Page:Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire.djvu/315

 flowing hair as in that of Lady Willoughby in Tattershall Church, and Sir Robert Dymoke at Scrivelsby. There is here a seaside open-air school for invalid children.

Three miles north is West Theddlethorpe (All Saints), one of the largest and finest of all the Marsh churches. Here, as elsewhere, the green-sand, patched with brick, on which the sea air favours the growth of grey lichen, gives a delightful colour to the tower. The battlemented parapets are of Ancaster stone, and were once surmounted at short intervals by carved pinnacles, and the nave gable, as at Louth, is beautifully pierced and worked, with carved bosses and rosettes set in the lower moulding. There are five two-light clerestory windows on either side, and inside are many good bench ends, both old and new, and a Perpendicular chancel screen with doors, and two chantries, each still keeping its altar slab in position, and having good oak screens ornamented with rich and unusual Renaissance carved open-work panels. In one of these chantries is a shallow recess with a beautiful carved stone canopy which once held a memorial tablet. A list of the vicars from 1241 to 1403 gives first the name of William Le Moyne (the monk), and in 1349 we have Nicholas de Spaigne on the nomination of Edward III. An important little brass of Robert Hayton, 1424, shows, as Mr. Jeans tells us, the latest instance of "Mail Camail." In the churchyard is a most singular tombstone to Rebecca French, 1862, the stump of a willow carved in stone about four feet high with broken branches and—symbol of decay—a large toadstool growing from the trunk.

Three miles further north, and still close by the sea bank, we come to the church of Saltfleetby-All-Saints. A most provoking habit prevails, possibly with reason, but none the less trying to those who come to see the churches, of keeping the keys of the locked-up church at some distance off, even when there is a cottage close at hand. The church is in a sadly ruinous condition, and the picturesque porch literally falling to bits. On it is a shield bearing a crucifixion. The tower, which leans badly to the north-west, has two Early English lancet lights to the west and double two-light windows above. The gargoyles are very fine, and cut, as usual, in Ancaster stone. In the north aisle are two beautiful three-light windows with square heads and embattled transoms. There are some Norman pillars and capitals, also a good rood screen and a handsome