Thurlby – St Germain’s Church

St Germain’s Church in Thurlby is Grade II* listed, with its origins from the eleventh century. The north aisle was reconstructed in 1820, using the same foundations as the 1300 construction. In 1843, the chancel was restored by Sir Edward Ffrench Bromhead, although it’s not clear to me whether the chancel and nave have always had a shared roof. He was from the local Bromhead family who occupied Thurlby Hall, perhaps most notable for Gonville Bromhead who fought in the defence of Rorke’s Drift, with Michael Caine playing Bromhead. The porch is also of interest, built with rubble there’s the old Norman stone doorway within which dates to before 1200.

The Thurlby bit is a little confusing as there are a couple of other places in Lincolnshire with the same name, with villagers in June 1968 seeking formal permission from the Royal Mail to change their name to Thurlby St Germain’s after the church. The Royal Mail weren’t having any of it though, saying that “it would cause us a lot of trouble and work”, with the village name remaining unchanged to this day.

It has one of the more attractive churchyards, with the medieval standing stone cross still in situ which was restored in 1842.

There are 30 war graves from the Second World War in the churchyard, all from airmen who died during the conflict. There are another 26 post-war service graves, again all airmen.

The church was closed when we visited, but the listed building record notes that it has a fifteenth century octagonal font, a nineteenth century rood screen and a nineteenth century pulpit and pews.