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Partney Group Churches |
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There are 9 Churches within the Partney Group, which is itself part of Bolingbroke Rural Deanery, in the Lincoln Diocese. The main Church (shown below, left) is St Nicholas', Partney. The other Churches are at Ashby by Partney, Aswardby, Candlesby, Dalby, Langton, Sausthorpe, Scremby and Skendleby ( next page). Services are held on a monthly rotating schedule, allowing each |
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Services are held on a monthly rotating schedule, allowing each congregation as much opportunity to worship in their own local church as possible. Each week, the main Group Service, with Choir, is held in Partney or Skendleby.
Partney used to be the big town in the area, standing on the junction of the Boston-Grimsby road, skirting the eastern edge of the Wolds, and the Lincoln-Skegness carting road. In the 8th century (731AD), it was noted in Venerable Bede's writings to have an abbey, and recent excavations prior to the building of a road bypass have unearthed a 12th Century Leper Hospital and Chapel. However, the arrival of the Black Death around 1350 wiped out most of the population, leaving the nearby (uphill, upwind and dry) village of Spilsby-by-Partney to flourish in its stead.
The present church, dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra (in Turkey), patron saint of sailors and fishermen, dates back to at least 1090, when it was granted to the Abbot of Bardney. The oldest part of the existing structure is the 14th century bell tower (presumably built before the Black Death nearly wiped out the village in 1350). Missing from the picture below is the ship which tops the weather vane (down for repairs when this photo was taken), from which the Church, School and Choir take their emblem. |
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Tablets in the Church and its grounds celebrate the association of the church with Capt. Matthew Flinders RN, explorer. He married a Partney girl in 1801.
Trees in the grounds are ancient - one oak is reputed to be over 1000 years old, and still bears acorns. |
