A visit to Theddlethorpe All Saints with an over-excited antiquarian

[@4sstg]

Just lovely. I appreciate you taking the time and trouble to show so many wonderful old churches. The detail you allow us to see makes it almost as good as being there in person. 🌟

[@allanbarton]

What kind words thank you. It really is my pleasure.

[@ButterBobBriggs]

Beautiful church. Thank you so much for the tour. I'll enjoy as many tours as you can do, especially with your historic and artistic understanding. Don't worry about how long the video is, make it as long as you need. Also, please show us the exterior and yard too, I love the bell towers and stone work.

[@stuartfisher8419]

I can well see why you are excited by this building. Wonderfull !

[@stuartfisher8419]

Just out of interest Alan, do you know my chum Fr Kevin Smith, Grand Fromage at the Anglican Shrinein Walsingham?

[@laurag7295]

The church I attend is very young, we only had the 150th anniversary about 20 years ago! I am in Ontario, Canada.

[@steveriggan8944]

Another great video! My mother was from the gentry family of Skipwith married into the Heneages. My father was from the Hildyard family married to the Angevines in this video!! This is amazing history! My father was actually descended from Cicely Hildyard’s cousin Isabel Girlington who married Christopher Kelke and produced my lineage. I visited England in 2017 and saw many of the Skipwith sites but didn’t get to visit any of the Hildyard sites.

[@allanbarton]

Are you descended from the Lincolnshire Skipwith's. There is a fantastic couple of monumental brasses to them at South Ormsby in the middle of the Lincolnshire Wolds.

[@steveriggan8944]

@@ThatsRoyal thank you. Yes, it’s pretty interesting for Americans. We had quite a bit of English gentry settlement in the American colonies which is why so many of us here can trace our ancestry into the old medieval families of England and also back to the Conqueror and Plantagenets. We call them “gateway” ancestors as they were the gateway to medieval ancestry. My father had one gateway ancestor William Farrar to Virginia (he came in 1618 with Thomas West, 3rd Lord De la Warr), and my mother had three: Diana Skipwith (she was a cousin of Lord De la Warr’s wife Cecily Shirley), Thomas Ligon (cousin of governor Sir William Berkeley), and Capt. Charles Barham (great nephew of deputy governor Sir Samuel Argall). All four of them trace back to the Earls of Arundel and Earls of Northumberland, so it creates interesting research for me.

[@steveriggan8944]

@@allanbarton yes, I do. I might have posted a response to your video on the Heneages several weeks before this one. Katherine Skipwith Heneage was a sister of my ancestor Sir William Skipwith of South Ormsby.

[@oulipolesceptique9449]

I've been watching all your videos of visits to these beautiful old churches, and very much appreciating your commentary. Clearly England has an astonishing wealth of early churches that stand mostly abandoned today, and you are doing a great service in bringing them to the attention of people like me. Really well done!

[@allanbarton]

Glad you appreciate it, thanks for watching!

[@jontalbot1]

About 12,000 medieval churches and most still in use

[@RonCombo]

So enjoyed that tour, thank you so much. Your enthusiasm is palpable! Made me long for Lincolnshire.

[@allanbarton]

Thanks Arthur - I've recently moved back to Lincolnshire, it is a county that draws you in. So little known, but a county of such contrasts.

[@delcatto60]

I drive past this church at least once a week and I have often wanted to stop off and see it properly. Thank you for this and I will hopefully get to see it for myself in the near future.

[@allanbarton]

It is well worth it, the key is kept at the Manor House next door.

[@delcatto60]

@@allanbarton Thank you, I will make time to visit.

[@CRexcelsior]

It is breathtaking! That woodwork is stunning.

[@stevedunn3113]

A fabulous church and it's great to see parcloses extant, the tracery is amazing. Thank you for taking us along with you, Allan, 19 minutes 19 seconds was not long enough!

[@allanbarton]

My pleasure Steve - and thanks for the kind comments. The next church I visit that's as good as this I will aim for 19 minutes and 20 seconds!

[@stevedunn3113]

@@allanbarton Ha! I look forward to the show!

[@sharonclaridge]

I had to chuckle when you mentioned the layer of bat droppings as you entered the church. I am part of a small team who look after a church in Cornwall which is home to a relatively large colony of greater horseshoe bats. Keeping the altar clear of bat poo is akin to painting the Forth Bridge but I view them as protectors of the church as because of them, it is an Site of Special Scientific Interest.

[@andrewscurr1725]

What an amazing church!

[@allanbarton]

A stunner.

[@happycommuter3523]

Marvelous building! I used to work with an art historian whose specialty was medieval Europe, especially architecture. She would have loved this.

[@dalecaldwell]

Although I quite enjoy your tours of rather unussued chuches, I always wish you would do a sort of antiquarian's critical tour of the restoration of Ely Cahedral.

[@susanross1651]

What an amazing church. I feel sorry that it isn’t being looked after better & that it may slowly decay. At least they should have a cleaning rotation for the bats in the belfry.

[@excession3076]

Stunning and beautiful church, no wonder you were excited to show us around. I presume/hope that the conservation trust has taken steps to ensure the woodwork is in good condition and will survive, (thinking beetles/woodworm/dry rot type of thing).

[@YorkistRaven]

Thank you for a lovely tour of a church with many surviving Medieval features. I enjoy these videos so much, but always there is a touch of sadness...so much has been lost, and it is a sorrowful thing to see an unused church. Cleaned up, this could still be a special place of worship. Listening to you describe the features, it is as if Medieval people are conjured in my imagination; some wearing colorful, rich clothing, others in more plain attire, but all very engaged and alive in their faith community.

[@reginaromsey]

A wonderful church for some group wanting to adopt a church to lavish live and attention on! Thank you so much for taking the trouble to photograph and put these u for us!

[@bethena1855]

Fabulous interior! Thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Thank you.

[@allanbarton]

Thank you - I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I get excited every time I set foot in this place, it is so special.

[@tonyharpur8383]

TWO Marian parclose screens! You just made my day, Allan! 😀

[@davisd_ambly4067]

Every reason to be over-excited! Allan that's an incredible church.. Thank you.

[@allanbarton]

It doesn't take me much to get excited - glad you like it, it is extraordinary in every way. I only wish it was better cared for.

[@frankjacobs2946]

What a gem and Such a comprehensive tour.. thank you so much. I grew up 10 miles ftom here too and never knew this existed.

[@bettinabarry8423]

What a treat❤ Thank you!

[@allanbarton]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@pggemmiti9385]

Amazing that the beautiful busts haven't been sold to a museum, or at least replaced with replicas having the originals sold.

[@allanbarton]

Thankfully the church is maintained by a heritage charity.

[@Phorquieu]

Wonderful tour! Very enlightening and informative! A truly beautiful church.

[@allanbarton]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@marierowe5969]

I get excited too u love love love history

[@bessofhardwick9311]

I've learned so much already from your wonderful videos. The woodworking in this one is extraordinary, and that face does look like Kenneth Williams!

[@allanbarton]

Thank you very much - he is the spit of Kenneth, it always makes me chuckle when I see it.

[@EllenCFarmGirl]

Beautiful ❤

[@gervaisfrykman266]

Thank you.

[@pamlamb892]

❤Wonderful tour! Thank you!

[@deborahbrottmiller2948]

Beautiful love the windows

[@allanbarton]

Glad you liked it!

[@dianespears6057]

Great tour. Thank you.

[@allanbarton]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@sicko_the_ew]

I once visited this church when it was protected by nothing but dense nettles (at a time when the path to the door was mowed). Some of my ancestors and their relatives are buried beside the path. There may have been others out back, but there's a point at which the nettles become too much, and the visitor gives up. As far as the bats go, maybe the way to think of them is that they're protecting the place? The smell might put off potential vandals. It's about time we just live and let live, when it comes to bats - although I suppose you might have good reason to say I have bats in my belfry on that account. But just think of it: How many belfries are there that have bats in them?

[@KateMH_]

Great ep!

[@allanbarton]

Thanks very much, glad you enjoyed it!

[@Windowswatcher]

I was interested in all of this... but you made no comment about the stained glass windows. Were they a much later addition? I also wondered about the brickwork in some of the walls... as if they were 'fill-ins' for something else that used to be there.

[@allanbarton]

Hello Gill - there is not a lot in the way of stained glass in this church - however, I did in my excitement over all the woodwork and monuments forget to look at the two medieval angels in the top of a window. The brickwork, some of which is quite early (16th-century) is repair. The primary stone used in this area is Spilsby sandstone is not very good and it is particularly porous and also gets attacked by masonry bees - so a lot of these Lincolnshire churches have significant areas of repair.

[@Windowswatcher]

Thank you…I can see why they chose bricks for the repairs then. I’ll see if I can find images of the glass on the internet, then. 😊

[@allanbarton]

@@Windowswatcher Here is the medieval glass, all the stained glass the church has. Just imagine it once filled with glass of this quality. www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/48622472513/in/photolist-2h5AT6B

[@Windowswatcher]

Thanks for the link. It’s beautiful….imagine all the windows that would have been so decorated. Still…we’re lucky to have some remnants. It would be nice to think that someone saved some at one point and it’s in a collection somewhere.

[@allanbarton]

@@Windowswatcher it would, but sadly not. Medieval stained glass was the subject of my PhD and very little glass was saved. We have but a fraction of what there once was. The majority was lost in the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily because it was cheaper to replace it than repair it.

[@tomw5907]

Wonderful video

[@allanbarton]

It is such a splendid place.

[@Xanaseb]

Could you expound on the image brackets, please?

[@allanbarton]

I will produce a video on image brackets and images in English churches. Watch this space.

[@ffvvaacc]

Well if you have a belfry you’ve got to have bats in the belfry. 😂 They come as a set.

[@meeseification]

If anyone could answer a question? What does the rood screen do or signify? I really enjoy your videos. Hope to get to England some time to see it in person. Thank you for sharing!

[@Nana-vi4rd]

Could you possibly find out anything about the De Richmond family, I believed they had a castle or property up in York somewhere. I would appreciate any information you can get about them. I am descendant from them. I do when Henry VII took the throne the family changed their names to Webb and moved south. But any information you can find maybe where some are buried, anything I would truly be grateful.

[@dann5268]

Suggestion Why doesn't someone lay down paper and fabric to protect these items from bat waste???? So simple and very effective " Dropping Drop Cloths" . Also if you could get some cute film of beneficial bats you could draw in more viewers to this beautiful building and possibly raise money to help the bats and the church!!! Thanks for the video, great job!!!!

[@betsybattles2696]

why are rood screens so often red and green?

[@julianguffogg]

Why are you anonymous?

[@allanbarton]

I'm not very!!!

[@388Caroline]

Kenneth Williams 😂

[@Sketchbook_sazzle]

I thought that the Archangel Michael was one of God's main man so to speak.

[@EdMcF1]

It's illegal to annoy a bat, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, so the trust cannot do anything.

[@allanbarton]

I have heard since the Trust are working on a solution.

[@t6h1y1]

Thank you.