Flooding at the Abbey Church

The Abbey Church was closed to the public for several days in the late autumn of 2016 after flood water seeped into the building.

The flooding came during a period of prolonged rain when the Bourne Eau which runs nearby in Church Walk overflowed its banks on the afternoon of Sunday 20th November and water started flowing into the building soon after 1 pm.

Firemen were called out to help pump out the building assisted by volunteers armed with mops. The Rev Christopher Atkinson, who has been Vicar of Bourne for the past sixteen years, was at home in the vicarage when a neighbour knocked on his door at 1.20 pm and alerted him to the situation.

"The river backed up after a drain had blocked and the water came over the road and into the church", he said. "Sadly, being so close to the river, it is one of those things likely to happen. We have had minor flooding before but this is the worst I have seen in my time here."

Water entered the church through the north side of the building and was soon up to three inches deep in some places. Once mopping up was completed, the heating system was turned on full around the clock to speed up drying out.

On the Sunday morning before the flooding had occurred, the church had been crowded for a confirmation service and the last of the congregation had not long left before water started flowing in. “We were fortunate that it did not happen earlier”, said the vicar.

The church was re-opened for business as usual on the following Wednesday morning. An investigation later revealed that the flooding had occurred when water levels along the Bourne Eau rose suddenly because the underground culvert below Church Walk had become blocked by an estate agent's For Sale sign which had presumably been thrown in by vandals.

NOTE: Photograph by reader Charlie Preen courtesy of The Local newspaper.