Lincolnshire Wolds & Coast Churches Festival

Hemingby St Margaret © Ashley Taylor for ExploreChurches

The Lincolnshire Wolds & Coast Churches Festival is set to be a great celebration, with over 140 churches opening their doors during the weekends of 31st August & 1st September and 7th & 8th September 2019.

With free entry, churches and chapels from Louth to Woodhall Spa, Wragby to Sutton on Sea, will be celebrating their rich architecture and heritage and offering visitors the chance to become treasure seekers and discover hidden secrets.

“Our churches are full of wonder,” says Revd Nick Brown, rector of Louth St James. “Each offers a different experience, whether it is beautiful tranquillity and spirituality or vibrant exhibitions and music or simply offering a welcoming oasis of peace and calm.”

“The festival is also about having family fun,” continues Nick. “Time is so precious today as families juggle busy lives against quality leisure days out. So we have created fantastic activities that every member of the family will want to get involved in. Some churches will have backpacks available, encouraging ‘treasure seekers’ to explore the beauty of our stained glass windows, and even create their own masterpiece window to display at home. And we also invite everyone to take the challenge and try and spot all the treasures in our brand new Church Treasure Hunt book, not only during the festival weekend but beyond as well.”

The festival is the perfect way to discover these “mini museums” on your doorstep. The Festival covers a wide area of rural Lincolnshire, encompassing the market towns of Louth, Spilsby, Alford, Horncastle, Tattershall, Wragby, Woodhall Spa and Skegness as well a hundred rural hamlets and seaside villages in between, each church is unique, with an intriguing story to discover:

  • St James Louth has the tallest steeple of any medieval church in England and played a pivotal role in the Lincolnshire Rising.
  • St Margaret Well and a gamekeeper who was murdered by poachers, reputed to be the source of the Lincolnshire Poacher.
  • Raithby has the oldest Methodist chapel in the county. Built in 1779 and opened by John Wesley, it reveals an exquisite and lovingly preserved Georgian interior.
  • Fulletby St Andrew, set high in the Wolds is constructed like many churches around, in local greenstone. Although undergoing many alterations, the church still retains a two-seater sedilia from a previous medieval church. A small exhibition on local Victorian poet, Henry Winn provides an entertaining look at life in rural Lincolnshire, and also explains why Winn is featured in the Guinness Book of Records.
  • St James, Spilsby with its Willoughby chapel contain fine tombs and brass connected to the Willoughby de Eresby family. They are well worth a visit as well as the stone memorials for Sir John Franklin and his brothers.
  • Lincolnshire’s seaside churches hold a charm of their own. Many are large like Theddlethorpe all Saints which is also known as the “Cathedral of the Marsh” due to its impressive spaciousness and beautiful exterior carvings. And next door, St Helens has a fine stone reredos. Other striking churches found on this landscape are close by including Addlethorpe, which is holding a flower festival celebrating the Angel roof, Croft All Saints with its 15th century altar screen and Skidbrooke with the early medieval isolated church of St Botolph standing alone in the Lincolnshire marshes.
  • Then there are churches that hold quirky facts. For instance, St Andrew Ashby Puerorum claims to house the oldest bell in England! And a gamekeeper who was murdered by poachers on the estate of Well, close to the Georgian chapel, is reputed to be the source of the Lincolnshire Poacher song! And what about Stewton, St Andrew? Who would have thought that tucked away in rural Lincolnshire you would find the church used by Hornby, the international company, to be a model for their Skaledale village!

Many activities are also planned: from organ recitals to flower and art exhibitions, bell ringing to afternoon teas.  There will also be exhibitions at many churches including Holy Trinity Hagworthingham, St Andrew Anderby, St Lawrence Revesby and St Margaret Thimbleby.

Of course, all the Lincolnshire Wolds & Coast churches are here for every day, to be explored and enjoyed at any time, not just for visiting for two weekends of the year. A comprehensive directory featuring all our churches is now available from Tourist Information Centres, on the Festival website www.lincswoldsandcoastchurches.org and on the ExploreChurches website: www.explorechurches.org