Swallow Church & Village A Visitors Guide ~ History & Photos
The Holy Trinity Church at Swallow in Lincolnshire was the starting point for today’s trip, we’re out of sequence but that matters not, a lovely day and a great trip in amongst some really historic areas in the Lincolnshire Wolds
My first stop in Swallow was the Anglican Church which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity which underwent some restoration and repairs in the late 1800s. I’m not sure of a date when the site was first used but parts of the church are certainly Norman and the font probably dates to the 11th century !
There have been alterations throughout the centuries which are clearly defined in the design and architecture - note also the bricked up doorway in the picture.
Excavations suggest the site was in use as a burial ground for at least 1,000 years and possibly even pre-Christian. It’s a beautiful church in a lovely quiet village which, quite quietly, is surrounded by all sorts of interest historically.
There have been some impressive finds from flint tools to Saxon relics and Roman pottery and coins.
My next stop was to be Cuxwold which I intended to walk to - the whole area just smacks of ‘earthwork type fields’. Sometimes earthworks are obvious but other times you just seem to get a feel for them, the uneven layout of a field, the difference in the vegetation and grasses, the fact it’s not fallen under the plough etc - just a feeling but somehow there.
It was just outside Swallow on the road the Cuxwold that I noticed a crop of trees next to the hedge and wondered why it had not been put to the plough like the rest of the field around it. Investigation soon showed why. Inside the trees lay hidden two concrete structures, one like a small room elevated on concrete legs with a concrete and iron ladder to the side.
A climbed up and it certainly provided an excellent lookout over the fields despite not being that high up.
I’m not sure whether it dates to wartime or what its primary purpose was. I did read that the area was used as an emergency landing strip during the war so perhaps that ties in - further investigation is what’s, once again, required.
Swallow Church
The new boots, acquired in York yesterday acquitted themselves very well indeed and it was a great day once again. There is more of interest to come in future posts including the elderly man I met in Swallow Churchyard who said to me
“I’d better shut up because I’ll sound boring to a young lad like you”
“Please don’t - I’m very interested” I replied thinking this is the least boring person I’ve met in a long time !
Enigmatically Yours
Rod
