St Margaret
Somerby, Lincolnshire
The church sits in a hollow amidst the rolling hills of the Wolds situated between Bigby and Grasby.
This Early English church still retains some lovely original features including a piscina in the Decorated style and a 13th century effigy of a knight, recumbent in chain mail which is believed to have come from the nearby Cistercian priory at Greenfield.
But the real story here is how this tiny hamlet played its part in lives of the early settlers in the New World. For it is here that three of the greats of early American history met, wrote, talked and preached in the church. They were Sir Henry Vane, Roger Williams and John Wheelwright.
Just around the corner lived Anne Hutchinson, Wheelwright’s relative by marriage and one of the most controversial figures of the 1630s.
Vane went to New England as a young man in 1635 and was elected governor in 1636. But he became embroiled in controversy with Ann Hutchinson and John Wheelwright, and returned to England, where he married France Wray in 1640, a beautiful 16 year old from Lincolnshire’s leading puritan family. It is likely he bought the estate at Belleau for his bride and it became their favourite home.
Vane was a prominent diplomat but eventually he fell out of favour with King Charles II and he was executed at Tower Hill, London in June 1662. A tablet stone commemorating his life can be found in the church.