All Hallows (or St Nicholas), North Kelsey, Lincolnshire

I Location

Site Location
North Kelsey
National Grid Reference
TA 044 016
County
traditional: Lincolnshire
now: Lincolnshire
Diocese
medieval: Lincoln
now: Lincoln
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): All Hallows or St Nicholas
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

Exterior, general view.

Exterior, general view.

William White rebuilt most of the church in 1869. Church is comprised of a W tower with 13thc. bell openings, a four-bay nave with N aisle, and a chancel; 18thc. doorway into nave. Reused Romanesque sculpture fragment in nave wall.

III Exterior Features

3. Exterior Decoration

d. Miscellaneous

(i) Reused sculpture fragment: coffin slab
Exterior, nave, S wall, slab with chevron.

Exterior, nave, S wall, slab with chevron.

Exterior, nave, S wall, slab with chevron, detail.

Exterior, nave, S wall, slab with chevron, detail.

Located at the W end of the nave S wall. It is 1.67 m W of the S porch's W wall, 0.92 m from the SW corner buttress of nave, and 0.58 m above ground level. The stone colour is a dark tan like the rest of the church; perhaps ironstone (?). Directional chevron ornament covers the stone surface.

Dimensions
max. h. 0.77 m
max. w. 0.58 (lower section)
max. w. 0.51 (upper section)

VII History

Though North Kelsey is mentioned in the Domesday Survey, there is no record of a church here in 1086. King Stephen granted North Kelsey to the church of Lincoln as a prebend in a charter of c. 1140. The N aisle of the church was a gift of John Wyga in 1372 (see Owen).

VIII Comments/Opinions

Pevsner lists the church dedication here as St Nicholas, but at the church the dedication is clearly All Hallows. The Diocesan directory of Lincoln lists both names as titular dedications. Without taking a position, Pevsner notes that L. Butler has suggested that this fragment of carved stone is a reused grave slab. The tapering dimensions of the stone support Butler's conclusion.

IX Bibliography

  • D. Owen, 'Church and Society in Medieval Lincolnshire', History of Lincolnshire, vol. 5. 1971 (2nd ed. 1990), 114.
  • N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire. London, 1990, 583.
  • Registrum Antiquissimum I, Lincoln Record Society 27 (1931), no. 102, ed. C. W. Foster.