Stallingborough Church Pictures and History
This post takes me back a couple of months and was in fact yet another Goldeneye navigational disaster 
A visitors guide, pictures and history of Saint Peter and Saint Paul church in Stallingborough Lincolnshire.
It’s quite interesting, I hope regular visitors will take the time to read it.
This was part of a cycling trip albeit unintended. I was cycling along back roads looking for Nirvana, Utopia or failing that some earthworks ! I saw the unusual red brick church partially hidden in the distance.
Seeing a public footpath, well, more all- terrain rather footpath, I proceeded henceforth - either pushing or carrying the velocipede
It certainly was different to those churches normally seen in Lincolnshire. Georgian in style and built 1780 to replace an earlier church which actually fell down in the 18th century. The parish registers date back to the mid to late 1500s.
The field opposite is earthworks city and lacks only a neon sign with an arrow saying “Earthworks Here”
Aside from the red brick construction there are two items of historic interest in the churchyard itself
The two pictures either side were taken when I went, some two months later, back last week just to take these two pictures for you.
I hope you appreciate it 
On the left you have what’s left of a medieval churchyard cross which has had a later sundial affixed to the top, the sundial is dated 1725.
This could well be the what’s left of the village Butter Cross though - quote kindly supplied after article was written by Neville
Quote from ‘Stallingborough: Historical Aspects’ 1985 by John Appleby et al.
“In 1600 Stallingborough was a market town but civil war and other causes changed the course of trade, the only remnant of its former mercantile importance being the ancient Butter Cross which still exists.”
On the right you’ll note a very early grave cover dating to the 12th century.
Inside, although it was locked on both of my visits there are memorials to local woman of note Anne Askew or Anne Ayscough as was.
She will be the subject of a separate post.
There are also memorials to other family members and an impressive oak screen that commemorates three members of the Sutcliffe family who fell during the First World War.
There is also an interesting connection to a previous post I wrote about The Battle of Winceby and the Civil War.
In 1645 Parliamentary leader Colonel Harrison was killed at the Battle of Riby Gap and buried at Stallingborough church.
Overall a church that may be slightly lacking in the outward appeal of normal Lincolsnshire churches but one steeped in far more history than certainly I had imagined.
I shall bring you posts soon on Anne Askew and The Battle of Riby Gap (or Riby Grip as Kelly’s 1885 states) - I know you’re chomping at the bit to see those
My navigation issue was a simple choice, leaving the church lane turn left or right. Right would have taken me straight back home - left would not - of course I chose left.
After some serious pedalling I began to suspect a wrong turn when instead of the halcyon delights of Great Coates I started to see all forms of industry.
Not to worry - keep pressing on you’re bound to see a sign sooner or later !
Eventually I did see a sign - It said . . . Humber Bridge 
About turn then - still I need the exercise !
Stallingborough Church
See also: Stallingborough wartime Bunkers
Also: Complete List Of Churches in Lincolnshire
[Later Addition 28.9.09] Skull and Cross Bones with Hour Glass on a grave stone in Stallingborough churchyard
See even more about this grave stone here
Skull Cross Bones & Hour Glass Dates Verso 1710
There is a lot of information and further pictures in the comments below - please do check them out
Christopher Columbusly Yours
Rod
chris keyworth said,
September 1, 2009 @ 6:44 pm
i have a complete survey for stallingborough rod it is in book form, it covers the manor and church quite well with loads of digrams and maps and a great picture of the manor house as it was in 1710, if you look in the domesday book rods you will notice somthing slightly different about stallingborough.
if you want to borrow the book let me know
regards
chris
Rod said,
September 1, 2009 @ 7:55 pm
Hi Chris,
I was thinking that Stallingborough was worthy of far investigation and subsequent posts.
Thanks for the offer of the book Chris, sounds very interesting, I’ll be in touch when I can get onto the project.
I’m backlogged but am also trying to plan for the winter when day trips will much rarer - these are the sort of things I’m thinking about
Thanks Chris
Rod
chris keyworth said,
September 1, 2009 @ 8:24 pm
no probs Rod got a complete copy of the domesday book for lincolnshire in old english and modern english if you need it too the whole book would cost you well over a grand to buy so not recomended.
Amiguru said,
September 10, 2009 @ 9:20 pm
Aha!
But have you been down the sewer of the old Manor house? About 1970, a friend and I exposed the entrance to it and I crawled the full length of it down towards the beck where my exit was barred, literally, consequently I had to crawl back uphill, backwards! We padlocked a steel plate over the entrance (to make it safe for children) which as far as I know is still there. My friend didn’t try it as he was claustrophobic.
I also collected broken shards of medieval glass, (including two complete quarrels), from the field the other side of the beck. These were most likely the debris from the scavenging of lead from the old church windows. I made accurate drawings of these and submitted them to Scunthorpe museum.
The entrance to the tunnel just after we had exposed it
The side culvert inside the tunnel
Regards,
Neville
Rod said,
September 11, 2009 @ 10:36 am
Neville,
another great comment - many thanks !
The medieval glass sounds like quite a find - I know one of our regular commentors Chris Keyworth is currently researching some glass he found and hopes to pin down the origins for definite.
I love this sort of stuff !
All the best
Rod
chris keyworth said,
September 11, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
Rod / Neville,
I have seen the steel plate quite recently yes its still there, i think i better get my tin hat and gas detector on and go in for a look, I must say i was aware of the tunnels but always thought them not worthy of investigation, maybe i am wrong, Brian Mummery from immingham Museum told me about them years ago when i was digging on the site of the fish ponds at little london, Might go on a mission next week…….
Amiguru said,
September 11, 2009 @ 6:13 pm
Rod/Chris,
I thought the name Chris Keyworth rang a bell although I don’t recall our paths crossing. I was the Assistant Curator at Immingham Museum from its inauguration when it was in the old chapel at the corner of Bluestone Lane. I also know Brian Mummery the current curator quite well. I most probably heard your name in conversations with Brian and various other Imminghamites. I was also treasurer of the Immingham Local History Society back in the 70’s.
Unfortunately I have been banished to the wilds of Essex for the last 27 years so only get engaged with the Lincolnshire scene by proxy although I did manage to squeeze in a visit to Brian’s when I was up there last year.
Be aware Chris that the venta excrementa is only about 70 centimetres in diameter as I recall and almost impossible to turn around in, (unless you are quite thin or bendy), and the length I would estimate as being in the range 30-50 metres. If you are able to gain access you should find a small side duct on the left, cemented into which I found the neck of a sealed bottle. I have a photo of this which I will look out to give details if anyone is interested. Somewhat further in I found an early 20th. century stoneware jar - Virol bone-marrow, ‘an ideal fat food for children & invalids’. Wouldn’t sell very well with a slogan like that today would it? The brickwork in the early 70’s was quite sound and safe to traverse. There wasn’t anything else in there of significance. I surmise that in the years of dereliction, what was in effect the cellar of the building probably flooded in downpours and anything in the sewer was flushed into the beck.
The whole site was properly surveyed and a report published back in my time but it is great to hear that inquisitive minds are still at work. Incidentally, my dad is buried in Stallingborough churchyard and my mum still lives there, (not in the churchyard!), at the age of 92.
I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this and other matters in due course.
Kind regards,
Neville
Rod said,
September 11, 2009 @ 7:32 pm
Chris,
don’t forget to take a Canary !
If we don’t hear from you for a few days I’ll assume you’re stuck and sned out a rescue party !
Cheers
Rod
Rod said,
September 11, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
Neville,
)
it’s amazing who finds their way to the site and I, am the many others who visit, would welcome your comments and any information you have to share.
One of the main idea of all these things is to collate information that may otherwise be lost or is difficult to find and preserve it for posterity
Best
Rod (not following Chris up the pipe
Amiguru said,
November 21, 2009 @ 5:29 pm
Rod,
Just a bit of top-up info on this thread while my alter-ego is rambling on about Immingham. The cross stem you illustrate above was in fact the village butter cross. Also, no one has mentioned the story attached to the ’skull & cross-bones’ gravestone, unless I have missed it somewhere on this wonderfully complex blog….
Regards,
N
le
Rod said,
November 21, 2009 @ 6:00 pm
Neville,
I know it’s tragic but this really excites me
story behind the gravestone
Don’t post it can you email me it, I’ve got the stone awaiting ‘further treatment’ - it struck me as being very different not just because of the skull . . .
I went with Mee and Pevsner re the cross shaft with later sundial Neville ?
Best
Rod
Amiguru said,
November 21, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
Hi Rod,
Quote from ‘Stallingborough: Historical Aspects’ 1985 by John Appleby et al. illustrated by Rex Russell no less.
“In 1600 Stallingborough was a market town but civil war and other causes changed the course of trade, the only remnant of its former mercantile importance being the ancient Butter Cross which still exists.”
This is a 208 page survey of the village and I for one accept that the contributing authors did their research thoroughly.
I quite agree with your details of the later added sundial.
I’m sure I did an accurate drawing of the gravestone all those years ago and will refer to it at a later date if I can find it.
I know it runs: Reader as thou passes by….. but I can’t remember the rest. Yes will e-mail the story later.
Regards,
N
le
Chris Keyworth said,
November 21, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
saddley john Appleby has passed away i knew him in his profesional capacity, i also knew his wife who tought me at school, i think i have the same report as you nev somwhere as well as a more recent and more indepth report, Rex Russel has writen some great books one being landscape changes in south humberside which looks into the historical enclosures acts and is very well ilustrated..
regards
chris
Amiguru said,
November 29, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
Rod,
Just been looking again at the C Nattes drawings of Stallingborough and the butter cross and sundial were in exactly the same place then, (1795). What a pity old John Claude didn’t do a separate drawing of the butter cross complete with inscription. I’m sure that at that time it would have been legible. Our, (now,) dear friend Ellis Penson may well have been familiar with it too as he only died five years before the sundial was made. Sigh…..
I’ll e-mail the close-up I took of the inscription in August ‘09 to see if you can make anything of it. The only definate letter is W which is possibly followed by ‘old’ which might be a reference to the Wolds but I think is more likely to be a ‘free’ spelling of ‘would’ and may well be part of a moral proverb or adage. If you zoom in to just under the sundial on the right there is what looks like a gothic uncial ‘e’. What do you think?
Just for the record the shaft is of a shelly limestone which accounts for its erosion which is likely to be subject to acid attack from churchyard leaf decay.
Glum chum,
le
N
Rod said,
November 29, 2009 @ 7:27 pm
Neville,
I’ve been playing with and looking at the picture and it’s really tricky.
I got the W (or elaborate V or Y)and thought the next was O or possibly A
Best
Rod
Amiguru said,
November 30, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
Rod,
le
More e-pics on their way.
N
Rod said,
November 30, 2009 @ 1:42 pm
Neville,
New pics added
superb - safely received and I’ll process them now and get them up - many thanks indeed
[edit] They’re now up and in your comments
Best
Rod
chris keyworth said,
November 30, 2009 @ 2:26 pm
tommorows excurions i think weather permitting, my dogs legs are getting shorter everyday….
Little Brother said,
November 30, 2009 @ 10:30 pm
Rod,
Missed this post and am annoyed with myself, great work by you and the lads. This is fast becoming the best website for local and historical information on Lincolnshire.
LB
Rod said,
December 1, 2009 @ 8:16 am
LB,
thanks for that, much appreciated - it’s all going in the right direction I think
Rod
John Taylor said,
March 21, 2010 @ 12:43 pm
Found your website recently. Have lived in Stallingborough for forty years. Was headteacher at the village school 1969-1980. Have produced a brochure about the history of the church., the Ayscough’s (Anne Askewe’s family) and written a book (novel) about Anne entitled’ The Path to Martyrdom’. Formerly lived at the last house,( not the large old vicacage) which abuts the ’sunken medievel village’ of Stallingborough. In his youth, one of my sons with a friend went deep into the cave which you refer to a the old Manor House sewer. The description is accurate as these were part of the cellars of the original house into which every manner of waste was discarded and washed away when the high Humber tidal waves swept up as far as the base ot the small ridge on which the house and the church were built. Regarding access to the church I, and a number of other church supporters, have a key and would happily show you round. It has been locked since a displayed Cromwellian Helmet, a relic of the battle of Riby Gap was stolen from near the altar. Regards. John Taylor. (01472 882854)
Rod said,
March 21, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
Hi John,
many thanks for the great comment, I know Chris will be fascinated by the tunnel, and welcome to the site.
Some reallyuseful information John and many thanks for the offer - it is appreciated.
The theft of the helmet is dreadful, trult depressing and it’s little wonder most churches are locked - if I were responsible for one I’d never leave it open - I remind myself of that every time I can’t get in one.
All the best
Rod
John Taylor said,
June 8, 2010 @ 11:16 am
Whilst digging the virgin garden when we moved into 43, Church Lane I discovered a King John Silver half penny. ( a full penny cut in half). I still have the prtovenance provided by the then curator of Hull Museum. It was suggested I donate it to a museum on the South Bak so, being an old Scunthonian, I gave it to the one at Scunthorpe. Two years later when I wanted it on loan it had disappeared !!! In my digging I also uncovered what appears to be an iron spear head. I have not had this authenticated but, from my amateurish investigation think it might be Saxon.
John.
Rod said,
June 8, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
John,
two fantastic finds - I’m very jealous !
I keep hearing some dreadful tales of things being lost after being donated to local museums, it’s little wonder I keep hearing people laugh at the suggestion of giving something to a museum locally - it’s really a shame.
I should love to see a picture of the spear head John, I couldn’t offer an expert opinion of course but it would be great to see it
As Dino always asay
Keep Digging !
Best
Rod
Rod said,
July 5, 2010 @ 6:21 pm
Picture Update:
Here’s a picture of a piece of stone found beside the church wall. Much of the church wall appears to be made of the old stone of the original church.
This would appear to be part of an old tomb or grave cover
Grave or Tomb Lid
History Hunter said,
July 5, 2010 @ 11:05 pm
I saw that when, due to marauding cows, i ended up walking round the churchyard. I will admit i thought nothing of it, but i wasnt in sherlock holmes mode at the time mainly because i think me and Stealth Dog were still reeling from the second consecutive day of being herded out of a field!
Id love to be able to strip any graveyard completely back to grass and headstones just to see what can be found discarded, hidden or generally lost in the undergrowth. Years ago when my parents used to record the Memorial Inscriptions at every single graveyard in Lincolnshire, me and my brother helped them at Ashby Cum Fenby. On lifting fallen headstones we found all manner of ‘interesting’ items. I know it sounds very unexciting to the masses, but the most interesting thing I found was a complete victorian glass ink pot, still with dried ink inside. I was all excited and took it into school where as the teacher added water to the dried ink and we all wrote, with an ink pen, something with reconstituted victorian ink. Not bad when your 10 years old!!!!!
Amiguru said,
July 25, 2010 @ 6:55 pm
Just came across this illustration in JG Hall’s Notices of Lincolnshire. I knew I had seen the original design somewhere in the mists of time. His peculiar pointilist style has a certain charm which may have originated in a lack of confidence in his drawing skills or maybe he had tentatively adopted the technique from the movement of that name initiated by Seurat.
The slab design is obviously early and from the original Stallingborough church. Such a pity it has not been protected from the elements. The change in its appearance since I photoraphed it in the 70’s is considerable. Hall remarks of this tomb cover that “At the west end of the church is an ancient monumental stone, found under the floor of the church at the restoration….”
I haven’t done any research yet as to the date, stylistically, but will do that soon. If anyone would like to add an opinion it would be welcomed.
Regards,
Neville
chris keyworth said,
July 25, 2010 @ 7:09 pm
looks like another visit to stallingborough Rod…lol
Rod said,
July 25, 2010 @ 7:29 pm
Neville,
fantastic find, I was looking at it only the other week. You can seee what it looks like nowadays from the picture in the original article above.
It’s a terrible shame as you say especially as I think it’s early, very early !
The crudity of the design etc suggests something very old to me.
Great find Neville
Best
Rod
Rod said,
July 25, 2010 @ 7:31 pm
Chris,
I’m affixed to that church by a bungee cord I think
I’v evisited it more than any other and to think when I first took the picture I was just cycling passe and thought ‘this looks a bit dull and modern but I’v egot to write it up anyway’
Cheers
Rod
chris keyworth said,
July 25, 2010 @ 8:37 pm
it was classed as a small town in the times of Henry viii
regards
chris
Amiguru said,
July 25, 2010 @ 9:51 pm
Rod,
My timeframe for the slab would be 12th to 14th C. Not sure if I sent you my 1970’s pic of it; it was then totally devoid of moss but with small lichen growths and the carving was still visible to a degree.
If you do make a re-visit perhaps you could cover the Killingholme Yews issue on the same outing? There appears to be quite a few dark trees there on G. maps but can’t do a ’streetview’ as it is remote from the road.
Regards,
Neville
chris keyworth said,
July 25, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
the manor is owned by Peter Chapman i spoke to him when the Archaeologists were there a few years back he is a great bloke to talk to perhaps if you go down and see him he will give you the guided tour..
regards
chris
Rod said,
July 26, 2010 @ 6:59 am
Neville,
I thought possibly earlier, if 12th-14th then nearer 12th than 14th would be my guess (note use of word ‘guess’)
Best
Rod
Amiguru said,
July 26, 2010 @ 11:56 am
Rod,
I quite agree, I was really hedging my bets as I confess I have little experience of tomb-slabs of this era. I did a sweep of Google and Flickr images and found in the main slightly more sophisticated designs, usually incorporating more of a definitive cross. Having just rescanned your OP comments I see you suggested 12th.C. then and with no substantive evidence it just ‘feels’ right for that period. So, until someone comes up with a more persuasive argument, 12th. C. it shall be.
Regards,
Neville
Rod said,
July 26, 2010 @ 12:47 pm
Neville,
I wouldn’t fall over if it was a bit earlier than 12th actually, hopefully something will turn up.
I just checked Pevsner and Mee to see if they say anything, they don’t even mention it.
Best
Rod