The Church of  St Peter & St Paul     KNOWN AS BOURNE ABBEY

No trace remains of the church that probably existed here before the Norman Conquest. The building we see today is the parish church of St Peter and St Paul, better known locally as Bourne Abbey, and was founded by the Lord of the Manor, Baldwin Fitzgilbert, in the 12th century. It was neither large nor wealthy but it was Norman and impressive and dates from circa 1138. Baldwin's Abbey was one of the five English monastic houses attached to the Arrouaisian congregation that was a sub-division of the Augustinian order. They took their name from the French village of Arrouaise in Artois where in 1090, three hermits had combined to build a cell or oratory in honour of the Holy Trinity and St Nicholas and there were eventually 28 houses, mainly in France and Flanders. The Arrouaisian canons were not very different from other Augustinians and the distinction between them tended to fade out as time went on and soon after 1470, the order became extinct. However, the abbots of Bourne always retained some of their independence and kept up their connection with the abbey at Missenden in Buckinghamshire that had similar origins. 

The foundation charter of Bourne Abbey was granted to Gervase, Abbot of St Nicholas of Arrouaise, but the house at Bourne was not merely intended as a cell of that abbey. It was independent from the start with its own abbot and the first to hold that office of which we have any record was David about 1156. Baldwin also gave him several tracts of land in the vicinity, fisheries in Bourne marsh, the nearby fish pond, various rents from other properties and the tithes of mills and of deer hides killed in hunting and wool to make garments for the canons. When Baldwin's daughter married Hugh Wake, the patronage of the house passed into the hands of the Wake family and they retained it until the 14th century but twice, in 1311 and again in 1324, the king's escheastor tried to claim Bourne Abbey as a royal foundation but the Wakes managed to uphold their rights and when Edward III subsequently visited the town, these were confirmed.

The Abbey Church in summer (above) and winter (below).

The origins of the Abbey church began during the great revival in religious thought and action in England during the early part of the 12th century as a result of the preaching by Bernhard of Clairvaux. The revival took many forms, expressed by many in preaching and in prayer, or by entering monasteries; others, in their enthusiasm and fervour, anxious to do something to further their faith, built churches and Baldwin, wishing to demonstrate his devotion, decided to erect a new church on the site of the old Saxon building which was then showing signs of decay. He started the task in 1138 but owing to political troubles, he never completed the work as he intended. He was also wounded and taken prisoner at the Battle of Lincoln on 2nd February 1141 and, according to the custom of the time, had to pay a large ransom for his release and this seriously depleted his financial resources.

The building programme was therefore cut back and it is safe to assume that the church was not finished at this time, only the nave, with a low roof, and the bottom portion of the tower being completed. The west front, the upper part of the tower and the clerestory were not finished until the 14th century and it would be another 200 years before the building that we see today was finally completed.

The nave as far as the clerestory is a beautiful example of Norman work and the lower part of the tower also shows traces of the Norman builders. About 1875, the Precentor of Lincoln Cathedral, the Rev Edmund Venables, a distinguished church historian, read a paper to the Bourne Archaeological Society giving an account of his researches into the church and which give a glimpse of the building as it was:

The oldest features, and aisles and arcades, are portions of the original church, founded in 1138. There is an arch of the same period at the end of the north aisle. The early English work, at the west end of the nave, is very good of its kind: there was a chantry chaperon on the south side. The window of the transept is a link between early English and decorated, three lancets surrounded by thee circles. The Clerestory is of the perpendicular period when the principal storey of the remainder was built, the lower stages being early English. The present edifice is the parochial nave of the church, which being the property of the parishioners, was preserved for their use, the choir and the transept forming the monastic being pulled down at the dissolution of the monasteries [ordered by Henry VIII between 1536 and 1540].

At the dissolution, the lead was usually taken off the roofs and the walls left standing, and this was possibly done to the church at Bourne although it was soon repaired because in 1602, both church and chancel are reported to have been in good condition. At the time of the Reformation, all images were removed from English churches and although no records exist as to what happened at Bourne, there is little doubt that this also occurred here and in the villages around. Hugh Latimer, the fearless bishop with a social conscience and Protestant leanings, is reputed to have preached in the church while on one of his visits to Grimsthorpe Castle where he was a frequent guest of those devout supporters of the Reformation, Lady Catherine Willoughby and Lord Bertie, and it has been suggested that it might have been at Bourne that he preached his remarkable service on the marriage feast which is known to have been delivered in Lincolnshire.

In his book Bourne and the People associated with Bourne (1925), John T Swift gives his evocative impression of what the church would have looked like before the reformation:

It was more markedly cruciform in shape, the transepts having been removed at the dissolution. There would be a large crucifix affixed to the Rood Loft, supported on either side by the figure of a saint, probably the patron saints of the church, St Peter and St Paul. Near the altar, a large life-sized statue of the Madonna and the Infant Christ, on the walls of the Chancel, on pedestals or brackets, images of the Apostles. Round the church, various shrines or small railed-off chapels. At High Mass, the church full of people, all classes and conditions, ladies and gentlemen from the castle, peasants in their long slops, and their wives in plain homespun dresses. At the elevation of the Host, all, irrespective of class or rank, lowly bending or kneeling, for all are equal here. The solemn silence – the sweet smell of the incense – the sounding of the bell, must have been very impressive, but it is very doubtful if the ordinary people understood the meaning, the service and prayers being in what must have been to them, an unknown language. Think of the many generations of Bourne people who have walked up those aisles – Saxons, Normans, Tudors, Elizabethans, Puritans, Cavaliers, Stuarts, Georgians, Victorians and Edwardians - all in their different and distinct costume and dress. Yet we cannot fully realise the antiquity of our church until we place against it events which have taken place in the past, and which now seem so remote, as almost to belong to another world.

The abbey never became rich or important and it is probable that there were twelve canons at the start but this number fell to seven after the Black Death. They worshipped in the church, a building largely rebuilt and restored, especially during the Middle Ages, although the 12th century plans of the building were much the same as today with a nave and narrow north and south aisles, a large chancel, a south transept and twin towers at the west end but only the south west tower was built and there is no evidence of a north transept. No traces remain of the other monastic buildings although it may be that the cloister lay to the north side and a stone stairway which was in the south east corner of the present organ chamber could once have been the night stairs from the dormitory into the church.

Bourne Abbey is the town's only Grade I listed building. Extensive alterations have been carried out to the fabric in a style transitional from Norman to Early English. This was probably the first stage of a scheme to replace the 12th century church with one of "cathedral-like proportions" but this did not come to fruition and it has been suggested that the ambitious plans were thwarted by the Black Death. The only Norman remains of the abbey are incorporated into the nave, four round arches on massive piers supporting scalloped capitals. The nave looks towards the high altar and behind that the east window. On the right stands a fine brass Victorian lectern in the form of an eagle supported on a pedestal. It was presented to the church in 1902 in memory of Margaret Dainty and was restored in 1938. In the centre of the nave is a huge brass chandelier that was given by Matthew Clay in 1742 to the memory of his daughter who died at the age of 22. Its 24 candles are lit at festivals and this produces a splendid sight over the worshipping congregation. The chandelier is identical to that in West Deeping church that is also from the early 18th century and the two are therefore almost certainly the work of the same craftsman. The high altar was enlarged by a gift in memory of Charles Horne, a former vicar, who died a few days after his retirement in 1951. 

The abbey has a few minor monuments and some colourful Victorian stained glass. The east window commemorates members of the Dodsworth family who lie buried in the church, the centre panel being in memory of the Rev Joseph Dodsworth who died in 1877. It was he who gave the stone and marble reredos to the church in 1866. The stained glass memorial window was installed in 1860 by Messrs Constable of Warwick at a cost of 120 guineas and depicts the four evangelists and Christ upon the Cross in rich colours. During 1986, the stonework and stained glass underwent major restoration and repair at a cost of £13,000, the money being raised by special events, public donations and grants. 

The north window in the chancel was placed there in 1860 as a memorial to various members of the Dove family while the southern window is in memory of Margetta, wife of Edward Parrish who died on 15th December 1858. This window was re-leaded in 1983. There are also memorial tablets on the walls to the Digby family who lived at the Red Hall circa 1730-1836.

One of the most interesting is to Catherine Digby who left £500 in trust towards the salary for an organist, the first instrument being installed in the west end gallery by John Gray two years before her death although this gallery was removed in 1870 when a public subscription of £1,200 financed extensions to the north aisle that was widened to provide a vestry and an organ chamber with a newly-constructed organ by Gray & Davison. This work was carried out in 1869-70 and was marked with a ceremony in the church on Friday 25th June 1869 when the vicar, the Rev Joseph Dodsworth, laid a corner-stone to the new north wall and then delivered a suitable address outlining the circumstances which led up to the ceremony. He referred particularly to the necessity for increased accommodation in the church which, he said, "had resulted in the formation of a committee of gentlemen who had determined upon an extension of the sacred edifice, as well as certain restorations which were thought desirable". One of the churchwardens, Mr Henry Bott, landlord of the Angel Hotel, endorsed the vicar's observations regarding the difficulty that had been experienced in providing seated accommodation and remarked that he strongly disapproved of the system which allowed one person to fix himself at the entrance of a pew and prevent the entrance of others who might want to get in. "I would like to see an alteration in that respect", he said, "and when the enlargement and restorations are completed, it is hoped that those persons who are interested in the matter to which I refer, will kindly assist the vicar, churchwardens and committee in making such arrangements as will tend to the promotion of the object we have in view."

During the stone laying ceremony, a bottle from the soda water factory run by Robert Mason Mills, a vigorous church supporter, and containing a document referring to the current state of the town, was deposited behind the stone and a reminder to future generations of the way things were.  The document stated:

In the name and to the glory of the blessed and undivided Trinity, this wall of the north aisle of the Bourne church, dedicated to St Peter, was extended northwards and the first foundation stone was laid by the Rev J Dodsworth, Vicar and Rural Dean of Aveland, on 25th of June in the year of our Lord 1869, being the 32nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria. Thomas Turnell Mawby and Henry Bott, churchwardens. Wheat 45s., Barley 40s., and Oats 30s., per quarter. Population 3,809. E Browning Esq., architect, Joseph Norman and Fred Vinters, masons, and William Hall, carpenter, contractors. The cost of the enlargement and repairs was nearly £1,200, as per contract.

The curate, the Rev E E Hadath, briefly addressed the assembly, expressing his sense of the importance and solemnity of the occasion, which he trusted would not only tend to the extension of the material building but would also promote the increase of the church triumphant.

Little work was done on the fabric of the church after the dissolution until the late 19th century and since then there has been successive work to maintain and improve the building with money from local benefactors. One of the most important projects was the restoration of the west end of the church which was carried out in 1882. The Stamford Mercury reported on 26th January 1883:

The work of restoration of the west front of the Abbey church has at length been completed. The builder and contractor was Mr T C Halliday, of Greetham and Stamford, who has been represented at Bourne by Mr S F Halliday, and the work throughout (which has been a very arduous and hazardous nature) has been very carefully and successfully carried out under the watchful care of the clerk of the works, Mr C Bentley, of Stamford. The task of supporting the superstructure and the careful bonding together of the new work with the old was brought to a successful issue without any signs of fracture or settlement. The work has given great satisfaction to both the Vicar and churchwardens, and also to the architect, Mr J C Traylen, ARIBA, of Stamford and Peterborough under whose superintendence the operations have been done. The following description will give the reader some idea of the necessity for and the nature of the work carried out:

Bourne Abbey church was founded by Baldwin Fitzgilbert in the year 1138 and the greater part of the nave of the present church is of the period of Baldwin’s work, but in the first quarter of the 13th century the western elevation was replaced by one of the Early English style, flanked by two towers of that period. This has since undergone much change and mutilation, the south-west tower being now surmounted by a perpendicular stage, and until lately a large coeval [from the same period] window having taken the place of the original elegant Early English triplet in the west end of the nave, while all but the lower stage of the north tower has disappeared. Possibly it was intended to rebuild the whole nave in the same style; certainly at one time the whole of the western elevation displayed its peculiar beauty, and from the massive thickness of the walls, the lofty and richly moulded arches, supported by the handsome clustered piers, we may conjecture what would have been the effect of this Early English work carried throughout the church, but which now stops short at the towers.

In the 15th century, considerable changes were made in this part of the old Abbey church. Then the large Perpendicular window was inserted, the Early English windows and the triforium were removed, and the massive walling of the nave was reduced in thickness to give place to the new work. The north and east arches of the south tower are also of this period, and it is interesting to notice how these are fitted into and blended with the work of the earlier periods. A staircase was also cut into the NW pier, and to this together with the introduction of the large west window, may be attributed the crushing of the very beautiful NW pier, which endangered the safety of the tower itself, was evidenced by serious signs of settlement and giving way. This danger must have been a constant source of anxiety to those immediately concerned in the safety of this church, for although it was plastered up “out of sight”, there it was. The tower itself was in a most forlorn condition, walled off entirely from the church, and simply forming a receptacle for refuse, whilst the ringing chamber above was in a wretched condition.

To preserve and restore this interesting portion of the church, it was absolutely necessary to thicken the Early English wall of the west front throughout its entire height and width, and to re-insert the original triplet of lights therein, for which abundant authority was found in their remaining jambs [vertical side members of the frame] cased up in the walling. The shattered pier, through the wise determination of the vicar and churchwardens, was rebuilt. This at first appeared to be a perilous undertaking from the great thickness of the walls and their want of bond, but with very careful centering to the arches, strong shorting, and the inserting of balks of timber and iron, the pier and staircase were first taken entirely away, and then rebuilt in their original form with solid masonry, cement and brick backing, and an inner ring or tube of bricks in cement, this giving greater thickness and solidity to the shell of the staircase.

The old ringing floor has now been entirely cleared away, and the ropes brought down to the ground floor, whence the interior of the tower is now entirely thrown open. Some very interesting fragments of Early English work, possibly portions of a corbel table or arcading, were discovered in the rubble filling in these windows. A pier corresponding with the restored one on the south side has been partially disclosed by the removal of the casing of the Perpendicular work. The triplet windows have been filled with very elegant painted glass (by Messrs Heaton, Butler, and Bayne of London), corresponding in style with their date, and adding much to the beauty of this part of the church.

The great subject of these windows is the Judgment, set forth in different ways as follows:

First Window: St Michael with the Balance; the Ten Virgins; the Draw Net.
Second window: Christ in Glory; the Shepherd dividing the Sheep from the Goats; the Wheat and Tares.
Third window: St Michael Sounding the Trumpet; The Pounds; the Marriage of the King’s Son.

It is hoped that, through the generous action of Mr R M Mills, who has almost entirely defrayed the cost of the above work, intending it as a memorial to his late wife and two children, this good work connected with the restoration of Bourne Abbey church may be continued, and that funds may soon be forthcoming to carry out further necessary work, viz, a new roof, a chancel arch, new seating, the re-building of the south aisle, the restoration of the chancel, now so cold and forlorn, and, perhaps eventually, the re-building the NW tower.

In connection with the re-opening, a choral service was held in the church on Thursday evening the 18th, when Haydn’s grand oratorio, The Creation, was admirably given by the choir, under the conductorship of Mr C H Lewis, organist of the church. Mr James Price, of Ipswich (formerly organist at Bourne), efficiently presided at the organ, and the solos were effectively rendered by Miss Jessie Royd, RAM (soprano), Mr G H Gregory, Mus Bac, of Boston (tenor), and Mr J B Smith, of Peterborough Cathedral (bass). The whole of the choruses were well sung, particularly the last one in the second part, Achieved is the glorious work, which was almost perfect.

The Bishop of Nottingham delivered an appropriate address between the first and second parts of the service. There were between 600 and 700 persons present, and the collection (which was to be devoted to the church restoration fund) amounted to £15 7s. 6d. The service throughout was a great success, and Mr Lewis and the members of the choir are to be congratulated upon having attained such a degree of proficiency.

The work was not completed without incident because on Tuesday 14th February 1882, John Darnes, one of the workmen helping with the alterations on the west front, was badly hurt. Sections of stonework were being removed to install three new windows when some of the pieces slipped and fell, smashing sections of scaffolding where Darnes was standing and he lost his balance but his fall was broken by another section lower down. A second man saved himself from falling by hanging on to a protruding pole and escaped unhurt but Darnes suffered extensive injuries and was away from work for several months.

In February 1884, a brass plate was fixed in the church to commemorate the kindness and liberality of Mr Mills in defraying the entire cost of the restoration and bearing the following inscription:

To record the restoration of the west end of this church by Mr Robert Mason Mills, of Bourn, this brass is placed here by the congregation. Easter, 1883.

A second major project was undertaken in 1892 when a new high-pitched roof was erected, the bosses showing the shields of the patron saints of Peter and Paul, the Diocese of Lincoln, the Clare family coat of arms (Baldwin Fitzgilbert, the founder, came from the House of Clare) and the coat of arms of the Wake family who were benefactors of the abbey. The chancel was also repaired and wainscoted with oak and choir stalls installed as a thanksgiving for Queen Victoria's jubilee together with a chancel screen. 

The twin aisles also disappeared at this time and the old style box pews were removed and the present ones installed. The floor was lowered during the work and so the church began to take on the appearance that we know today. The removal of the box pews also ended the old system of private sittings, a practice whereby important and wealthy people from the parish could, for a small contribution to church funds, reserve their own pews for services. But the majority of worshippers favoured the principle of all seating being free and available to everyone without drawing invidious distinctions and this system was duly adopted. The work was carried out between Easter and Christmas during which time services were held in the Corn Exchange. 

During the year, there were also developments affecting the area surrounding the church. In November 1892, an ancient arch with a span of eight feet was unearthed in the grounds of the vicarage, the stones of which were 18 inches thick. All were ashlar except the upper sides that had been rough hewn and the top of the keystone was moulded while the inside of the arch had been expertly worked and fitted. A few days later, a second similar arch, equally well preserved, was discovered a short distance away. 

About the same time, an old established avenue of elm trees bordering the Abbey Lawn close to the church were felled, despite protests from many townspeople, on the grounds that some had become old and diseased. Among the trees were a number of cairns, presumably built with stones from the Abbey House that had been demolished in 1879, or even the old abbey itself. The fate of the stones from both undertakings is not recorded but it is known that Cecil Bell, a local solicitor, salvaged similar materials from the abbey at this time and used them as features in the garden of his home at No 46 West Street and it is therefore a reasonable assumption that these were the stones he used. When the house was turned into flats and maisonettes in 1988, the stones were preserved as garden seats at the rear of the property where they can be seen to this day.

During the 20th century, the bells were re-hung in 1927, two having been re-cast, and further work was undertaken to strengthen the south west tower. These repairs started in the autumn of 1934 after the tower had been found to be in serious danger of collapse but the following January, as work was progressing, the full extent of the deterioration became apparent.

The architects, Traylen and Lenton of Stamford, said in their survey report: "The imminence of the danger of collapse was even worse than anticipated." They also discovered that in the west, south and east faces of the tower, were four very wide cracks extending from the base mouldings through all three stages of the tower.

An appeal for £2,000 was launched to pay for the restoration work and the entire tower was encased in scaffolding and immense shores and timbers were built on concrete bases to counteract any possible movement while the repairs were carried out.

They included washing out the disintegrated rubble core, inserting metal rods to bond the inner and outer walls, the injection of a water and cement mixture and the replacement of damaged stonework.

The stone pulpit however (pictured right) is incongruous because it was installed in 1890 to replace its oak Jacobean predecessor that was sold to the parish of Frampton, near Boston, Lincolnshire, for £3. 3s. 0d in the belief that a Norman church should have a Norman pulpit. We now know that this supposition was incorrect and that such churches had no pulpit.

The office of vicar of Bourne was constituted in the early 13th century and the first to be appointed was Geoffrey de Brunne, some time between 1209 and 1228, with a stipend of £4 a year and several other considerations such as food for himself and his servant, fodder for his horse and twenty shillings a year towards his clothing. He was also to have a cottage or house within the abbey near the gate. There have been 49 other vicars since and the present incumbent, the Rev Christopher Atkinson, was appointed in 2003.

The priest eventually lived in a purpose built house or vicarage. The first was Brook Lodge, built in 1776 by the Rev Humphrey Hyde who was the incumbent from 1763 until 1807, and the building still stands at the end of Church Walk with the frontage on a bend in South Road but it no longer serves its original purpose having been used as a doctor's surgery and now converted into flats. 

It was replaced by a new vicarage in 1879 and materials salvaged from the former Abbey House that had been built a century earlier were used in its construction but it was a large and rambling building and by the late 20th century was no longer an acceptable home for today's incumbent, being costly to run and maintain on a modest stipend. Similar parsonages around the country were sold by the Church of England and replaced by modern properties and so it was at Bourne where the new vicarage built in 1986 now occupies a site close to the Abbey Church while the old building, which survives nearby, is still in useful service as The Cedars, a residential care home for the elderly. 

The church hall is also a modern building erected within the abbey precincts in the early 1960's but has little to commend it architecturally although it does provide a useful place for community events. The site was purchased by the parish council from the Church Commissioners by a deed of conveyance dated 31st December 1957. It was built in the modern village hall style in brick and tile and contains a large hall with a stage, lounge, two small meeting or changing rooms, kitchen, toilet facilities and foyer. The rooms are used for various events, specifically by the church youth organisations and church members, but are also extensively hired out for other functions.

REVISED MARCH 2005

See also     Cecil Walker Bell     Henry Bott

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