St boltoph's church..Lincolnshire.

[Mikeymutt]

I visited this redundant church in Lincolnshire.situated a few miles from the coast in marshland.i took a wander up the wind swept path to it.the church is literally a shell.no Windows and no doors but it is still lovely.the grade one listed church was originally built in the early thirteenth century.and finally closed in 1973 and is now under the care of the churches conservation trust.





























Now I love these old lychgates and have a bit of a passion for them.i have been out and photographed quite a few.and this one really was lovely.nestled above a little stream.these lych gates are usually constructed of solid oak and with a tiled roof and simple seats inside.in case you don't know the word "lych" is an old Anglo name for corpse.the lychgate was used for protecting the coffin during rain.and for the pall bearers to sit before entering a service.

 

[krela]

Love it, thanks MM!

 

[HughieD]

Really so love this sort of stuff and nice to see this side of my home county. Thank you Mikey...

 

[tazong]

I really do have a thing for churches at the moment - so glad you have visit one - really beautiful pictures there bud - you seem to cram some thing out of your pictures thats very hard to explain but i do love them.
Thanks for info about lychgates - i took this picture purley for myself as i love the carpentry and woodwork that went in to it - not sure if its a lychgate or just a really grand entrance to a lovley church.

 

[Colorado Brother]

very beautiful photos

 

[smiler]

Lovely pics Mikey, The war graves, were they from the same ship? do you know, Thanks

 

[Luise]

Oh wow.. simply just stunning photography..beautiful.

 

[Mikeymutt]

Thank you all.that certainly looks like a lychgate tazong.and smiler not sure if they were off the same boat or from the same village.very little info.

 

[jsp77]

That church certainly has something about it, another place to add to the list, excellent photos Mikey

 

[Sam Haltin]

Lovely pics Mikey, The war graves, were they from the same ship? do you know, Thanks

I think they could be from the same ship. There is a date on a gravestone that we can see and that is 26th September 1941, so how many ships went down on or around that date. But then again did they serve on a ship? Why are they unknown.

 

[oldscrote]

According to Wiki the war graves include a Labour Corps soldier, a coastgaurd and a WW2 sailor,I can't find any references on the war grave commission website.

 

[flyboys90]

You've captured the tranquility of this church spot on Mikey.

 

[UrbanX]

Very impressive, a lovely set of photos to match too!

 

[fernox]

Great photo what camera you using looks very good quality

 

[Mikeymutt]

Great photo what camera you using looks very good quality

Thank you I use fuji xt10 mirrorless amd my lenses at the min is a 14mm f2.8..and a 35mm f1.4 and a 18mm f2..I don't own a full dslr preferring the build quality of the fuji and lenses and the compact size

 

[night crawler]

Superb work, some great photos recording the church & churchyard there

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

I think they could be from the same ship. There is a date on a gravestone that we can see and that is 26th September 1941, so how many ships went down on or around that date. But then again did they serve on a ship? Why are they unknown.

Merchant seamen did not carry 'dog tags', their only means of identification was their pay book and 'signing on' papers - book and papers normally carried at all times in a breast pocket during wartime voyages. Sadly the destructive powers of a sea-mine, torpedo or bomb; on what were usually rather old vessels in the North Sea tramping convoys, meant the catastrophic destruction of ships and bodies. Add the fact that bodies were in the water for days, even weeks before washing ashore and the chance of finding a name was impossible. The date refers to when the body was found and is the 'official' date of death. Nationality was usually found from clothing labels when all other means of identification was missing, although MN on the headstone refers to any nationality of sailor sailing on British papers. The North Sea coastal conveys suffered horrendous losses - both tonnage and crews during 1940/42, with convoys limited to the speed of the slowest vessel and the scattering before the enemy when attacked - fending for themselves. Nobody knows if these men were shipmates or just comrades in death - no matter, they were very brave men, often in very old and slow vessels crammed with all types of ordnance.

Until I was eleven, I lived in a flat and the young man who lived in the flat above us with his Mum, had been a Royal Navy Signaller attached to many Convoys bound for UK from all over the world. Stationed on the lead merchantman, his job was to pass on the Naval Escorts instructions to the Commodore of the convoy. He gave me all his wartime notes etc and taught me morse code as a lad. Knowing what I know now, I do not know how he survived three torpedo attacks and all those days in the water/lifeboat!

 

[Wrench]

Very nice sir mutt.
Also very informative, I didn't know they were called that and I didn't know that's what they were for but there is a nice one just round the corner from me that I pass every day and now I shall look at it in a different light.
Thank you good sir.

 

[Wrench]

That is bloody brilliant Dirus_Strictus.
This is one reason I love these forum's, cus you can actually learn quite a bit of stuff you didn't know.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Dirus_Strictus]

:This is one reason I love these forum's, cus you can actually learn quite a bit of stuff you didn't know.
Thanks for the info.

If you can lock the above sentence in your memory and recall it when you are approaching my age, I think you will find that you will be doing exactly the same thing - passing on little bits of information that were interesting to you because of a hobby, work or even shock or disgust. Much more is at hand in this digital age, but you need the right references to search properly. I was lucky to be born when I was, in light of my interests in military history - I was surrounded by two generations who had actually fought in two World Wars or lived during the conflicts. I saw their momentos and listened to those that did talk about their experiences - some eventually gave me some their writings and collected objects. Perhaps the most telling were the homes of three spinster 'Aunties' - lifelong friends of Mum and Dad - who's houses were full military items and photographs. The oldest had a superb gathering of WW1 stuff and the other two were WW11, one RAF and one Army; however, it was not until I was a teenager and had been left much of the WW1 items and letters that I really started to understand the true meaning and value of the written matter I had. Thus I have always tried to pass on my little bits of knowledge to other interested people.