Bus Trip A Great Success

FOCH's second History Bus hit the roads of Lincolnshire on Saturday 16th August. First stop was St Lawrence Church in Snarford, where we were treated to an excellent talk by local historian Jean Howard and viewed the fantastic 16th century memorials to the St Paul family.

Next up was an unscheduled stop at St Michael Church in Buslingthorpe, where Dave from the Churches Conservation Trust gave us the history behind the remarkable 14th century monuments in the church.

Despite hitting a traffic jam on the way into Horncastle, we stayed on schedule and enjoyed a great meal at the Admiral Rodney before heading to Tattershall. Those who were feeling energetic climbed the 149 steps to the top of the castle to take in the magnificent view, then to close out the trip the group enjoyed a talk by Dave Mullenger at the Holy Trinity Church.

Before leaving the castle, Chris Latham from the National Trust gave us an insight into the reality behind the Tom Thumb legend and inspired us to go looking for the tiny Tom Thumb houses that are features of properties in both Tattershall and Horncastle. These were added to houses in superstitious times when it was believed that if lightning struck your house, you were damned. The small houses acted like lightning rods, so that it would be Tom Thumb rather than the house's inhabitants who was condemned to eternal damnation.

This trip, and its predecessor last year, was funded by an Awards for All grant. Whilst we are planning to run more trips in 2015, whether we are able to subsidise them to the same degree will depend on whether we are successful in applying for future grant funding.

Pictures from our trip:

Snarford Church         Buslingthorpe Church          Tattershall Castle         Holy Trinity Church, Tattershall