St Margarets Church, Winceby

Having spent most of my early life at Winceby (writes Paul) the one thing that was missing from the hamlet was its church. My Parents moved there in 1961 when I was just 3 months old and can remember it before it was pulled down around 1964. I have only the vaguest of memories of a shape of sorts over the hedge but the main memory I do have is of an iron cross stuck in the hedge which, I have since learnt, carried the weather vane on the side of the church facing what was to become my parents home. Whatever happened to it we're not sure and along with the the stone cross at the far end of the Church it all dissappeared not long after it was demolished. What has brought about this page is the discovery of 4 images that have come into our posession showing the Church sometime in the late 1950's. These are the only pictures I have ever seen of what the church looked like and it's quite sad now that St Margarets has gone for good.

Here then is a summary of some of the details of St Margarets Church at Winceby and the 4 images plus some enlargements. I hope you find them as interesting as Lorraine and I have (not forgetting my parents for whom it brought back memories of how the area looked when they first came to the hamlet).

Top views are wide angle views showing the whole church.
This view looks approximately North based on the alignment of the Church and my own memory of aligning my telescope on the North Pole Star when I lived next door.	This view also includes part of my parents house at left and looks approximately North East. The wood lying behind the Church is known as Issaacs Holt.
Next two views show the entrance with the church bell next to it and a side view of the round West facing window.

These two views are enlargements from the image above left and show the bell in more detail and the Stone Cross

All above images reproduced with permission.
Map of Winceby circa 1890/1891 Image produced from the www.old-maps.co.uk service with permission of Landmark Information Group Ltd. and Ordnance Survey

Basic information regarding the Church of Saint Margarets at Winceby

St Margarets Parish records date back to 1579 and it was an Anglican Church with a thatched roof in 1842. The main church was rebuilt in 1866 and could take 84 people. The population of Winceby varied quite a lot but declined markedly by the mid 20th Century - so much so that there was too small a congregation to raise funds to repair the church. Thus it fell into such a state of repair that it was demolished sometime around 1963 or 64. The area has become overgrown, but since the Lincolnshire County Council bought the Churchyard and the Valley behind it to form the Snipe Dales Nature Reserve, there is a path running through the Churchyard which acts as the entrance to the reserve. There is little evidence of the church itself today but in particularly dry summers the original foundations have been spotted by Paul. Some of the graves are still present and indeed a couple are still visited today by relatives including one couple of which donated the above pictures. As far as I can ascertain the last burial was about the late 1950's. If I get more info then I'll update this page as and when I can. Indeed if you can add any more information then I would be interested to hear from you, pictures would be welcome as well so e-mail me.

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