Church Walk

Church Walk

The Bourne Eau in Church Walk

A charming and pleasant pedestrian way known as Church Walk can be found between Abbey Road and South Street, running past the Abbey Church and the back of Bourne Eau House. This short thoroughfare is full of charming features from the town's historic past and it is such a secluded place that it is difficult to imagine that it was once the original Lincoln to London highway.

The Bourne Eau runs alongside, after crossing South Street under the road, and this quiet stretch of the waterway has become home to a pair of swans that regularly raise cygnets on their nest against the brick wall of an old grain warehouse while passers-by regularly feed them with bread and other tasty morsels.

There have been many changes here in past years, notably the disappearance of the commercial buildings, a pea factory and corn warehouse, but there is still great visual interest. Along Church Walk you will also find the vicarage, built in 1986, the church hall dating from the early 1960s and of course, the Abbey Church dominating the view as it has done for the past thousand years, a monument to the faith of this town in grey mellowed stone that looks its best in the late afternoon sunlight of a hot summer's day.

At the far end, there is also a path that leads past the churchyard to South Street itself, once lined with attractive iron railings that were cut down for the manufacture of munitions during the Second World War of 1939-45 and never replaced.

There is also an ancient stone wall at the Abbey Road end, built and repaired over the centuries and therefore containing stones from many periods, often salvaged from old buildings elsewhere in the town, that can be distinctly seen by anyone with an eye for the unusual.

The west front from Church Walk

Church Walk pathway to South Street

An interesting stone wall can be found at the Abbey Road end of Church Walk which has been here for centuries although the end section was demolished in 1999 and restored the following year. This wall was accidentally demolished during the summer of 1999 when it was hit by a tipper truck working on an extension to the Cedars retirement home nearby. Contractors accepted responsibility and the wall was rebuilt to its original condition by the following year.

The wall on the other side of Church Walk has less character but is equally interesting, having been maintained and repaired over the years with materials from many other quarters. One block of well-cut stone is dated 1770 in the distinctive script of the 18th century and most probably came from the old Abbey House nearby when it was demolished in 1879 to make way for the vicarage, now the Cedars rest and retirement home, and was used to repair the wall. It is now begun to erode and unless repairs are carried out soon, the inscription will disappear.

New flats from 1990

The block of flats in Church Walk stand on the site of a former pea factory, last owned by Wherry & Sons Ltd, an old established Bourne firm that has been specialising in peas since the 19th century. The factory was built here in 1902 but closed in 1967 and the building was used for a time as training workshops for young people but the scheme closed down and it was eventually demolished to make way for the new flats in 1990.

OOTPATH CLEAN UP

The footpath between Church Walk and South Road has been neglected in recent years but in the summer of 2011, volunteers were recruited by the church to remove the weeds and accumulated rubbish and give it a general tidy up in readiness for the judges of the East Midlands in Bloom competition whose annual visit was imminent.

Photographed in June 2011

CHURCH WALK IN PAST TIMES

Photographed in 1893

A view of Church Walk taken by William Redshaw in 1893.

Church Walk circa 1920

These pictures were taken looking north towards the Abbey Church circa 1900 and show the neat and tidy state of this attractive lane in Edwardian times, then as now, a popular walk for townspeople between the busy shopping centre and South Street, passing the west front and the churchyard.

Church Walk in 1914

A picture postcard of Church Walk in 1914.

The iron railings on both sides of the lane were then intact but those on the west side have now disappeared, leaving unsightly metal stumps protruding from the concrete bases, a reminder that they were cut down and taken away during the Second World War as scrap metal for recycling by the munitions industry although much of that collected was never used and was left to rust and deteriorate in scrapyards around the country.

Postcard view from 1930

Postcard view from 1939

Church Walk in 1962

THE RIVER at this point has always been a hazard for the unwary because there is no protecting rail and at least one motor car in recent years has nose-dived into the water while the driver was trying to park although the lady on that occasion escaped unhurt. In July 1890, the choir of Lincoln Cathedral stopped here for a break while journeying for an engagement at Grimsthorpe Castle and they were accompanied by the cathedral precentor who was passing on some of his knowledge to the boys about the history of the west front and the tower but his lecture came to an abrupt halt when, overcome by his enthusiasm for the subject, he stepped backwards to secure a better view and fell into the river. Happily the water was shallow and he got out easily but the boys unanimously decided that it was by far the best part of their outing. The photograph on the left dates from 1920 and that on the right was taken circa 1950 before the existing reinforcements and low wall were built as a protection. The picture below was taken on Sunday 2nd September 2007 when parishioners arrived for morning service to find this car in an alarming predicament. It was owned by a young man living in the nearby flats who had left it parked overnight but vandals on their way home from the pub forced the door, released the handbrake and pushed it backwards towards the river. The police later retrieved the car from this perilous position and took it away for their experts to examine for finger prints.

Photo courtesy Jim Jones

FENCING OFF THE BOURNE EAU

Photographed in March 2010

The problem was finally solved in March 2010 when South Kesteven District Council fenced off the river with iron railings finished in gold and black trim to match the street furniture elsewhere around the town and also giving an elegant appearance to Church Walk.

Photographed in March 2010

PHOTO ALBUM

The imposing property on the west bank of the Bourne Eau was once known as The Cedars and now Bourne Eau House. It is probably the most photographed in the town. The view of the rear from Church Walk attracts many people with cameras and the cast iron bridge over the Bourne Eau gives the view added charm. The bridge was built by the Mawby family when they were in residence in the early 19th century and a small white plaque contains the initial M and gives the date of construction as 1832.

REVISED AUGUST 2016