St Margaret, Somerby, Lincolnshire

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Location
(53°32′43″N, 0°23′55″W)
Site Location
Somerby
National Grid Reference
TA 062 066
Boundaries
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Lincolnshire now Lincolnshire
Diocese
Dedication
Type of building/monument
Report authors
  • Thomas E. Russo
Visit Date
19 Dec 2000

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Description

This small church, tranquilly standing in a wooded hollow of the wolds, consists of a nave and chancel with a very short, squat, embattled W tower that barely rises above the peak of the roof. The chancel arch is 18thc but with 13thc responds. Much rebuilding of the walls has taken place. Between 1884 and 1885 restoration was carried out by H. M. Townsend of Peterborough.

The Romanesque material consists of the font and a loose capital.          

History

Though Somerby is recorded in DB, there is no mention of a church in 1086.   

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Loose Sculpture

Comments/Opinions

Such plain fonts are notoriously difficult to date. The very fact of the preservation of this plain font however may speak to its early origins. The octagonal plinth probably dates to 1885 when the surrounding mosaic pavement was given as a thank offering by the parents of the four grandchildren of the late Reverend J. B. Jones of Somerby who were baptized here.

The surface treatment of two sides of the loose capital fragment suggest that it came from a triple respond. One of the short sides is cut smooth and flat where it may have abutted the central capital of the triple respond. One of the long sides has been left rough where it may have faced the rubble core of the wall.    

       

Bibliography

N. Pevsner and J. Harris, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire. London, 1990, 658-659.