ST VINCENT, CAYTHORPE
St Vincent, Caythorpe is a Grade I listed building achieving the status on 20 September 1966.
The church is dedicated to St Vincent, who was martyred at Valencia in AD303 under the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian. He is often mistaken for the more famous St Laurence, who had also been martyred by torture on a gridiron over a fire, but in Rome in AD258. This church has the distinction of being one of only four churches in the country to be ascribed to St Vincent as patron. The other churches are Newnham in Hertfordshire, Littlebourne in Kent and Ashington in Somerset. Why a Christian martyr of the 4th Century who lived and worked in the Saragossa district of Spain should be remembered at all in England is not clear, but his cult is ancient, and is widely mentioned in pre-Conquest calendars. The current view is his steadfastness would have gone down well with the Knights Hospitaller who, by a happy coincidence held the patronage when the church was built and that this martyr of 4th Century Spain was thus honoured in Lincolnshire. Caythorpe was on the route between Newark and Temple Bruer where the Order had houses.
There is no trace of the two churches mentioned in the Domesday Book. It seems likely that the building of the present church is owed to Lady Elisabeth de Burgh, a niece of Edward II, who was very wealthy and owned the 'lordship' of Caythorpe and Frieston. Building started early in the 14th Century and was largely completed before the Black Death in 1348. Later additions in the 14th Century were the West Door and North Transept window.
West Front
As you enter the main gate, note the fine decorated West Front built of alternating bands of Ancaster limestone and ironstone, topped by a soaring tower and steeple, which contrasts sharply with the Victorian neo-Gothic Aisle added to the North side in 1860. Walking up the path, you will notice the small West Door, long since closed, there being no indication of its existence on the inside. Above the door, on the ogee arch were four carved heads of which three survive. The left-hand face is grotesque with a tongue protruding from the open mouth. It is probably a "Green Man" carving. The leaf-clad face of the "Green Man" is quite commonly found on churches throughout Western Europe though its origin in pagan times is obscure. Studies of folklore suggest that he represented mythical birth and regeneration. Like so many pagan symbols it was incorporated into Christian worship, in this case indicating the Resurrection. In the spandrels between the arch and the square stone moulding above it is, on the left, a dragon with a snarling mouth and on the right a much weathered shield.
The windows of the west front of the church are in the Decorated style, circa 1290-1350. The middle and right hand windows have three lancets with trefoil tracery each supporting a little rosette. The left-hand window has been transferred from the original north wall when the 19th century North Aisle was constructed. It bears a striking resemblance to those on the south wall with four lancets of which the middle two support a large rosette and the outer ones, smaller rosettes. At the base of the middle pinnacle, beneath a canopy, you can see a relief carving of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Tower and Steeple is massive and is built in the Decorated style, rising to a height of 156 feet. The tower is topped with an open-work parapet (extensively restored in the 1960's), pierced flying buttresses and pinnacles. From this, rises the octagonal crocketted spire with 6 tiers of small quatrefoil lucarnes (openings). The steeple is capped by the weathervane, 'Peter'. Looking at the steeple you will notice that the entasis or incurving becomes more acute towards the top causing a noticeable bulge. In 1859 the steeple was struck by lightning and the top 25 feet were extensively damaged. In rebuilding, the Victorian architect Gilbert Scott shortened the height by about 12 feet. Photographs taken on 2 April 1908 show steeplejacks examining the Spire and presumably the weathercock, "Peter", who was brought down for repair and regilding. In 1937 the Spire was again struck by lightning, and though the weathercock and lightning conductor were badly damaged, the Spire remained intact.
The Clock
Colonel George Hussey-Packe presented the Clock, made c.1841 by E J Dent, Strand, London and mentioned in Whites Directory in 1842. The great wheel rotates once in three hours with a 3:1 pair of bevel wheels behind. It has a pin wheel escapement and compensated one second pendulum. A pair of hammers strike the hours on one bell. It was repaired and painted in 1977 to commemorate the Queen's Silver Jubilee, and restored in August 1989 by Robin Fowler (Period Clocks) of Grimsby.
The South Side
Looking at the south wall of the Nave and South Transept, you will see three windows of great beauty and interest. Pevsner describes these as "a pattern book of late Geometrical Tracery, circa 1290-1350." The window in the South Transept on the right is in Early English style. It has four lancets of equal height supporting three quatrefoil rosettes. The stonework beneath suggests that it may have been longer. The middle window is Perpendicular in style with four lancets, the middle two being longer and all four have vertical mullions above forming a good example of this style. The left-hand is Decorated in style also having four lancet lights supporting three rosettes above. The central larger rosette has trefoil tracery, the smaller rosettes having curvilinear tracery. Jenkins comments on the rarity of this type of tracery adding, "though heavily restored, they show the 13th Century masons enlarging the windows and piercing their heads with a variety of subsidiary carvings." These two windows are separated by a buttress near the top of which, under a canopy, is a bas relief carving of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, a companion to the Coronation carving on the West side. Beneath the middle window are two ancient windows, long since filled in. On the south wall of the Chancel is the Priest's Doorway into the Chancel. This is the only remaining fragment of the original Chancel which was rebuilt in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
The Porch
The porch has an Early English arch supported by octagonal pillars. To the right of the door are the remnants of 3 'Scratch' or 'Mass' Dials. They are sundials used in Mediaeval times (1100-1600 AD) to mark the times of church services. Time was based on hours after sunrise and the priest would insert a peg into the appropriate hole in the outer circle. Their distribution in England varies widely, being found most commonly in Gloucestershire, Kent, Somerset and Lincolnshire. It is an essentially English device with but few examples elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The handsome 17th Century chandelier was found abandoned in the tower some years ago and hung here. Above the door as you enter the Church is a much weathered figure of the Lord.
The church is usually open and I urge you to go inside and have a look.
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THE CACHE
You are looking for two plaques and the dates on these plaques.
The first, ABCD, relates to an oak tree being planted.
The second, EFGH, is the year the flagpole was erected.
The cache can be found (a view giving a striking view of the huge spire) at:
N 53 01.(B-H)DF
W 000 35.(C-E)B(C-(H+A))
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