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The SALTFLEETBY VILLAGE HISTORY Website

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The preparations all started a long while ago, but this is how it started in earnest.

With a leaflet from Our Rector  Rev. Bridget Hill saying: -

One hundred and twenty five years ago, the congregation of St Peter’s Church, Saltfleetby were facing a dilemma. The church building was in a very sad state, and they did not have enough money to build a new church. Added to that was the fact that the church was a long way away from the village. It would have been easy to give up.

But the people of the Marsh like a challenge, and it was decided to move the church, stone by stone to a new site. Some glebe land was exchanged more land was given. Fund raising began, helped by a photograph, and a letter of support from the Archdeacon.

And so, on the second Sunday after Easter, in 1876 the last service was held in the old church. Just three weeks later the Bishop of Lincoln came to lay the foundation stone of the new building. Louth architect James Fowler was employed, and the original plan had been to move the church and rebuild it to exactly the same plan. 

The same ground plan was used, but the clerestory could not be rebuilt because too many of the timbers had rotted, and the tower was left behind to become the cemetery chapel. When the building work was finished, the account sheet was audited, and the total cost of moving the church, and of building the bridge was £1780. 

The rector, the Revd. Watson, invited the Bishop of Lincoln back to consecrate the new building, and to celebrate the first service of Holy Communion in the new church. For the last one hundred and twenty five years the congregation of St Peters have worshipped regularly in their building, which is a mixture of the old and the new.

It seems right that we should celebrate the achievements of those who have gone before us. Many things have changed - there have been more alterations to the building, and now the church is a Local Ecumenical partnership, the Anglicans and the Methodists sharing the building, the worship and the hard work of maintenance. We want to celebrate our journey ‘From the Old to the New’ and we would like as many people as possible to join with us.