The church of St Michael on the Mount has been closed a parish church since the mid 1990s. It briefly served as an art studio for the University of Lincoln but then lay semi serelict for some years before being bought back by the Diocese. After a large scale rennovation project it then provided additional accomodation for the hotel, owned and run by the Diocese at Edward King House. In recent years it has been sold again and is now run as an independent boutique hotel.
This church is very closely associated with my family, who, in the 19th Century lived in the parish and ran a glazier and paper hanging business from Jew's Court. My grandparents were married here in 1927 and three years later my father was baptised here. My grandfather was Churchwarden here for many years until his death in 1980. His funeral was held here, as was my grandmother's. I was proud to be in attendance at the last Sunday service held here in the mid 1990s, with the latest addition to the Tentmantent dynasty in my arms! The two large concrete planters near GZ were given to the church by my family in memory of my grandparents.
My late father wrote his thesis on the Life and Times of John Sommerville Gibney, who in the 1870s, was responsible for the rebuilding of St Michael's Church. Beloved by Bishop Edward King, there are still traces of the rough path which led from the back door of the Old Palace to the church, allowing the Bishop to attend church privately, and often in "civvies", when he didn't want the attention that his attendance at worship in the Cathedral would surely bring!