A plaque marking the birthplace in Sibsey of Arthur Lucan (1885-1954), born Arthur Towle, star of stage, screen & radio.

Mark Acton, 2017

The birthplace of Arthur Lucan, born Arthur Towle, famous for his role as Old Mother Riley on stage, screen and radio.

Born the son of a groom on 16 September 1885. Married his co-star Kitty McShane in 1913.

He died at the Tivoli Theatre, Hull on 17 May 1954 and is buried in the Eastern Cemetery, Hull.

Mark Acton, 2017

Sibsey, a village with a population of some 2000,  lies 4 miles north of Boston. It is noted for the Trader windmill & its Grade 1 listed church.

Undated postcard 

Sibsey's railway station opened on 2 October 1848. It closed to passengers on 11 September 1961 and to goods traffic on 15 June 1964. It saw heavy traffic in potatoes and sugar beet in the interwar years.
The line through the station remains open as part of the Poacher Line between Boston and Skegness.

Undated postcard
 

The first service here was held in May 1837 and it closed as a place of worship in 2006.

It was on sale with planning permission for conversion into a house in 2013.

It is located at NGR TF 347534

Barry Barton, 1977

Post Office shown here OS 25 inch map published 1888.

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"Post, M. 0. & T. Office. J. N. W. Seaman, sub-postmaster. Letters through Boston"

DB 3 August 2019

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"Free, rebuilt in 1869, & endowed with 48a. 16r. of land, inclosed from the waste, & now let for £110 a year; the school is managed by trustees, representatives of the County Council & Parish Council; Richard J. Slater, correspondent; it will hold about 200 children; John Forshaw, master"

Now Sibsey Free Primary School. 

DB 3 August 2019

This early nineteenth-century mill stands in the north end of the village close to the A16.

As with many other mills, the tower was heightened later in the century, in the instance by one storey.

Jon Sass Collection, photograph by Rex Wailes c.1928

Sails and fan were removed from the Rhoades' Mill in 1924 and it ceased to work thereafter.

Peter Kirk Collection, 1999

A typically fine Marsh church. The tower is Early English with a Perpendicular battlemented top. The Norman nave arcades were elongated when the clerestory was added.

Charles Kirk rebuilt the chancel in Early English style in 1855.

Mark Acton, 2017

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states :-

"The church of St. Margaret is a spacious edifice of stone of the Norman, Early English and later periods, and is reputed to have been originally built A.D. 1087:

it consists of chancel, clerestoried nave of five bays, aisles, south porch, vestry and a lofty embattled western tower containing a clock, presented in 1815 by a parishioner named "Physic," and a very fine peal of 8 bells:

the nave, including its arcades, is Norman, and the north aisle has a doorway of this period :

the chancel retains piscina and sedilia, and there are other piscinas in the chapels of the north and south aisles:

the clerestory, lighted by five windows on either side, as well as a bell-cot on the eastern gable, is Perpendicular:

the tower is of four stages, the lowermost being Early English and the upper a debased addition :

the font, consisting of an octagonal basin on a clustered stem, is also Early English:

the church was completely restored in 1854-5-6, under the direction of Mr. Charles Kirk, architect, of Sleaford, when the roofs, floor, seats and pulpit were renewed and some portion of the side walls rebuilt:

there are five stained windows in the chancel and one in the tower ; the stained east window is a memorial to Thomas Gape esq. the lay impropriator, who rebuilt the chancel in 1855 :

a new organ was also provided:

there are 500 sittings, all being free"

DB 3 August 2019

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 states :-

" The Church (St. Margaret) is a spacious structure, and has a tower and eight bells.

It was completely restored in 1855-6, by subscription.

The roof, floor, seats, pulpit, &c., are new, and three fine stained glass windows have been inserted.

The walls have been thoroughly cleaned and repaired, and display a mixture of Norman and early English architecture.

In the chancel are three handsome stone stalls and a piscina.

The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in K.B. at £11. 11s. 2d., and now at £315.

The Lord Chancellor is patron, and the Rev. Charles Gape, M.A., of Hendon, Middlesex, is the incumbent.

The Rev. T. L. Edwards, M.A., is the curate, and resides at the Vicarage House.

The vicar has about 160 acres in lieu of tithes, and J.F.Gape,Esq.,is impropriator of the rectory"

DB 3 August 2019

Looking across the sanctuary towards the sedilia.

The Church History 6th Edition 2016 states :-

"During the rebuilding in 1855 a sedilia and piscina in the south wall of the chancel were discovered.

Carefully restored, they are in very good condition and, whilst in the Early English style, may not owe their origin to quite such an early date.

Also discovered at this time was an aumbrey, or cupboard, in the east wall of the chancel, restored and retained in the present wall, it was incorporated within the oak panelling which, together with the present altar, was given in 1930 in memory of John Thomas Nixon and his family"

DB 3 August 2019

East window depicting Bible stories.

The Church History 6th Edition 2016 states :-

"A plate below the window states that it was erected to the memory of Thomas Foreman Gape, of St. Albans, Hertfordshire. who died on 29th September 1858, and that it was presented by his friends and the tenants of his lands in Sibsey.

The Gape family, were for several generations, large landowners and impropriators of the rectory, or lay rectors.

Thomas Gape as the lay rector, was responsible for the rebuilding of the chancel in 1855/6.

This window was reglazed in its original design in 2001"

DB 3 August 2019

Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919 states that a new organ was provided when the chancel was rebuilt 1855.

A brass plaque states that it was subsequently enlarged in memory of Rev. Frank Besant M.A. Vicar 1871 - 1917.

DB 3 August 2019

"Remains of village cross. C15"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063534 

DB 3 August 2019

The nave north arcade with the pillars elongated when the clerestory was added.

Mark Acton, 2017

Looking east towards the chancel.

"5 bay nave arcades with single step arches.

C12 circular piers and responds, heightened from 7 ft. in 1840, with square abaci and scalloped capitals"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063533 

DB 3 August 2019

Looking west towards the font and tower arch.

"Early C14 tower arch with 2 sunk wave mouldings supported on triple shafts with fillet"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063533 

Evidence of former roof line above. 

DB 3 August 2019

"Double chamfered chancel arch, the inner order supported on circular responds.

To the south, in the nave, is a doorway formerly to rood loft"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063533 

DB 3 August 2019

"Probably C16 octagonal ashlar font.

The base, decorated with stylised fleuron, is surmounted by 8 small piers which support the bowl decorated with intersecting tracery and stylised fleuron"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063533 

New font cover dedicated in 2008. 

DB 3 August 2019

Plaque at the west end of Sibsey, Saint Margaret's Church.

"Frank Bramley RA (6 May 1857 - 9 August 1915) was an English post-impressionist genre painter of the Newlyn School"

"Bramley was born in Sibsey ... From 1873 to 1878 Bramley studied at the Lincoln School of Art.

He then studied from 1879 to 1882 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where Charles Verlat was his instructor.

He lived in Venice from 1882 to 1884 and then moved to Newlyn, Cornwall"

"Along with Walter Langley and Stanhope Forbes, he was considered to be one of the "leading figures" of the Newlyn School"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Bramley 

DB 3 August 2019 

Probably dates from 1855/6  when the existing pews were installed and the church refurbished.

DB 3 August 2019

Looking east.

DB 3 August 2019

Looking west.

DB 3 August 2019

Fine Norman doorway.

"C12 round arched doorway with crenellated moulding to the arch and single pair of colonnetes with worn scalloped capitals supporting roll moulding.

Hood mould and worn dragon head label stops"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063533 

DB 3 August 2019

Looking east towards the Lady Chapel.

DB 3 August 2019

Looking west towards the entrance.

DB 3 August 2019

View from the south aisle, across the nave, and into the north aisle.

DB 3 August 2019

The Church History 6th Edition 2016 states :-

"The central panel of the east window in this chapel was replaced in 2010 with a very attractive stained glass window portraying 'Christ the Healer' by Marilyn Taffinder in memory of her husband Dr. Lawrence Taffinder" 

DB 3 August 2019

First and Second World War memorials.

DB 3 August 2019

Window west side of tower. 

"Each side of the third stage has a single large C13 round arched 2 light window with colonnettes with shaft rings and moulded capitals alternating with heavy nail head moulding to jambs and arches, plate tracery with single quatrefoil.

Billet hood mould"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063533 

DB 3 August 2019

This mill, in the care of English Heritage, was one of the last mills to be built in the county (1877, by Saunderson of Louth).

Jon Sass Collection, photograph by D W Muggeridge, 1935

Sails from the Trader Mill at a time of repair by English Heritage.

Peter Kirk Collection, 1999 

The mill was effectively abandoned in the 1950s and was restored by Thompsons of Alford in 1981.

Location of mill: TF 345 510

Peter Kirk Collection, 2001

Familiar view of Trader Mill form the west with the associated miller's house and outbuildings.

Rod Callow, 2007

Sibsey Trader Windmill was built in 1877 by Saundersons of Louth and stands 74' 3" from base to the top of the cap. It is one of the few 6 sail mills left in England.

It was earmarked by the Ministry of Works in the 1960s as one of 12 windmills of national importance and was renovated in the 1970s.

It is open to visitors at weekends throughout the year and on Tuesdays from May to September.

Mark Acton, 2017

Local English Heritage signage states :-

"Sibsey Trader Windmill is a significant and rare example of a six sail-windmill.

It was constructed by local millwrights Saundersons in 1877, and today it's an attractive local landmark. 

But storms in January 2018 caused significant damage, and we took the decision to remove the sails and fantail for conservation.

We will reinstall them as part of a project to restore the windmill"

DB 3 August 2019

View from the Dust Floor up into the Cap.

DB 3 August 2019

DB 3 August 2019

The sack hoist is a continuous chain to which sacks of grain etc can be attached.

It goes up through the mill to the top, passes over a drive wheel, and then comes all the way down again.

Each floor has a pair of trap doors through which it passes. 

DB 3 August 2019

View of the Stone Floor which contains the grinding equipment.

Above the Base & Meal Floors and below the Bin & Cap Floors.

DB 3 August 2019

Undated postcard.

White's Directory of Lincolnshire states "The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in K.B. at £11. 11s. 2d., and now at £315, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and incumbency of the Rev. Frank Besant, M.A., who has about 160 acres of land, in lieu of tithes, and a good residence. George Gape, Esq., is impropriator of the rectory"

"Sibsey War Memorial was unveiled at 11.00am on 11 November 1921 by Private Arthur Covill, a regular soldier with the 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment.

The memorial was built by local monumental masons, Messrs Thomas Kent of Boston.

The ceremony was led by the Reverend Cyril Vincent Camplin Gogan CF, and the Last Post was played by Sergeant Lamming of Spilsby"

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1433508 

DB 3 August 2019

This chapel situated on the corner of Chapel lane and Frithville Road opened in 1821.

It was retained as a Sunday School and then sold in 1967.

The building has been demolished and replaced by a row of terraced cottages named "Wesley Terrace".

It is located at NGR TF 352509.

Headstone is now all that remains of the old Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.

"WESLEYAN METHODIST CHAPEL 1821 - 1874" 

Placed at the end of Wesley Terrace in a brick frame.

DB 3 August 2019

The second Wesleyan Methodist chapel opened on Main Road in June 1875.

The last service was held here in 1994 and the building was demolished two years later leaving an empty site.

It is located at NGR TF 352 510

Barry Barton, 1978

Kelly's  Directory of Lincolnshire 1937 lists the White Hart but not listed in the 1919 Directory.

White's Directory of Lincolnshire 1856 list four inns and taverns in Sibsey :-

Peacock Inn, Thomas Harrison

Pied Bull, John Cook

Ship, John Clarke

Star, Richard Carey 

DB 3 August 2019