Main Service

Sunday, 10.30am

 

 

St Peter in Eastgate Church, LINCOLN

St. Peter-in-Eastgate Church is a Grade 2 listed stone building, built in 1869-70 by Sir Arthur W Blomfield, a prominent Victorian architect. The church was built by Messrs. Otter and Binns of Lincoln, with George Fredrick Bodley interior decoration executed in 1884 – the altar Reredos, depicting our Lord’s call to St. Peter, was also erected at this time. By today’s standards, the price of building seems incredibly low. Altogether, the cost was £2,500 and of that, £2,100 was raised by voluntary subscriptions. The church was dedicated on St.Peter’s Day, 29th June 1870 by Bishop Wordsworth.

The current Victorian building is the third building on the site. The first was built in the 11th century, and belonged to the Precentor of the Cathedral, who provided a Chaplain to minister there. During the Civil War, this church was partially dismantled and stripped of its furnishings by the Royalists who held the Castle, to avoid the church being used for cover or storage by the besieging forces. It remained in ruins for over a century. The only evidence of this earlier church is a medieval gravestone located at the east end of the current church. This was the tomb of Peter Efford, Mayor of Lincoln in the years 1520, 1531 and 1540. In an article by Canon Cole, written in late 1913, it is recorded that by some happy chance the tomb survived the ruin of the Church in the Civil War, and was placed under the Altar of the new Church that was built in 1778, but that it “seems to have disappeared in the building of the present Church and the cult of the encaustic tile”. However, during 1913, the Altar, together with the platform on which it had stood for many years, had to be moved and underneath was found the missing monument to Peter Efford. The stone slab, measuring 6ft. 9in. long by 3ft. 9in. wide and about 5 inches thick, bears a Latin inscription which translates as follows:

See! Peter Efford, Public Notary, formerly Registrar for the Archdeacon of Lincoln, Chapter Clerk of Lincoln Cathedral, Born in the Island of Guernsey, and thrice Mayor of Lincoln, lies buried here, who died on January 10th, 1540, on whose soul may God have mercy.

Though dead and food for worms I rot and turn to dust, Yet in my flesh again To see my God I trust. Praise God.

The second church was built in 1781, “in a very unecclesiastical fashion” and the benefice extended to include the defunct church of St. Margaret in the Cathedral Close. One description, written some years after the disappearance of the second church, is both amusing and intriguing – “The fabric was a miserable specimen of church building of the worst period, known as the boiled rabbit.” Enquiries into the reason for this peculiar nickname have so far failed. In the faculty application for the third church, the Petition of 1869 indicated that the church “being too small for the accommodation of the parishioners” should be taken down and replaced with a new church.

A Petition of December 1893 requested approval for further enlargements: for the erection and completion of two new vestries at the north west corner of the church and the introduction of a new organ with machinery and fixings to be located in the old vestries, the building of a new Narthex at the west end together with the formation and construction of a new Western Entrance into the Nave. At the end of the year, Mr Alfred Shuttleworth, who lived at Eastgate Court (now the location of The Lincoln Hotel) and Mr N Cockburn, generously offered to pay for the organ and vestry.

In the Parish Magazine of January 1912, the Vicar expressed a wish to provide “a larger proportion of unappropriated places in the Church”. Furthermore, the Vicar “dreamt of a time when the seats on one side of the Church shall not only be open to all at services, but shall be furnished throughout with comfortable kneeling accommodation for the use of all who will”.

In the Faculty application of January 1913, the architect Temple Moore outlined a proposal for: “the addition of a new South Aisle with Morning Chapel, an associated Arcade between the South Aisle and the Nave, an extension of the Chancel westwards with the choir stalls relocated further to the west, the introduction of a carved oak screen with cross and figures, the insertion of a new window in the south wall of the Chancel, the introduction of a modern low pressure hot water heating apparatus for the purpose of heating the Church, and the introduction of electric lighting in place of the gas service. The pulpit and font were relocated, the paint on the Chancel walls was repaired (with Bodley decorations over-painted) and the Nave walls were colour washed. Three stained glass memorial windows from the previous church were re-installed in the west wall of the south aisle which was especially designed to receive them. During the building work for the south aisle, a coat of paint was removed from the East window, which had been applied as “a rough and ready method of toning down the bright colouring and subduing the glare of light, so that the then new Reredos beneath it might have a better chance of being seen”. The Bodley decoration to the surrounding wall and window frames still remains visible below a thin layer of black paint. Some repair work and cleaning of the Chancel decoration was necessary due to the discoloration caused to the walls and stonework by the gas lighting. Although this cleaning work was incomplete in 1914, “enough had been done in the higher parts to recover the effect of the late Mr Bodley’s scheme”. The current side chapel at the eastern end of the South Aisle bears the name of St. Margaret’s in memory of the Chapel of the first St Peter’s church and the consolidation of the parishes of St.Peter-in-Eastgate and St.Margaret within the close in 1781. The congregation continues to exercise the right of electing four churchwardens, two for St. Margaret’s and two for St. Peter’s. The former pitch pine Altar was donated to Stixwold Church, some pews that were no longer required were donated to St. Nicholas’ Church, Lincoln and the low iron Chancel screen was donated to the Cathedral of Georgetown, Guiana for use as the communion rail. A new oak Altar was introduced in 1914 with a new red Altar frontal and superfrontal chosen by Temple Moore. The Human remains in the graves occurring under the proposed south aisle were to be “carefully and reverently disinterred and reburied in the Churchyard”. Subsequently, the gravestones were laid flat to form a path to the entrances and the graveyard converted to an area of lawn.

On the internal face of the west wall of the new South Aisle is the inscription: TO THE GLORY OF GOD ALFRED SHUTTLEWORTH BUILT THIS AISLE IN THE YEAR OUR LORD, 1914

The Parish Magazine of January 1913 records that Mr Shuttleworth donated an amount of £2,800 towards the total cost of £3,300 for these alterations. In Sep 1920, a Faculty was raised for the insertion of stained glass in the south aisle windows in memory of the parishioners who had lost their lives during the Great War. The south aisle stained glass is of high quality in contrast to the original glass in the east end window.

During 1954, the major operation undertaken was the interior redecoration of the church. Nothing had been done since the South Aisle addition in 1914, and 40 years had left its mark on St Peter’s! It was decided, after much discussion, to retain a certain amount of the 1884 decorative work in the chancel and sanctuary.

In 1960, after a period of time for fund raising, the church organ underwent a major overhaul and repair. Whilst being repaired, the North Aisle was blocked with pipes and other parts of the organ whilst the necessary work was completed. In 1993 the north aisle was partitioned off to form a number of meeting rooms, which were named in memory of Louisa Smith. Toilets and a basic kitchen were also installed at the west end of the church.

The vicar’s vestry was modified in 2006 to double as the parish office. In 2008, as a consequence of the need to repair the deteriorating plasterwork adjacent to the Chancel Arch, it was decided that the Bodley decoration on the Arch should be restored. During the restoration a variety of detailed designs were exposed that had been covered since the decorating activity of 1954. (compiled by Rick Lund - 2009)