Lincolnshire parish clergy, c.1214-1968 Part II The deaneries of Beltisloe and Bolingbroke - N. H Bennett

The parish churches of Lincolnshire are justly celebrated. The spires of Grantham and Louth, and the famous Boston Stump, provide a focal point from the surrounding landscape of fen, wold and marsh. The charms of remote country churches along the byways of the county have been extolled in prose and verse by writers such as Henry Thorold and Sir John Betjeman. Their architecture, their stained glass and sculpture, furniture and fabric, have all been carefully recorded. Yet little is known of the people who served these churches, the rectors and vicars who, in word and sacrament, taught the Christian faith to successive generations of parishioners.
This volume forms the second part of a much-needed survey of Lincolnshire parish clergy. It covers the deaneries of Beltisloe, comprising twenty-one parishes clustered around Colsterworth and Corby, and of Bolingbroke, with twenty-five parishes centred on Spilsby. Starting from 1214, when Bishop Hugh of Wells introduced the earliest system of episcopal registration in Western Europe, the parish lists set out the succession of rectors or vicars for each church. Brief biographical sketches demonstrate the rich variety of the county's parsons - pastors, scholars, athletes, travellers and writers, soldiers and schoolmasters. This register gives to each of them his place in the history of Lincolnshire.


Dr Nicholas Bennett is Visiting Senior Fellow of the University of Lincoln.