Church
The history of the church is relatively well documented. The links below lead to various bits of information and pictures but here's a picture of what the current church looked like soon after it was built, before William Maurice Wright got his hands on it from the end of the 19th century and turned it into a shrine to ritualism ...
... and here's one showing the church in the heyday of its anglo-catholic finery.
To find out about services visit the A Church Near You website linked here.
Transcripts of Charters relating to Gilbertine Houses
Rotuli Roberti Grosseteste Episcopi Lincolniensis 1235-1253
The Rolls and Register of Bishop Oliver Sutton 1280-1299
Robert Page's book, A History of the County of Lincoln vol 2, contains details of the village's connection to Louth Abbey in 1303.
The Register of Bishop Repingdon 1405-19
Dugdale - Records of the Priory of Alvingham
The State of the Church in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I
A snap shot of the state of the church at the turn of the 18th century in Wold Newton and throughout the diocese of Lincoln is given by the Speculum Dioeceseos Lincolniensis, Bishop Wake of Lincoln's visitation, which was a series of three surveys of the parishes within the diocese carried out between 1705 and 1723. A copy of the record of the returns made by the incumbents of Wold Newton is here, Speculum Dioeceseos Lincolniensis sub episcopis GUL: WAKE ET EDM: GIBSON
Part I AD 1705-1723 and a transcription of that record together with some comparative information from neighbouring parishes can be found be clicking here.
Lincolnshire Returns of the Census of Religious Worship 1851
The consecration of the new church on All Saints' Day 1862 by the Archbishop of Canterbury - reported in John Bull, 8th November 1862.
Statues of Saints
In keeping with its Anglo-Catholic aspirations, the church has statues of nine of the Saints standing on brackets made from stone pilfered by WM Wright from various local ecclesiastical sites . The favoured Saints are
Thomas a Beckett The archbishop martyr, venerated as a saint by both Anglicans and Roman Catholics.
Gilbert of Sempringham A Lincolnshire man (from Sempringham near Bourne) and founder of the Gilbertine order. Imprisoned on suspicion of aiding Thomas a Beckett in one of his fallings-out with Henry II but acquitted and lived to the age of 106.
Francis of Assisi Founder of the Franciscan order (obviously) and the patron saint of animals.
Christopher Patron Saint of travellers.
Paulinus The first bishop of York, sent in 601 by Pope Gregory I as part of a mission to convert the Anglo Saxons to Christianity.
Gregory The Pope who sent St Augustin and others, including Paulinus, to convert the Anglo Saxons.
George Patron Saint of England (and of many other countries).
Mary Mother of Jesus.
Hubert Patron saint of hunting - of course! It could be argued though that, in sparing the stag in whose antlers the vision of the crucifix appeared, he was actually anti-hunting.
Pictures associated with the church, mostly from the Wright archives