St Nicholas
Grainsby, Lincolnshire
St Nicholas is built of chalk and ironstone and has some interesting scorch marks on the walls, believed to be the result of the church being ‘fired’ by marauding Danes.
Grade II* listed. Built on the highest point before the marshes, where a 'blue stone' had been placed according to legend by Havelock the Dane.
Its historical features include unusual Tudor benchends with poppyheads featuring initials possibly of churchwardens; diverse stonework from Saxon, Norman, and Elizabethan restorations; a segment of a Saxon burial cover, originally part of a Celtic cross (other fragments of possibly the same cover are reputed to be in Manby and Middle Rasen churches); Norman font; fragments of medieval glass in north wall window; Royal Charter of George I Coat of Arms dated 1722; East window is a memorial to the two World Wars; frontispiece of the children's altar made from silk brocade used in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of Elizabeth II.