and whilst the area feels far from tranquil it certainly feels historic.
I should like to find out a lot more about the history of this particular church so if you know of anything please do leave a comment - many thanks
As with so many churches it’s very difficult to actually get a full shot of the entire building so in this case I went for the tower alone and from a different angle to try and get the feeling of actually looking up at it.
Old church towers and steeples are hugely impressive still today, despite the monolithic buildings we see around us but imagine what they must have looked like to somebody 800 odd years ago !
It’s little wonder the church held such sway.
Whilst looking for a decent angle to photograph St Mary le Wigford I walked down the side as it showed potential. It was there I saw a canopy which had some ‘debris’ under it - ‘that’s ruined that shot’ I thought.
It was then I realised they were cardboard boxes and a blanket - the place where somebody slept !
The abject misery and desperation that is someone’s life ‘ruined my shot’ !
I don’t recall ever feeling so ridiculous and so lucky at the same time - that church has stood there for centuries - when once horse and carts went passed it now a £100,000 motor car may glide by and people fly overhead in aeroplanes.
So much has changed - for some at least 
Humbly and Reflectively Yours
Rod
See Our Complete List Of Churches in Lincolnshire
St Mary le Wigford Church
the dinosaur said,
July 28, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
Rod, the only thing I’ve been able to learn about this church is that the stone set into the wall was originally Roman, a memorial to a Gaul, his wife and child, the Saxon inscription was added later, presumably when the church itself was built. If only I had more books!!!!
Rod said,
July 28, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
Dino,
that’s fantastic - as always !
I think some of these pages will really get to be very interesting if information keeps getting unearthed and collated in one place.
I’ve just done a new article as you commented and the lack of info is frustrating - especially as I know it’s out there somewhere
Thanks as always Dino
Rod
chris keyworth said,
July 31, 2009 @ 11:07 pm
Gold Dust Rod…. Visit Calceby Church between louth and Horncastle interesting place when you go check the embankment next to the site that dips down to the road if you do this you are sure to find som grusome treasures…….
chris
Rod said,
August 1, 2009 @ 8:30 am
Chris,
bloody hell ! Just found a picture after looking in my guide book and wondering why it’s not included !
I’m off there and will save everything fo rthe post in due course - great tip off - really it is !
Cheers
Rod
chris keyworth said,
August 1, 2009 @ 6:48 pm
Gold Dust Rod… PLeased you liked that one i did when i visited it…
Now another one for you to look at, you may have heared about this one before tho….LOUTH PARK ABBEY…
/ Priory… Cistercian I have loads of interesting stuff on this one let me know if you decide to go and i will email it all to you
Regards
Chris
chris keyworth said,
August 1, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
The Ancient forest on the shoreline at Cleethorpes is another good one for you to look at no to far away too, a real hidden treasure that not many people know about..
Barrow Castle at barrow on haven
Ross Castle at Melton Ross
Goxhill old Hall home of the Despenser Family and a the place where Jane Seymour Grew up (Hennry VIII). South End Goxhill Equally as impressive as Thornton Abbey trust me….
The Medieval Lost Village of Lobingham at East Halton, Great Earthworks.
Modern Treasure….The Heavy gun Instalation between stallingborough and Keelby a Massive bunker complex above and below ground aprox 2 acres of batteries and magazines, im not into this sort of thing but even i was massivly inpressed when i went to look at it, well worth a visit.
regards
chris
Rod said,
August 1, 2009 @ 8:01 pm
Chris,
whoa ! It’s all too much
Fantastic info which has me chomping at the bit but I need it filtering on Chris - there’s enough gold dust here to pave the streets of Great Coates
Thanks again Chris - it’s really great stuff
Cheers
Rod
chris keyworth said,
August 1, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
Ha Ha rod
Blown your mind by the sound of it, I am passionate about the areas sites.
i got gold fever there for a minute lol…
i can tell you have a keen interest in the old world, i think the point is no matter where you live in our area you are never far from some site of interest, i think a good idea for you here is to email me when you decide to go out searching out sites and i will point you in the right direction this is what i have done in the past with BP conoco and Amec although not exactly on the same scale, chances are i will know somthing maybe a small clue which will aid you in your search and thus promote your blog and our massive local Heritage, people dont realise what is axactly beneath there feet and they need steering in the right direction. this site is doing this job very well.
you are covering topics hear that people want to read about and have a keen interst,
well done Rod great site
chris…..
Rod said,
August 2, 2009 @ 8:58 am
Hi Chris,
thanks for the kind words and I’ll be only too grateful for pointers similar to those you’ve already mentioned as I really do enjoy this and want to do exactly as you say.
This site gets a lot of visitors (just under 2 million hits in July) so it’s great to use that to raise the awareness of what we have here.
I also want to preserve knowledge that may otherwise be lost or is at least very difficult to locate.
Thanks again Chris
All the best
Rod
Chris Burke said,
October 2, 2010 @ 4:42 pm
Hi Rod, many thanks for a wonderful site. I live in Lincoln and Call Advocasy (I am Chair of Trustees) now meets their so I spend some time at the church. I have met the new vicar who is a good guy. If you want particular info let me know. I’m sure I have seen a parish history and there used to be a web site. Also I cam accross this church yard listing you might like below. My own parish is SS Peter & Pauls, I have lots on that if you are interested but it is a modern church.
Warmest Regards,
Chris.
Rod said,
October 2, 2010 @ 6:13 pm
Hi Chris,
thanks for the kind words and information and welcome to the site - hope you’ll return.
Posting any information here is always of interest Chris - just provided it is noot copied from another website.
Best wishes
Rod
Steve Hulme said,
February 23, 2011 @ 6:22 pm
Hi - Do you know where I might find a copy of the original saxon inscription that was placed above the roman lettering? Do you know who did the translation? Your photo is great but I still can’t read the original. Any pointers would be very much appreciated. Steve Hulme
Rod said,
February 23, 2011 @ 7:16 pm
Steve,
thanks for the comment and welcome to the site. I think I’ve seen a drawing of the original inscription in one of the volumes of Lincolnshire Notes & Queries but I’m not sure.
No idea as to who translated it Steve - sorry about that
Regards
Rod
Kate said,
February 24, 2011 @ 5:10 pm
Hi Steve (and Rod!)
Don’t know if this is of any help…
I believe that there is a “restored” transcription in Book 1 of ‘The Roman Inscriptions of Britain’ edited by R.G. Collingwood and R.P. Wright pub 1965- (R.I.B 262) - the same translation as Rod gives. Both books 1 & 2 of R.I.B. (inscriptions on stones & inscriptions on other artefacts) should be available at all good reference libraries and a summarised version is to be found online at all the doubleyous dot roman-britain dot org
The surviving text of the Roman inscription reads - DIS M(A)NIBVS NOMINI SAC(R)I BRVSCI FILI CIVIS SENONE ET CARSSO VNAE CONIVGIS EIVS ET QUINTI F… - Which translates as something like ‘In the memory of the departed,’ or ‘In the hands of the Gods, the name of Sacer, a son of Bruscus, citizen of the Senones and Carssouna his wife and Quintus h(is son)’ - the rest of the stone has been broken off at some point in time, but it’s pretty safe to assume that the ‘F…’ is FILI as Roman tombstone inscriptions do tend to follow a certain formula. The tribe of the Senones were located in what was NW central Gaul, around the region of what is now the modern town of Sens in Burgundy - does this mean that there are some yellowbellies out there related to these settlers in Lindum Colonia(i.e. French by any other name!) ?
The full text of the Anglo Saxon inscription is believed to be, according to R.I.B., Eirtig me let wircean and fios godian Criste to lofe and sancte Marie XP (the XP, although carved on the stone as a ‘+’ with a ‘P’ as the middle vertical stroke, is believed to be the Chi-Rho symbol, used especially by the early Christian church) and the text is read from the bottom line to the top rather than the usual way around.
As far as I can find out, argument ranges over whether this is a dedication stone regarding the endowment of an earlier church or part of the building thereof in the late C10 (during the period of the Danish occupation), or for the Norman build; evidence has been found that the tower was built onto an earlier nave (as usual with Lincoln churches, I’ve also found some speculation as to whether this is a continuation of use of the site from the Roman period although excavations opposite the church in the early 70s indicate that the settlement of Wigford dates from the C10-11 pre conquest…). I wonder how many of the stones used in the church were robbed out from the remains of Roman Lindum?
Meanwhile, from more recent times, there is a brief account of £10 being donated towards the “thorough” restoration and enlargement work being carried out to the church during 1871, in the ‘Reports and Papers of The Architectural and Archaeological Societies of the Counties of Lincoln and Northampton’. I’ve also found what might be the illustration you mentioned, Rod; it’s in the 1879 edition of the above journal, along with a discussion, pp16-17, and the stone merits another illustration and a couple of paragraphs in the 1844 edition of ‘The Archaeological Journal’ of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, pp14-16 - both are available online at archive dot org.
As clear as mud, as always!
Kate
ian said,
August 13, 2011 @ 6:22 pm
Hello,
I am very familiar with st Mary Le Wigford church as I was a regular churchgoer there for about 18 years, and was on the committee that raised money for hall restoration and subsequently part of the church itself.It was always sid that King stephen tethered his horse here in the tower during fight with Maud, and subsecquently henry2 had his son crowned here and possibly himself in 1154 but this challenged by some historians but as parishioners most of us thought there may be some truth in the story who knows,if true then it would be probably the only church in England outside westminster abbey to hold a coronation
Rod said,
August 13, 2011 @ 6:41 pm
Ian,
thanks for adding that, really interesting and much appreciated - welcome to the site and I hope you’ll return
Regards
Rod