PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Thursday, 16 February 2012

Dear Old Bag Enderby

Oh how I wish I had worn a pair of snazzy new boots like Jenny's when we went out to visit Bag Enderby.  Had I done so, I would have been able to take some wonderful photographs - as it was,  I had to stick to the easy, clear parts of the road.  Still, next time!
Bag Enderby - isn't that a wonderful name?  It is a tiny hamlet of, at the last count, 18 people.  Blink and you could miss it.   It is located down a small, Lincolnshire road - I'd love to call it a leafy Lincolnshire lane, but it is winter!  
Mixed stone, bricks, tiles - look at the cracks!

At first sight the church was unpromising.  A mix of the local greenstone, red bricks, random stone, Roman tiles, it has a squat tower and is located on a small hill.  Parking is in a farmyard.   The greenstone is dark green or grey in winter but changes to a mellow orange in summer, when (we hope) the sun shines.


Out in the churchyard is an old cross, which was desecrated by the Roundheads in 1643, only the base remains.
Higgledy-Piggledy Moss Covered  Porch
St Margaret's is perpendicular in design, and dates to 1407.  Despite the unlovely outside, my fingers tingled with excitement as we walked around and tried to find the entrance.  The porch is even more higgledy-piggledy than the rest - I found the moss covered entrance irresistible.  Inside the porch there is a piscine - a relic from its Catholic origins.  The original door has a strange metal object attached, it was found in a field and is believed to be a shield boss dating from Saxon times.
Original 1407 door, Saxon shield boss in centre
The money to build the church was left by Albinus de Enderby in 1407.  Little could he have known that his name would still be known in 2012.  There are brasses which commemorate Thomas and Agnes Enderby who lived there in 1390.
The font is beautifully carved and is perched on two 14th century, broken tombstones.  


Almost two hundred years ago Alfred  Tennyson would have known this church very well - his father was the rector here, as well as at Somersby church which is about half a mile away!  Alfred was later to become Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate.


It is a very simple little church with a wonderful atmosphere - I wasn't expecting that after the unpromising exterior!
Andrew Gadney and his wife, 2 sons and 2 daughters
The glass in the windows is plain, apart from small bits of coloured medieval glass right at the top.  This glass came from Crowland Abbey, to the south.
This is an unexpectedly wonderful church which - we stopped  to see merely as an hors d'eouvre to St Margaret's Church at Somersby, which is where this chap grew up...
Alfred, Lord Tennyson.


This church is a little gem which I look forward to visiting on a milder day.
St Margaret's Church, Bag Enderby
(Borrowed Image)
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18 comments:

  1. Jane and Chris16 February 2012 at 20:53

    Your post title is probably what I'll be called when I am elderly....just without the Enderby.
    Jane x

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 08:55

      Hi Jane, I do love interesting place names. I am one of those people who can pore over old maps quite happily, I find them fascinating. PS You could always whack 'em with your walking stick or lob your dentures at them.

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  2. Meggie17 February 2012 at 00:33

    Beautiful post today...sorry I'm so late to the computer. It was a long day outside working in the cold. There just aren't enough hours in a day.
    Are buildings like these cared for by the government or the church? Are they in danger of disappearing? I open the photos up in a larger format and just stare and stare, trying to see everything and.....more. I wish I could touch some of the stones and breathe some of the air inside the buildings.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 09:06

      Hi Meggie, It sounds like you are having a really busy day, I hope you are managing to sleep well tonight.

      I thought you would like it - the atmosphere was wonderful in there, the building very quirky, I really enjoyed the visit. English Heritage granted money to fund repairs to the tower, a few years ago, but the annual running costs are down to the tiny parish. They have to raise a percentage of those costs, so they depend on donations from visitors.

      At one time many small churches like this were deconsecrated and then sold off for housing. That seems to happen less these days, thank goodness. They are superb buildings and do deserve to be preserved and enjoyed. I regard it as my duty to enjoy as many of these buildings as I can in order that I may share them with you. It is a tough job, but someone has to do it!

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  3. Joanne Noragon17 February 2012 at 00:39

    I once bought a friend froggy boots for her birthday. Green wellies with bulging frog eyes. Someone said to her "I can't believe those come in adult sizes." She replied "They don't." And the tour was wonderful, too.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 09:11

      Hi Joanne, I know the kind you mean - great fun. Glad you enjoyed the tour. That little place really was a delight - my expectations were low when we parked up and took a first look at the building. I really must stop judging a book by its cover, it doesn't work that way.

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  4. Anonymous17 February 2012 at 02:39

    So what does "bag" mean? I love the little details -- the Saxon shield boss and the font set on two broken 14th century tombstones.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 09:18

      Hi Janet, The true origins of the word Bag are unknown, but it is thought that it refers to the shape of the village - it is just a cluster of houses round a tiny village green - just like a little bag, or sack which is attached to the 'main' road. There are two other Enderby villages not far away. Wood Enderby is easily explained. Then there is Mavis Enderby and this is thought to refer to a 14th century landowner.

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  5. Green Dragonette17 February 2012 at 08:02

    Was I the only one who thought the title of the post meant you were off to visit a little old lady who lived a rather ‘cluttered’ existence??

    Loved the virtual visit to a little unexpected gem of an elderly rural church instead...

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 09:21

      Hi Green Dragonette, Good, it worked then! It is funny how some things turn out to be so much more than we expect - and this place certainly was. I'm really looking forward to visiting it again on a better day when it's not so cold and the slush has gone. I hope it still has the magic.

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  6. Linda Starr17 February 2012 at 11:14

    Oh I am enjoying your jaunts into the country side, this church is a real gem as you say, such wonderful exterior surfaces and so much history to learn about.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 18:37

      Hi Linda, The exterior is a mish-mash, but fascinating, lots of colour and texture. It is a lovely building - all the more beautiful with its imperfections.

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  7. Chris17 February 2012 at 12:03

    Nice place.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 18:38

      Glad you enjoyed it Chris! This one does have that special atmosphere.

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  8. Jenny17 February 2012 at 13:44

    I think that lovely old church would understand what it is to pick up some wear and tear over a lifetime. It's a really special place. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 18:40

      Hi Jenny, So pleased that you enjoyed seeing it. I think you expressed it very well, it bears the scars of its life - no botox, no makeup - it is what it is, and that is a truly special place.

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  9. Ms Sparrow17 February 2012 at 15:00

    After reading your blog today, I had to take a little side trip and check Wikipedia for "Roundhead". I wound up confused over why they would have desecrated a little country church. I love British history but there is so MUCH of it! And, like our own country's history, it doesn't always make a lot of sense.

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    1. Elaine17 February 2012 at 18:42

      Ms Sparrow, The Roundheads were a funny old lot! The next church I will show you lies about half a mile away - easily visible across the fields - and yet the cross in that churchyard was not damaged at all!

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