CARLBY CHURCH IN DANGER OF BECOMING A RUIN

Held up by scaffolding for twenty years

£1,000 NEEDED FOR IMMEDIATE REPAIRS

The parish church of Carlby, dedicated to St Stephen, which is situated just off the Bourne-Stamford road, is in need of £1,000 for repairs which should be carried out immediately. The amount required for complete restoration has been estimated at £2,000.
The beautiful little church is of Early English architecture, most of it dating from the 13th century. The upper potion is of 15th century work, completed with a graceful tower and spire at the west end. It is prettily situated just off the road, amid a number of elm trees.
Unfortunately, the fabric has fallen into very

serious disrepair and has to be supported by scaffolding. The arches on the northern side of the nave have had to be held up, and in many places the roof is in such a bad state through the leads slipping off that the rain is admitted. The scaffolding has been in position no less than 20 years and the parishioners are very anxious that this should be removed so that the church may be restored to its former beauty and rendered fit for worship.
The village is a very small one, comprising a little over 100 inhabitants, and at a parish meeting held recently, it was decided to make an appeal for the necessary money. It was stated that £1,000 must be found immediately for the most urgent repairs to prevent the church becoming a total ruin.
The Rev H P Talbot, Rector of Braceborough, was recently inducted to the living at Carlby, to be held in plurality, and he is doing all he can to bring the church back to its former beauty. He is hoping, with the parishioners, that a generous response will result when the appeal is issued.
- news report from the Stamford Mercury, Friday 21st October 1932

OVER £1,000 RAISED FOR CARLBY CHURCH RESTORATION

Saturday's annual effort

The residents of the pretty little village of Carlby have one interest in common - the care of the beautiful church of St Stephen, probably the finest piece of 13th century architecture in the district.
Up to last year or so, this edifice was in imminent danger of collapse and had it not been for the promptitude of the people of Carlby and the surrounding villages in answering the appeal of the Rev H P Talbot (Rector of Carlby and Braceborough) for funds, there is little doubt  that the church would now have been but a tumbledown relic. By means of various efforts, about £1,000 has been collected to repair, at any rate the most dilapidated parts of the structure.
To swell the fund, the annual fete was held on Saturday in a field kindly lent by Mr Percy Tetley. The effort reflected much credit upon the hard-working Parochial Church Council. Those who assisted the Rector and Mrs Talbot in the organisation included Messrs D Broome, H P Fitzgerald, W Bagley, W Templeman and A G Wakefield, Mesdames E L Wakefield, A E Fitzgerald, E M Levesley and P Tetley, and Miss Stooke (who acted as secretary).
The Rector, in an explanatory statement prior to the opening ceremony, remarked that although various repairs had been carried out, the interior of the church was in a very bad state. Already they had raised no less than £1,000 (applause) and he thought that another £800 would meet their needs.
- news report from the Stamford Mercury, summer 1933.

The churchyard is well kept with a variety of interesting tombstones including one finely carved and enriched with a cross and a memorial tablet that reminds us of the feeble grasp we all have on life because it announces that Oliver Smith "died suddenly in his chair" on May 21, 1872, aged 54 years: 
"In the midst of life we are in death."

A new village sign was erected on the village green in 2001 at a cost of £3,200 to mark the millennium. It was worked in oak by the Northamptonshire woodcarver Norrie Dinning and depicts familiar local features including the church, horses and a plough and the famous Mallard locomotive that set a world steam record on the nearby main east coast railway line in the summer of 1938. A brass plate on the supporting post is inscribed: "Presented to the village by Carlby Parish Council to commemorate the millennium September 14, 2001." 

The village no longer has a public house since the Plough Inn was shut in 1970 when Watneys, the brewery which owned it then, decided that it was no longer viable to keep it open, especially as they faced massive costs to upgrade the facilities, notably the outside lavatories. It is now a private home although the sign post remains, without a sign, and there is a plough in the front garden to remind passers-by of its past existence. In addition, residents hold a pub night in the village hall every two or three months with drinks and the usual bar games such as darts, dominoes, quizzes, draughts and karaoke, as a reminder of the way things were. The public house, which dated back to 1775, is pictured above in 1950 when it was owned by the Northampton Brewery Company Limited, with mine host Bill Simons and his wife Alice at the front wall. He was the last publican before the hostelry closed.

Two photographs from recent years showing (left) the Bagley sisters outside the village grocery shop in the 1930s and (right) local villagers outside the Old School House, Mrs Wakefield, Mrs Templeman and Mr and Mrs Jameson.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

On Thursday se'nnight [week] was married at Carlby, near Bourne, Mr James Glenn, farmer, to Mrs Hodgkin, a most disconsolate widow for 20 days. - news report from the Lincolnshire, Rutland & Stamford Mercury, 28th September 1792.

CARLBY IN PAST TIMES

Reproduced from History, Gazetteer & Directory of Lincolnshire 1842 by William White

Reproduced from Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire for 1876

Reproduced from Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire for 1900

Reproduced from Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire for 1933