The unbuttressed tower - of ironstone, like the remainder of the church - has later bell openings and pinnacles of an unusual turret shape with projecting crenellations.

July 2013

All Saints' is a large ironstone church dating largely from the 13th and 14th centuries.

The tall clerestoried interior has an Early English south arcade, and there is Norman arcade built into the north wall.

July 2013

The clerestory windows on the south side of the nave are flanked by a frieze of shields said to have come from a tomb-chest.

July 2013

West Rasen is now the smallest of the Rasens but must once have been of some significance.

Even without its lost north aisle (the Norman arcade is still visible), All Saints church is a spacious building.

The surviving south arcade is Early English.

Usually open and worth a visit though parking is tricky.

Mark Acton, 2014

The churchyard cross, with medieval base, is to the south of the church.

July 2013

This building has an unusual history. It was built as a school in 1872 and was closed in 1908.

It then served as a chapel of the Roman Catholic Church with the name Our Lady of the Rosary.

Early in the present century it was refurbished as the village hall and heritage centre.

August 2018

Marked as "R.C. Chapel & School" on the OS 25 inch map published 1906.

Now a registered charity for "Maintaining the village hall and organising community events. Involvement in the Heritage Day" - Charity number: 522007.

https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/522007/charity-overview 

DB 14 November 2023

Viewed from public footpath to the south.

Kelly's Directory 1885 has " Public Elementary (Catholic) School, built in 1872, for 50 children; average attendance, 35; to the school is attached a small chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, & occasionally used for catholic services"

DB 14 November 2023

"THIS CROSS WAS TAKEN DOWN AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE OF FEB 27TH 2008"

"On 27 February 2008 at 00:56:47.8s GMT an earthquake occurred at Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. According to the British Geological Survey the earthquake registered a reading of 5.2 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Market Rasen and 15 miles (24 km) south-west of Grimsby"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Market_Rasen_earthquake#:~:text=On%2027%20February%202008%20at,)%20south%2Dwest%20of%20Grimsby. 

DB 14 November 2023

A mid-eighteenth-century farmhouse which was standing derelict in 2011.

Pearl Wheatley, 2011

This packhorse bridge is about 20 metres long and crosses the River Rase in West Rasen, about 3 miles west of Market Rasen (TF 063893).

It is said to have been built in the early 1300s by the then Bishop of Lincoln, who also built a bridge over the Ancholme, two miles away at the place now known as Bishopbridge.

Pevsner, however, dates the bridge to the 15th century.

F Robinson, 2010

"Packhorse bridge; C15, with C20 alterations. Coursed Ironstone rubble, cobbles; a narrow bridge with three elliptical double chamfered ribbed arches. The two stone piers have faceted bases which sit on C20 large bases and have small cutwaters upstream. The parapet, has a deep half saddleback coping. The bridge is humped to the centre and has a cobbled surface"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063403?section=official-list-entry 

DB 14 November 2023

Council signage which reads in part :- 

"Packhorses were the main mode of transport for carrying goods overland throughout the Middle Ages. Packhorse trade routes developed between market towns and also to coastal ports such as Boston. Return journeys from the coast carried salt inland. Wheeled carts were so rare that rural bridges were not constructed wide enough to carry them. Few packhorse bridges remain today, and the West Rasen bridge is one of the finest.

The West Rasen Packhorse Bridge over the River Rase, is thought to have been built in 1310 by Bishop John Dalderby (Bishop of Lincoln 1300 to 1320), and is sometimes known as Bishops Bridge.

The early 1300s witnessed the height of the wool trade in this region. Wool production was the main source of income for the religious establishments of Lincolnshire, and this may be one reason why Bishop Dalderby sponsored the building of the bridge, particularly as he held lands at Bishop Norton, to the north of West Rasen.

Bishop Dalderby also constructed another Bridge over the River Rase, near to the outfall into the River Ancholme, two miles northwest of the Packhorse Bridge, and although that bridge was long ago replaced by a wider structure, the site is still known as Bishops Bridge. The Bishop recognised the strategic importance of well built bridges and he is known to have sponsored their construction as far way as Biggleswade in Bedfordshire (1302).

A watermill is recorded near the bridge site in 1275, which suggests that an earlier bridge existed on the site, this was probably a timber construction. There are also records of tolls from a bridge in West Rasen from 1262, and a record of-the recovery of the frozen body of one Ivo le Gaunter (the Glover) from beneath a bridge in 1280.

The adjacent road bridge is constructed on the site of a brick arched bridge which was built in 1856. Prior to that time, the Market Rasen to Gainsborough road forded the river to the east side of the Packhorse Bridge. In times of flood heavier carts had to wait for days for the water to subside, but the daily mail coaches were pulled across using ropes while their horses crossed over the Packhorse Bridge. Lighter two wheeled traps are said to have removed one wheel so that they could be manhandled over the Packhorse Bridge"

DB 14 November 2023

Cobbled surface leading over the bridge.

Kelly's Directory 1930 comments "The ancient 14th century horse-bridge of three arches here, crossing the river Rase, is almost unique, there being but few of a similar character now remaining in this country"

DB 14 November 2023