The Consecration of the New Church

The current church was consecrated on All Saints' Day 1862 by the Archbishop of Canterbury.  The ceremony was attended by 52 members of the clergy and seems to have gone on for most of the day, a distressing thought.  The collection amounted to £70, significantly more in cash terms, never mind real value, than the average contributions received nowadays at a Sunday morning service. Reports from John Bull, 8th November 1862 and The Standard 17th July 1862 are attached.

The Archbishop appears to have visited again a year later!  This too was reported in John Bull, on 7th November 1863 and is attached.

The devotion of the Archbishop to so remote an outpost is explained by the fact that he was the father-in-law of the Rector, George Wingfield Bourke, who was married to his daughter, Mary Henrietta.  Mary Henrietta Bourke painted the picture of the 4th church which you can find on the page 'A Short History'.  The Honourable Reverend George Wingfield Bourke was himself one of the sons of the 5th Earl of Mayo and his son, Walter Longley Bourke, who was born in the year that his father came to Wold Newton, became the 8th Earl of Mayo.  Quite how an archbishop's son-in-law and son of an earl found himself in Wold Newton is unknown.