Page:A History of Horncastle from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.djvu/204

Rh Of the church, All Saints, we can only say that it stands in a good position, on high ground; that its walls are substantial, but that its style is of the meanest; it having been rebuilt in the early part of the 19th century (1813); and beyond a piscina, now in the north wall, it has no features of interest; having wooden-framed windows, square painted pews, walls whitewashed within and without, and a flat ceiling. It greatly needs renovation, being now almost a solitary representative, in the neighbourhood, of that very worst period of architectural decadence. With fairly good sandstone in the present walls, and probably more in the foundations of an earlier church, to be exhumed, and an abundance in situ not far away, restoration, or even re-erection, might be effected, at a moderate outlay.

The one bell hangs in a shabby bell turret. While repairs were being carried out in 1813 two nobles of Edward IV., two angels of Henry VII., and several silver coins of different reigns, contained in a leathern purse, were found concealed in the wall.

Low Toynton lies about a mile from Horncastle to the north-east. It is approached through rich meadows, watered by the river Waring. The Rector is the Rev. J. W. Bayldon, M.A., of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Overseers, G. E. Read and W. Scholey. Letters via Horncastle arrive at 8.30.

The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a small structure with no pretention to architectural beauty, and almost entirely covered with ivy. It was rebuilt in 1811, a period when architectural taste was at its lowest ebb, and barbarisms in stone, brick, and mortar were very generally perpetrated. It was reseated in 1863, during the incumbency of the Rev. E. M. Chapman. It consists of chancel, nave, vestry, and open belfry containing one bell. The chancel arch is the only remnant of a former Norman structure. The font is apparently a 14th century one, almost a replica of that in Huttoft Church, which is engraved in ''Lincs. Notes & Queries'', vol. iii, p. 225. The bowl is octagonal, its faces filled with figures representing the Holy Trinity, the virgin and child, and the 12 apostles. The bowl is joined to the shaft by angelic figures round the lower part of it. The octagonal shaft has figures of St. Paul, Mary Magdalen, a bishop with chalice, another with scourge, and other subjects much mutilated, at the base are the winged lion, ox, man, and eagle, emblematical of the evangelists. The walls of the church are relieved by some coloured designs, and borders of ecclesiastical patterns, running round the windows, &c., origanlly executed by that genuine artist the late Rev. C. P. Terrot, Vicar of Wispington. These decorations have been recently (1898) renewed by Mr. C. Hensman, of Horncastle, when the church was thoroughly repaired, both inside and out; new panelling placed in the nave, and a new window in the vestry; and in the following year (1899) a new harmonium was purchased from Messrs. Chappell and Co., London.

The east window is filled with modern coloured glass, the subjects being the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, and the Ascension. On the sill of the east window are placed, over the communion table, two handsomely carved