Lincoln's Reformation

At the time of the Reformation Lincoln was suffering from 200 years of neglect; the once third most important city in England had been brought to its knees by the Black Death of the mid-14th century and the loss of the Staple in 1369. In less than a century Lincoln's population had declined from about 4,000 to 2,000. By 1540 many churches had no parishioners and former populated parts of Lincoln were being turned back to agriculture.

​An application was made to Parliament for the purpose of uniting the parishes, and an act was passed by in 1538, "for the union of churches in the City of Lincoln", authorising four people to carry it into effect, they were: John Taylor, the bishop of Lincoln; William Hutchinson, the mayor; George Stamp and John Fowler.

A copy of the deed of union, dated 4th September 1553, states that the parishes in the City, Bail and Close of Lincoln were reduced from fifty two to fifteen. One of the doomed churches was St Andrew's which stood on the junction of the High Street and the street now known as Gaunt Street.




St.Andrew's Church stood behind the wall in the centre of the picture. The graveyard remained there until West (of West's garage) built his house and shops on the site in the late 19th century.

The Sutton family lived in the large house that was known as "John O' Gaunts Palace" and petitioned the City Corporation not to demolish the church. The Sutton's annexed St Andrew's Church as their own private chapel and would have kept it at their own cost. The timber, the lead, the glass, and the stones were too valuable and Lincoln Corporation was set on a course they would not be deterred from taking. The church was pulled down in 1551, some of it was used in the repair of the remaining 15 churches.

Lincoln churches prior to the Reformation

Adjacent to St Andrew's was a small building where Isabella, an anchoress, lived. Anchorites and anchoresses voluntarily cut themselves off from the world, lived in a cell within or next to a church and lived a life of religious devotion. The entrance would be bricked up and they would live there for the rest of their lives. At that time Lincoln has another two anchoresses at St Andrew on the Hill, below the Bishop's Palace walls and Holy Trinity, near the bottom of Greestone Stairs. It is not recorded what became of Isabella or the other anchoresses.

Lincoln's fortunes wouldn't improve for another 300 years with the coming of the industries created by such men as Ruston, Clayton, Shuttleworth, Foster and others.

West's building on St Andrew's Graveyard

1885 map of the area

St Andrew's Church, Calceby.

In my pre-driving days, I used to travel, with my parents at weekends in the summer, from Lincoln to Mablethorpe via Belchford and Alford. On the crest of a hillock at the side of the Bluestone Heath Road are some ruins. Despite asking a local and checking OS maps, we could not find out what it was.

Remains of St Andrew's Church, Calceby

Fast forward more years than I care to remember, I now know the remains of St Andrew's church, Calceby.  

Calceby existed prior to the Norman conquest. It was one of 84 villages in Lincolnshire belonging to Earl Harold who, for a few months in 1066, was King Harold II of England. King William granted the village of Calceby to Earl Hugh of Chester. 'Calceby' is Old Scandinavian: 'Kalfr's village'

At Domesday, Calceby was a thriving village totalling 151 villagers, extensive ploughlands, 1000 acres of meadow and 80 acres of woodland. The village was probably near its peak in the 11th century and suffered a long slow decline. In 1377 60 villagers paid poll tax and 18 families were recorded in 1563. By 1961 the population was just 32.

Aerial Map of Calceby, showing outlines
of various features (Bing)

There are many reasons why a village was abandoned, a plague outbreak is just one. A plague pit was discovered during the widening of Bluestone Heath Road near the village in 1952, possibly dating from the "Great Pestilence" of the 14th century; climate change meant years of poor harvests when many people would leave. But the main reason Calceby and about 100 other villages in the Wolds were destroyed was due to landowners changing from arable to more profitable sheep rearing, therefore fewer people were needed on the land so they moved to the larger centres of population, Alford, Horncastle and Spilsby. A total of 20 farms were abandoned by landowners during the 17th century. The open fields were enclosed by Sir Drayner Massingberd (1615-1689) beginning in November 1672

The last baptism at St Andrew's church was in 1724. The last vicar of St Andrew's, William Pennington, was instituted in 1724. Calceby was united with South Ormsby and Kelsby in 1750. By this time the church was in serious disrepair and in 1756 much of it was demolished and sold to the South Ormsby estate. 

The church of St Leonard, South Ormsby was restored in 1871-2 by James Fowler of Louth. The 12th century round arched doorway in the west wall is said to be from Calceby.

Click link to view side by side image of OS map and LiDAR 

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