Open every day during daylight hours • Church Street, Caistor, Lincolnshire LN7 6UGOpen daily, dawn to dusk
A Grade I listed building on a site used for worship since the seventh century — and one of the most unusual objects held by any English parish church.
The building
This building is not the first church to have stood here. It is suggested that Saint Paulinus established a church on this site in the early part of the seventh century, and there has certainly been a place of worship here since Saxon times.
The lower part of the tower is perhaps Saxon, dating from around 1050, and may have been the main porch of a church that had no aisles. The tower as it stands today displays the work of three periods: its base is early Norman, but with indications of two previous arches which may have been Saxon; its second stage is Early English; and the top stage, with the decorated pinnacles and battlements, is Perpendicular.
Do look at the exterior of the beautiful south doorway, with its typical dog-tooth ornamentation. This, together with much of the nave, the chancel arch and the chancel, dates from the thirteenth century.
Timeline
The church was given a Grade I listing by Historic England in 1966. The tower is a prominent landmark across the town and the Wolds beyond it.
It is suggested that Saint Paulinus established a church on this site. There has certainly been a place of worship here since Saxon times.
The lower part of the tower — probably Saxon — may have been the main porch of an aisle-less church.
The base of the tower as it stands is early Norman, with indications of two earlier arches which may have been Saxon.
Much of the nave, the chancel arch and the chancel, together with the south doorway and its dog-tooth ornament, are Early English work.
The second stage of the tower is Early English.
The top stage of the tower, with its decorated pinnacles and battlements, is Perpendicular.
The lead roof is replaced with Westmoreland slate at a lower pitch.
The east end — the sanctuary — is completely rebuilt.
A major restoration is undertaken by the architect William Butterfield.
The organ is installed.
The church is given a Grade I listing by Historic England.
One pinnacle blows down in a gale in January 1976, damaging the roof as it falls; another is removed as unsafe in 1987. Two are replaced in 1988.
The Upper Meeting Room is created, bringing the Mary Window within close view for the first time.
Further restoration of the pinnacles, the tower and the nave roofs.
The famous one
What was it that caused riots in the streets of a small Lincolnshire market town, and led to questions in Parliament about ‘disgraceful public disorder’? The answer lies in a glass case in this church.
The Gad Whip consists of a stock six feet long and a lash of seven feet one inch. Attached to the stock is a leather purse which would have contained thirty silver coins, recalling the thirty pieces of silver Judas received for his betrayal of Jesus. One of them, a penny from the reign of Edward I, may still be seen near the whip. Three pieces of wych elm are attached to the stock — although there were supposed to be four, of different lengths, perhaps representing the four gospels.
The whip belonged to a strange Palm Sunday ritual by which rent was paid for land at Raventhorpe, near Broughton. Every year on that day the tenant of the land, which belonged to the Lord of the Manor of Hundon, had to provide a whip and send it with a man to Caistor Church. During the reading of the first lesson at Matins, the man cracked the whip three times in the church porch. At the beginning of the second lesson he waved it three times over the head of the clergyman and held it there until the reading ended, whereupon the lash was folded around the stock and the whip deposited in the pew belonging to the Lord of the Manor of Hundon. And all the while the streets outside were packed with rowdy onlookers — hardly conducive to divine worship.
A petition by Sir Culling Eardley-Smith of Bedwell Park, Hertfordshire, was put before the House of Lords Temporal and Spiritual, to get the practice in Caistor stopped on the grounds that it was a superstitious practice. Hertford Mercury and Reformer, 24 May 1836
Why the ceremony began at all is vague. It went out of use in 1846, when the land at Broughton changed hands.
Monuments
In the north aisle, under an arched recess, is the tomb of a thirteenth-century crusader knight. The effigy shows him in chain mail with a surcoat, his feet resting on a small dog. It is possible that Sir William financed the building of the north aisle and endowed a chantry in what is now the Lady Chapel — once called the Hundon Quire.
Under a cusped recess in the Lady Chapel lies Sir John de Hundon, Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1343. On the floor of the chapel is the figure of a lady in a wimple, with a lion at her feet: Philippa, his wife.
In the present vestry, formerly the Maddison Quire, is a coloured alabaster effigy of Sir Edward Maddison of Unthank Hall, Durham, who died in 1553 aged one hundred. A merchant of Hull and Calais, and by his death Lord of the Manor of Fonaby, Smithfield on Caistor Moor, Cabourne and Nettleton, he was knighted at the coronation of Anne Boleyn and came to Caistor in October 1536 as one of Thomas Cromwell’s commissioners — on the eve of the Lincolnshire Uprising.
On the wall of the north aisle is a brass in memory of Godfrey Carrington, vicar of Caistor, who died in 1670. He was buried before the High Altar, as was his wife, who died in the same year.
Above the chancel arch
As you enter the church, one of the first things to catch your eye is the Rood Beam across the chancel arch. It was designed by Wilfrid Bond of Grantham and installed in the 1920s, and it is full of meaning.
To the left of the cross is Mary, the mother of Jesus; to the right, St John the Evangelist. In St John’s Gospel these two are standing at the foot of the Cross, and Jesus, as he died, entrusted his mother into St John’s care. Below the cross is a pelican pecking at its own breast — in heraldry a symbol of Christ, because the pelican was thought to feed its young with its own blood when food was scarce.
The Greek letters X (Chi) and P (Rho) superimposed — the first two letters of the Greek word that gives us the name ‘Christ’.
Below the figure of Mary. In heraldry this is called the ‘Pain of Mary’, the heart being the home of our feelings. It recalls the old man Simeon in the Temple, who predicted that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul.
Below St John. It alludes to the legend that St John, in later years, was challenged to demonstrate the power of his faith by drinking poison — and the drink turned into a snake which leapt from the cup.
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, superimposed. In the book of Revelation God is described as the Alpha and the Omega — the beginning and the end of everything.
Glass
All the windows here are Victorian or later, and all of them are good examples of their kind.
In 1889 Miss Mary Marris, a prominent philanthropist in the town, gave three windows made by Burlison and Grylls in memory of her mother’s family, the Turners. Burlison and Grylls were highly regarded — the Rose Window in Westminster Abbey is another example of their work.
Above the west door of the tower, and visible from the nave, is the Mary Window, also by Burlison and Grylls: a Madonna and Child financed by contributions from women named Mary who lived in the town. It can now be seen at close quarters from the Upper Meeting Room, created in 1995; before that it could only be seen at a distance from the ground floor. And yet the detail is still fine — every nail and strand of hair can be seen, with delicate flowers around the feet of Mary. Clearly this window was created for God to see, and not for us.
The stained glass in the north and south windows of the sanctuary is by Kempe, whose trademark is a small tower in the corner of their windows, and is in memory of Canon and Mrs Maclean — Canon Maclean was vicar of Caistor from 1844 to 1886. The Epiphany Window, also by Kempe, was installed in 1910 in memory of William and Charlotte Brooks, who farmed first at Fonaby and later at Hundon Manor. A further Kempe window was given in memory of Canon Westbrooke by his sister.
The East window, above the High Altar, is in memory of the Kenningtons, who originated in Caistor but moved to Edinburgh, where Charles established the famous department store Kennington and Jenners.
Photographs of the glass by Jules & Jenny and Julian P Guffogg. Full picture credits.
In other windows you will find the story of David and Goliath, St Michael slaying the dragon, the Christmas and Easter stories, Jesus healing and teaching, and the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem — or is it Jericho, with little Zacchaeus up in the tree?
The long incumbency of the Revd, later Canon, W. F. W. Westbrooke, Vicar of Caistor from 1886 to 1916, is marked by the oak lectern that has been in use since 1912, carved with wooden effigies of St Peter and St Paul. The Westbrooke family was also responsible for the Rood Beam. To the right of the north door is a memorial to Canon Westbrooke’s son, who died in Nigeria having served in the Boer War; to the left is an effigy of an angel in memory of the Westbrookes’ infant daughter, Mary.
In the tower
Caistor Church is proud of its peal of eight bells. The oldest was cast in the early sixteenth century and the newest in 1989.
Two bells were given to the church by Mr Martin Munday, who died on 25 March 1832 aged 84. The inscription on his tomb, near the main entrance to the church, records that ‘such was his veneration for the Church of England he bequeathed by his will two additional bells to the belfry of this church for the use benefit and amusement of the inhabitants of the town of Caistor forever’.
In 1985 Mr Edward W. Colley and his son Stephen, of Caistor, took down the bells and the original wooden housing, and installed the existing bells plus the Ringers’ Bell in a metal frame with new traditional-type bell wheels, modern pulleys and ball bearings. The treble was added in 1989.
The clock on the tower was made in 1853 and paid for by subscription from the people of Caistor. It was made by A. Simmonds of Warwick, a church clockmaker of excellent repute, and was re-gilded in 1893 following a house-to-house collection. In 2005 an automatic rewinding mechanism was installed; at the same time the clock was stripped down and cleaned, the hands, numerals and inscriptions were re-gilded in double-thickness gold leaf, and the slate faces were repainted.
The organ was installed in 1885. In 1982 it received a major overhaul, gaining a detached console and a new electronically operated action in place of the old tracker system. It is in regular use at the Sunday Parish Eucharist, and the church also hosts concerts and live music.
Outside
Much can be learned from the churchyard. One tombstone in particular, at the south-west corner, commemorates a remarkable achievement by the Foster family. In 1775 John Foster became Parish Clerk. On his death in 1825 he was succeeded by his son Joshua, who died in 1847; then by his son, also Joshua, who died in 1871; and then by yet another Joshua, who was clerk until 1905. From 1775 to 1905 the Foster family held the post of Parish Clerk of Caistor without a break.
A section of fourth-century Roman wall is visible along the southern boundary of the churchyard, and the grounds are a haven for wildlife.
The churchyard at Caistor is closed to new burials; Caistor residents are buried in the town’s civic cemetery. There is an area within the churchyard set aside for the burial of cremated remains.
The history on this page draws on the guide written for the parish church, on the entry for St Peter & St Paul on A Church Near You, on the National Churches Trust record, and on the Historic England listing.
If you can correct or add to anything here — particularly dates and names — the church would be glad to hear from you.
The pinnacles have been rebuilt twice in living memory and the tower and nave roofs were restored again in 2018. Keeping this building standing is the work of the parish, and it never stops.
