Come Ye Blessed...
GRIMSTON
CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST.
Church Post Code LE14 3BZ
Open to visitors
There are four Belvoir Angel gravestones at the church of St John The Baptist, Grimston. All are fairly close together to the south west of the church grounds, but one of them is easy to miss (which I did on a first visit) with the angel and the being on the western face of the stone instead of the east. This particular stone has the details of the deceased on the eastern face and the angel on the western face.
This one reads ‘Here lieth the body of Em wife of Rich’d Burton who departed this life the 25th Decem 1695 aged 47 years.
Interestingly, the capital letter D’s in the words Departed and December are reversed, whereas the small letter d’s are the correct way around. This is a fairly early grave of this type and the depiction of the angel is quite basic; with much less detail on the wings than you would normally see.
Counter this against a grave to Mary wife of John Henson who died in 1735 aged 63 years. The style of this gravestone is so much more advanced than its neighbour. Two beautifully carved angels can be seen at the top of the gravestone; well they would be if the right hand one as we look at it hadn’t been damaged.
Four lines below detailing the details of Mary’s passing are carved in relief. Rather than simply carving out the letters, the background around the letters is carved away leaving the letters themselves standing proud of the grave. What a skill! Here again though we see an error in spacing, with the mason running out of space when trying to fit in the surname of the deceased. The letters suddenly change from capital to lower case and he still does not quite make it!
This stone reads 'Here lyeth the body of Mary ye wife of John Henson who died August 23rd 1735 her age 63 year'
'Pale death will hardly find another so good a wife nor kind a mother In all her actions so discreet as she who here lies at your feet.
I have seen it suggested that Pale death refers to a disease, such as cancer. It is worth proposing though that this could refer to the four horsemen of the apocalypse from Revelation in the New Testament. The fourth horse was pale in colour and signified death!
Again, to reinforce how hard the lives were for people at that time, an inscription at the foot of the grave reads 'John & Mary near this stone do lie who died both in their infancy'
The third stone is badly damaged with the top of it broken off and the angel lost .
This one reads......'body of William Morris who departed this life March ye 28th Ano Dom 1721 in ye 53rd year of his age'.
Below this it reads 'Remmember man as thou pass by as thou are now so once was I'
The stonemasons here was gifted at their craft in many ways but, as we shall see throughout the pages of this site, they struggled with spelling and spacing. Words were regularly spelled wrongly, letters were occasionally missed out and the masons often, as is the case here, ran out of space on the line before the word was completed.
The fourth Belvoir Angel gravestone here, is the mentioned earlier that is double sided. This stone is quite badly damaged at the top as well. The inscription reads ' ... lyeth ye... John Burton and Catharina his wife he dyed in 1668 she dyd in 1701'
The angel on the reverse which sadly is badly damaged reminded me of one that a couple that I saw previously at Hickling, from the same period. Interesting to think that we can still see the hand of the individual stonemason 320 odd years after they were carved.
The reverse side reads 'And here their bodys do remain till Christ doth raise them up again'
SOME NOTES FROM MY VISIT
I made two visits to the church of St John the Baptist at Grimston, Leicestershire. The first was in late June 2020; with the country still very badly affected by Covid 19. We were between lockdowns; churches were allowed to be open for private prayer; but very few were. It was to be another few weeks before they were allowed to open for public worship. A return visit was made in the autumn of 2022; with the church being open to visitors on that occasion.
Grimston is a small village in Leicestershire which recorded a population of 277 at the time of the 2021 census, with these figure including the nearby hamlets of Saxelbye and Shoby. The village can be found across the fields to the west of the A606 which runs from Melton Mowbray out towards Nottingham. Melton itself is six miles or so away to the south east with Loughborough ten miles off to the west.
Grimston was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086 but figures were collated in with several other local villages and there is no specific mention of a church at Grimston at that time. The church that we see today dates back to the 11th century, with additions during the 15th century; being restored in 1866 by RW Johnson, with the church described as being ‘in disrepair’ prior to that. There was more restoration work here in 1898. Built primarily of ironstone it consists of west tower, nave with south transept, south porch and chancel. A quick look shows that at one point there was a north transept here as well which has been bricked in.
The church of St John the Baptist sits on raised ground at the centre of the village, alongside the main road. It was a quiet start to the day on that original June 2020 visit; with two ladies riding their horses past the church being the only people that we saw.
Taking a look at the exterior, the tower is a bit battered, with parts patched up. This two stage tower is buttressed and battlemented with crocketed pinnacles. Very weathered gargoyles look out from the four corners. The visitor enters in through the south porch which dates from the 19th century restoration.
A medieval mass/scratch dial on the south wall is a reminder of days long gone when these were used as a type of sundial to establish the time of the next Mass. There are some lovely square headed windows to the south with cartoonlike heads to be seen at the label stops.
Moving around to the north, the church is not a thing of great beauty to be fair, but it is a thing of architectural interest. As mentioned previously there was a north transept; of which the outline can still be seen today. There is a small clerestory of three two light windows; with the space below looking as if it could and should have had a north aisle below. There is much patching up around the area of the bricked up transept. The north transept collapsed during the mid 18th century with part of the north wall of the chancel being pulled down during the collapse.
The chancel has a three light east window and again is patched up at the top and the church is buttressed throughout.
When Thomas North saw his study of the church bells in Leicestershire published in 1876 he noted three bells in the ring here, and that is still the case today. North noted that the first of the ring was cast by Thomas II Hedderly in 1780; with inscription reading ‘This bell was recast to sing by friends of country and King. Glover and Thomas Austin Church Wardens. Thomas Heddely founder Nottingham 1780’.
The second was cast in 1826 by Thomas II Mears, who worked out of Whitechapel in London; with this inscribed with the church warden of the day Anthony Helmsley. The third was cast in 1749 by Thomas I Hedderly and has the Latin inscription ‘HIC CAMPANA SANCTA FIAT TRINITATE BEATA’ which translates as Here is the bell made holy by the blessed Trinity’.
Occasionally when doing the research for these pages I come across pieces of history that are of great interest. On Grimston’s excellent website; where you can print out an image of the east window to colour in or print out a 3D model of the church clock; there is a newspaper report from 1885. There was evidently a dispute regrading fees over sadly the burial of a child. This turned in to a church versus dissenter argument and feelings were high against the vicar of the day. He found himself locked out of his church and had tins thrown at him when he arrived back with a locksmith! Later that day an effigy of the vicar was burned on the village green!
Moving inside, the fixtures and fittings appear to date from the periods of Victorian restorations. The outline of the north transept, with window alongside, can easily be made out. Looking to the west, the tower arch is slim and elegant.
The east window is of three lights and has stained glass; modern glass made by Rosemary Rutherford. Central is John the Baptist, after who the church is dedicated, who is depicted holding the Agnes Dei, the Lamb of God. This is flanked by St Columba who founded the monastery on the island of Iona and St Margaret, Queen of the Scots, who was the niece of Edward the Confessor.
The chancel itself has been restored on several occasions with some of the history being lost; with nothing remaining of sedilia, piscina or aumbry. There is though a double piscina in the south transept which indicates that the Mass was given from a side altar in pre reformation days.
There is one other stained glass window here which dates from 1916 and was made by Baguley of Newcastle Upon Tyne. This has depictions of Mary the Mother of Jesus, dressed in her traditional blue and holding lilies; an often used symbol of purity. Alongside is Jesus with hand raised in blessing. The font has a plain bowl which is thought to be Norman or even late Saxon.
The church grounds are of interest, with some interesting gravestones. My main reason for being there was the Belvoir Angel stones already noted; but there are other things to mention. As is typical for the area, most the gravestones are of slate and have weathered well over the centuries. As normal anyone taking a careful look around church grounds will see a warning to the onlooker along with some fairly detailed Biblical scripture.
The warning is to live a decent Christian life, trust in God and do not be caught short when your own time comes. In days of low life expectancy it could be later than you think. A beautifully carved image of a woman reclining against a pile of books, holding an open book, has the inscription ‘Watch and pray for ye know not the hour of your masters coming’.
The fragility of life and the inevitability of death is also summed up on a stone to William Morris, who died in 1721 aged 53 years ‘Remember Man as you pass by as thou are now so once was I’.
A tippled stone features several symbols of the mortality of Man along with religious symbols. We see a carving of a human skull and an hourglass, as the masons used on the Belvoir Angel stones, but we also see a scythe; another symbol of mortality. On the other side, the inevitability of death is balanced by Christian symbolism. A cross and anchor sit atop a Bible, with what appears to be a basket on the top. This latter caused a little discussion on my Facebook page; having rarely seen a basket used on a gravestone. According to a reliable source ‘ChatGPT); a basket was used as a symbol of God’s abundance, provision and protection.
A slate stone to Alice Houlton who died in 1763 aged 73 years; which was a good age for the day, has a fascinating epitaph, reading ‘Beneath this stone conceal’d from human eyes/The mould’ring relics of her body lies/From cares releas’d with troubles unopprest/In her cold urn her peaceful ashes rest/In peace she rests till that tremendous day/When stars shall fade and the earth dissolve away’.
Immediately to the south of the south of the church is the base of a medieval churchyard cross, which has its own Grade II Listing.
I enjoyed my visits here very much; this is a beautiful historic church with a great deal of history. It is a small parish church, with no bells and whistles. It is a bit battered in places; which absolutely doesn’t matter. It is also a beautiful structure. Open and welcoming on my return visit and worth taking a look at if you are in the area.