Laughton Methodist Church

 Laughton Methodist Church (Image via Google Street View)

Dating from 1826, the chapel was used as Sunday School until 1969. The second chapel adjacent to the first dates from 1927. A new Sunday School was added in 1975. The Primitive Methodist magazine of 1859 records an account by A Worsnop of the re-opening of the chapel after enlargement. This was necessary because of a revival in the winter of 1857-8 and consent was obtained from WM Ingram Esq. On the north wall inside Laughton Methodist church is a white stone tablet with incised gold lettering commemorating a single World War 2 casualty.

Postcode: DN21 3PT, click here to find on Google Maps

Open 13-14th May   Saturday 10.30am - 4pm • Sunday 10.30am - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Keelby - St Bartholomew

Keelby - St Bartholomew

Keelby St Bartholomew by David Wright*

Our Grade I listed, 12th century church will be open and decorated. A selection of archive records will be on display with photographs. The hand written roll of honour was of interest to many in the past festivals. There is a memorial to Pte Arthur Jackson who was killed in France in 1917. The churchyard holds Commonwealth War Graves. Refreshments will be served. An opportunity to chime the 3 bells.

Postcode: DN41 8EB click here to find on Google Maps

Visit this church's page on ExploreChurches here:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-bartholomew-keelby

Open: 20-21st May - Saturday 10am-4pm • Sunday 12noon-4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

*David Wright [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Willingham by Stow - St Helen

Willingham by Stow, St Helen (by Richard Croft, source)

There will be displays in church, our theme is ‘Music’, displays and information on local musicians. Saturday afternoon there will be a musical workshop, free and open to all ages. Saturday evening a musical concert and Sunday afternoon a service with music/sounds that mean something to local people to close the weekend. Bacon/sausage baps served in the morning, tea, coffee and cake served all day.

 Postcode: DN21 5JY, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 10am - 4pm

Visit our page on ExploreChurches.org here:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-helen-willingham-stow



Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Scotter - St Peter

Scotter - St Peter (by Jonathan Billinger source)

Our beautiful church has parts dating back to the 11th century, and unique 17th century ‘Ringers Rhymes’. Bell ringers will be in the church on both days, giving short demonstration sessions with a chance to try your hand at bell ringing (suitable 10yrs upwards). For a small fee, the able bodied can climb the tower to view the bells and our 1848 James Harrison clock in its original case, complete with interesting notation and graffiti. Plant sale Saturday. 

Postcode: DN21 3RZ click here to find on Google Maps

Visit our page on ExploreChurches.org here
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-peter-scotter


Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 12noon - 4pm.

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Messingham - Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity - Messingham by Richard Croft (source)

A Grade II* listed church, greatly restored in the early 19th century, including the installation of an extensive collection of medieval stained glass by Revd. H.V. Bayley working in collaboration with architect Edward Willson. Be a church explorer and enjoy our family and heritage trails and related activities. Please see our website for further details.
www.holytrinitymessingham.co.uk

Postcode: DN17 3SF, click here to find on Google Maps

Visit our church on ExploreChurches here:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/holy-trinity-messingham


Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 12noon - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Wragby - Methodist

Wragby Methodist Church - Photo Richard Croft (Creative Commons License)

The present building was built in 1874. The organ was dedicated as the village’s war memorial in 1921 in memory of those who died in WWI and names of those who died in WWII were added. There will be scarecrows around the village and within the church.

 
Postcode: LN8 5RA, click here to find on Google Maps

Visit our chapel on ExploreChurches here:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/wragby-methodist-church-wragby

Open: 20-21st May, Saturday 10.am - 4.30pm • Sunday 12noon - 4.30pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Gainsborough United Reformed Church

Gainsborough United Reformed Church - Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

The church was built in 1897 as a memorial to John Robinson, pastor of the Mayflower Pilgrims. We hold a permanent Pilgrim exhibition in our Mayflower Room. The two manual pipe organ built in 1903 by Forster and Andrews is listed by the British Institute of Organ Studies as an instrument of national heritage importance.

The Mayflower Room - Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

The two manual pipe organ built in 1903 by Forster and Andrews -

 Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

The church has its own website which can be visited here: Gainsborough United Reformed Church.

Postcode: DN21 2JR, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 14-15th May, Saturday 10am - 3pm • Sunday 1pm - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on exploreChurches:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/gainsborough-urc-gainsborough

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

*Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity

Tealby • All Saints

Tealby All Saints, photo by Gary Brothwell, source

Have a go at ringing our church bells. Our theme is ‘The Bells’. Explore our floral arrangements and everything on display. Explore how we have grown to rely on bells and their everyday uses in our lives. Enjoy a fresh homemade lunch in this Grade I listed building, surrounded by an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Postcode: LN8 3XW, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 20-21st May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 12noon - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/all-saints-tealby

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Get the latest news about the festival on email - subscribe to our newsletter - it's free and easy to do, and easy to cancel if you change your mind. Click here to Subscribe to The Churches Festival Blog by Email.

Nettleham • All Saints

Nettleham All Saints - Copyright Churches Festival - Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Dating from Saxon times we have many beautiful stained glass windows, including the Hayward East Window. Wall paintings and Bodley and Garner ceilings can be seen. Beside the beck, we are a living, thriving church with many and varied activities, central to village life and a place for quiet contemplation and prayer. Heritage and school input. Informal Concert 11am 13th May by Lincolnshire Branch of the Society of Recorder Players’.

Nettleham All Saints Interior - Copyright Churches Festival - Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Resurrected Christ among fields and burning stubble, by John Hayward, 1971. -

There's more information available at http://www.nettleham-all-saints.org.uk/

Postcode: LN2 2PD, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 12noon - 4pm.

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/all-saints-nettleham

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

*Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity

Gainsborough - St Thomas of Canterbury

St Thomas of Canterbury (church's own image)

Hidden gem of church on Cross Street built in 1866. Church is decorated in Pugin style. Parking at nearby Marshall’s Yard and North Street Car Park. Information about a forgotten school, war memorial display, costume display and information about a pioneering scientist know as the ‘Mother of Freshwater Ecology’. Refreshments include tea, coffee and cake.

Parking in nearby Marshall’s Yard Retail Park.

Visit the church's own website here: St Thomas Gainsborough

Postcode: DN21 2AX, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 9am - 5pm • Sunday 9am - 5pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-thomas-canterbury-gainsborough

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Welton • St Mary

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Lovely church with fine features including: Christ Hospital Window, Memorial Window (planes of WWI and submarines), two standards from Old Scampton RAF camp, stencilling on ceiling above chancel, (Orford monument), and alleged gravestone of Lincolnshire poacher in the churchyard.

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Postcode: LN2 3HZ, click here to find on Google Maps.

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 11am - 4pm • Sunday 12.30pm - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-mary-welton

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

*Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity

Upton cum Kexby • All Saints

A jigsaw church of many periods from Anglo-Saxon to Victorian. There will be a display of kneelers. Please note car parking will not be available in the Rose and Crown car park but available in cemetery car park in Church Road.

Postcode: DN21 5NQ, click here to find on Google Maps 

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10.30am - 4pm • Sunday 11am - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/all-saints-upton-kexby

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Stow • St Mary

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

The internationally renowned cruciform Anglo-Saxon minster church of St Mary dates to 975AD with a Norman chancel completed around 1150AD. The Victorian restoration was sensitive to the original construction. Important features include Viking graffiti from 10th-11th century, a 12th century wall painting depicting the life and death in 1170AD of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and a font from 1300AD. Enjoy the peace and quiet, reflect on the skills of our forebears. 

 

Visit www.stowminster.co.uk for more details.

Postcode: LN1 2DE, click here to find on Google Maps 

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 8.30am - 6pm • Sunday 9am - 6pm

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

A 13th century font with no overtly Christian symbols (our Pagan mystery). Many 15th century pews with Victorian copies.

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-mary-stow

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
*Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity

Scampton • St John the Baptist

Scampton - Copyright Churches Festival - Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

‘As national winners of the “Open for Visitors Award 2022”, we are proud to be able to offer: 107 military and war graves and the history behind some of the personnel, two new stained glass windows dedicated to all who served at RAF Scampton and 617 Squadron, a photographic exhibition “The History of RAF Scampton 1916-2023”. Saturday morning, the church will be used as a stopover on the ‘Dambuster Cycle Ride’. 2.30pm - informal concert by the Lincolnshire branch of the Society of Recorder Players.

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

We have an RAF Chapel containing Squadron Shields and Honours Board. Outside there are war graves, both allied and German and a rose-bed dedicated to John Hannah VC. 

Scampton - Copyright Churches Festival - Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Postcode: LN1 2SE, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 11am - 4pm.

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-john-baptist-scampton

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

*Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity

Reepham • St Peter & St Pauls

Reepham • St Peter & St Pauls
(photo Richard Croft, Creative Commons Link)

An exhibition of local crafts and hobbies will be held plus the opportunity to make a clay figure. A sale of vegetables and flowering plants including tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and bedding plants. Tour of the graveyards

Website link: www.ReephamHeritage.org.

Facebook Group: The Reepham I Remember

Postcode: LN3 4DQ, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 10am - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:
https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-peter-st-paul-reepham

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Newton on Trent • St Peter

Newton on Trent • St Peter
(photo by Richard Croft, Creative Commons Link)

With Saxon origins, the church was rebuilt as a traditional Norman church with a narrow nave and chancel with west tower. A north aisle was added during the Early English period when the Bishop of Lincoln gave it to the Gilbertine Priory of St Katherine without Lincoln. The influence of this connection can be seen in the quality of the aisle arcade capitals, two of which can be matched to a mason working on Lincoln Cathedral.

Postcode: LN1 2JS, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 14-15th May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 10am - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click here to LIKE us on Facebook or click here to FOLLOW us on Twitter and help spread the word about the festival.

Morton • St Paul

Morton St Paul and its labyrinth

St Paul’s welcomes visitors to view its fine collection of ten windows designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones who worked on them with William Morris, which is our privilege to share with you. Also a font of Frosterley marble surmounted by a fine carved canopy and an Augustus Gern organ built in 1891. The organ case is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship. Follow in the footsteps of St Paul, walk the labyrinth and enjoy tea, coffee and homemade cakes.

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity*

Morton • St Paul
(photo Richard Croft, Creative Commons Link)

Postcode: DN21 3AD

Open: 13-14th May,  Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 10am - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word! 

Visit us on ExploreChurches:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-paul-morton

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

*Photo: Ashley Taylor, Push Creativity

Kirton in Lindsey • St Andrew

Kirton in Lindsey • St Andrew
(photo Richard Croft, Creative Commons Link)

The church is Norman/Early English and Grade I listed. The stone font, stained glass windows, bell ringing chamber and restored chancel are of particular interest. Local history display.

Postcode: DN21 4PJ, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-14th May, Saturday 10am - 4.30pm • Sunday 12.30pm - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/st-andrew-kirton-lindsey

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Kettlethorpe • St Peter & St Paul

Kettlethorpe • St Peter & St Paul
(Photo Richard Croft, Creative Commons Link)

On this site Katherine Swynford, mistress of John of Gaunt lived and worshipped here. Come and find out about their famous love affair and court scandal at the Katherine exhibition. Also an extensive display of artistic hand crafted kneelers and the famous restored French pulpit. St Peter & St Paul’s church holds a service most Sundays, always using The Book of Common Prayer. 
 
Postcode: LN1 2GZ, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13-154h May, Saturday 10am - 4pm • Sunday 10am - 4pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Click these links to find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Heapham • All Saints

Heapham • All Saints
(Photo Richard Croft, Creative Commons Link)

On entry to the church path, very visible on the original tower is a keyhole window. Set in a picturesque setting, this delightful church has the remains of a Saxon cross very close to the south facing door as well as having features of Norman arches. Another very interesting feature are the two upside faces carved out on one of the pillars. There is graffiti dating between 11th and 13th century as well as other interesting features.

Postcode: DN21 5PT, click here to find on Google Maps

Open: 13th-14th May, Saturday 11am - 3pm • Sunday 11am - 3pm

Get Involved and Spread the Word!

Visit us on ExploreChurches:

https://www.explorechurches.org/church/all-saints-heapham

Click here to LIKE us on Facebook or click here to FOLLOW us on Twitter and help spread the word about the festival.