St Peter’s Church Barton ~ Historic Anglo Saxon Church
St Peter’s Church in Barton-Upon-Humber ~ Historic Anglo-Saxon Lincolnshire Church
A look into the history behind one of the jewels in the crown of Lincolnshire churches which has a tower of national importance
Barton-Upon-Humber’s commanding position by the River Humber means it’s played a central part in British history and this is reflected in St Peter’s church
There re in fact two churches in the town in very close proximity and St Mary’s will be the subject of a separate article.
Old St Peter’s is, as most churches in Lincolnshire are, an amalgam of various building periods and styles but what makes this one so special is the tower which dates back to Saxon times - the best we normally get to see from this period is perhaps the footings or base onto which a Norman or later tower has been subsequently rebuilt.
The original phase of the building is clearly apparent in the pictures below with the earliest part dating to the 10th century - it’s a truly magical feeling to stand there and just touch it - the sense of history felt stronger here than any other church I can recall visiting - it’s a fabulous thing to see - the doorway and window arches are breathtaking.
There are two doorways, one is pointed whilst the other round-headed and they’re truly impressive as is the text book ‘long and short quoins’ and fabulous arcading.
Looking at the windows you cannot but imagine who once looked out of them and on what did they look out on. One window still has a piece of the original Saxon oak shutter extant
Made redundant in 1972 it is now under the stewardship of English Heritage who have done a great deal of sympathetic restoration and archaeological work.
The results of which are on display and open to the public (entrance fee applicable)
During excavations in the graveyard 2803 graves were discovered some dating as far back as the late 8th century and showed that settlement and a cemetery on the site predated even the existing tower !
St Peter’s Church in Barton-Upon-Humber in Lincolnshire
The amount of archaeological work undertaken inside the church was unprecedented in Lincolnshire and spanned several years. The result is that there are few churches in the country which can claim to have been so extensively investigated. Some of the results can be seen inside in the form of exhibits and even an ‘interactive display’
I’ll leave you to decide for yourselves about the merits of ‘interactive displays’ and admission fees to enter churches.
Back View
One thing is sure though, Barton-Upon-Humber is certainly a place to visit. As previously mentioned it is absolutely steeped in history which stretches far beyond just a church. A previous visit I made shows much of it here, Barton Upon Humber Visitors Guide, you can see the marvel which is an original Saxon church to the modern marvel of engineering The Humber Bridge and I have to say it’s pretty awe inspiring standing next to both of these remarkable structures.
There’s clearly a lot more history and in-depth information on this church but I think that best gone into in comment form below lest we get too unwieldy here.
If you have any information or an interest in this church, its history, archaeological information or perhaps you’ve visited it too and felt equally inspired then please do leave a comment.
Anglo-Saxonly yours
Rod
Little Brother said,
November 3, 2010 @ 5:56 pm
Rod,
Remember seeing this with you, a beautiful building. Well photographed.
LB
Rod said,
November 3, 2010 @ 8:25 pm
LB,
nearly a year ago !
I’ll be going back to redo the photographs I think
Best
Rod
Jon S said,
November 3, 2010 @ 9:58 pm
Rod,
Unfortunately when I visited St Peter’s it was outside the somewhat restrictive Sat - Mon, 10am - 3pm (IIRC) opening times, so I haven’t seen inside yet. I’ll get round to it eventually.
I really don’t have a problem with the concept of paying an entry fee; after all, it’s not a functioning church any longer. The building is now in effect an archaeological exhibition and museum, and if it’s to continue as such then it needs an income stream in the same way that a functioning church would need an income in order to keep the fabric in good repair. When I visit other museums I happily pay for this reason - for example the Yorkshire Museum last weekend - and if my kids talk about what they’ve seen on the way home then my money has, I consider, been wisely spent.
I like to explore old churches as much as you seem to, and I’m always disappointed if I find one to be locked. In his book ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’ Simon Jenkins described them as being repositories of ‘vernacular art’, and I also like to think of medieval churches is particular as reflecting vernacular culture to a degree as well. If I expect to visit one during my occasional meanderings I make sure that I’ve got change in my pocket to put in the donations box, partly as a ‘thankyou’ for a fascinating visit and also to do my bit towards preserving the church to likewise fascinate future visitors. If I stumble across a church when I have no money in my pocket I always leave with a slight feeling of guilt at having taken but not given…
So, I suppose I have no problem with voluntarily ‘paying’ to explore a church. The only churches that I’ve been charged to visit which are currently used as such are the larger minsters (eg York) and cathedrals (eg Lincoln); again, I don’t have a problem with this for the reasons I’ve explained above but factored up to suit the scale (and, no doubt, expense of upkeep) of these buildings. After all, if I’m not happy with the fee then I simply don’t have to go inside.
Jon
Rod said,
November 4, 2010 @ 9:52 am
Hi Jon,
it’s all a catch 22 in terms of opening times I suspect - doesn’t pay them in wages to man the church I presume.
That’s the danger of bringing finances into national heritage.
The only problem I always have with paying for entrance into museums and the like is that only those who really have and interest (and of course the spare money) will go.
In this case a family with 2 kids is going to have to pay £9 to walk round the inside, therefore anybody short of money or lacking a really strong interest won’t go in - that’s a shame because it could fire some childrens interests.
A full look round York Minster for a family is now over £30 Jon !
It’s easy for me because I go to these places on my own but what about those with families and those with very little disposable income
The country seems to have billions to throw at worthless causes (and people) I’d like to see our history and heritage open and available to all.
Cheers
Rod
Jon said,
November 4, 2010 @ 10:50 pm
It seems like it’s a Catch-22 in terms oof the entry fee, then - St Peter’s can’t receive many visitors, but they’ve still got to pay the staff and keep the building sound.
You make a very valid point about levels of disposable income, though. I’m lucky in that my means aren’t quite as limited as those of many other people, but I admit I still winced inwardly when I was charged £29 to get my family into the Jorvik Viking Centre last week. In mitigation, though, the entry fees for both Jorvik and the Yorkshire Museum allow us free re-entry for the next 12 months.
I agree wholeheartedly with your last point. It would be interesting hypothetical exercise, though, to consider whether greater accessibility would actually lead to more widespread interest in history and heritage, or whether the unfortunate degree of apathy that I generally find exists today would still be the case.
Jon
Rod said,
November 5, 2010 @ 9:38 am
Jon,
the apathy situation is one that always dismays me. The museum in Lincoln is fabulous and free to enter as is the Usher Gallery.
That should mean they’re packed out but sadly they’re not - I blame parents generally - it’s a shame.
As to the entry fee for the church my opinion would be:
It was never going to be a commercial success, as interesting as it may be to us it’s hardly Alton Towers.
I would have done it in such a way as it didn’t need high level staffing just opening and closing, perhaps generally not opening.
The whole eneterprise was funded by the tax payer, it remains a drain on the tax payer as it will still be subsidised so why not let the tax payer in - you may even get more in donations with increased traffic than you would with an admission fee.
Cheers
Rod
Kate said,
November 5, 2010 @ 11:17 am
Rod,
Heritage funding has long been a dismaying situation; most heritage buildings and projects would rather NOT charge an entrance fee, but if they do not do so, they will be forced to close, thus losing the resource they provide, possibly for good. Local museums have already had to shed paid staff this year and more cuts look likely.
You will find that most - probably all heritage resources have a large amount of unpaid volunteers working for them and would have to close or lose facilities without this help: some museums are entirely run by volunteers (Newark Air Museum is a case in point) - even the small projects like St Peters, you may find are almost entirely staffed by volunteers; most funding goes towards the upkeep of the property - without this it wouldn’t be possible to open the building at all, let alone mount exhibitions…
The extra 50M the government hopes to add to heritage funding through reforms to the National Lottery will not just go to museums, cathedrals etc, but to sports and many other ventures;
50M is a drop in the ocean; Lincoln cathedral alone costs on average 4M a year in upkeep (this isn’t in bishop’s salaries, but the fabric of the building); the restoration project is continuous (an estimated extra 16.5M is needed over the next ten years at current figures) and hard winters like last year’s do huge damage to ancient buildings that adds further costs.
Added to this we are in a recession, people are far less likely to give to charities…
Sadly like it or not, without an admission fee, nobody will be able to go in and if the building is allowed to fall into any sort of disrepair now, I should add that nobody may be able to visit ever again…
What the politicos haven’t told you on the “big society” front is that it has already existed for years and is keeping places like this open for us to visit at the minimum charge if they charge at all.
Kate
Jon S said,
July 5, 2011 @ 11:19 pm
On Saturday I finally got round to visiting St Peter’s, accompanied by my kids who were all, I’m pleased to say, absolutely fascinated. I was a little concerned that the subject matter might be somewhat morbid for them, but after getting fully ‘interactive’ (including handling bones and even measuring them against their own limbs!!) they now have a great understanding of how the human skeleton works…and how it sometimes doesn’t. They also gained an appreciation of how lucky they are not to run the risk of contracting some of history’s afflictions such as rickets and polio. To see, touch and ‘interact’, in context, was a far more interesting and effective learning experience than having Dad try to point them at a book!
Jon
Rod said,
July 6, 2011 @ 6:55 am
Jon,
thanks for the report and pleased the trip went well.
The fact it was a success with your kids means they must have got the tricky balance right.
Hopefully others reading it will be encouraged to go themselves as a lot of people look at this page every month
Regards,
Rod