More information : TF 03833780 St Lucia's Church (NR) (Site of) (NAT) (1)
The small church of St Lucia, Dembleby, was chiefly Early
English, with some Norman features. It was taken down in 1867,
and rebuilt elsewhere.
Air photographs show traces of possible desertion at TF 038378.
Dembleby (variously Denbelbi, Delbebi and Dembelbi) appears
several times in the Domesday Survey. (2-6)
The site of the church is marked by a small disturbed area in
the old churchyard. Mr P Tointon, the farmer was told by a man
who saw the church moved, of old houses alongside the then road
to Grantham, now Green Lane, and in the adjacent fields (area
TF 034379).
One field known as Town End (TF 032378) has ploughed out foundations. However, all that is now evident is an area of disturbed ground in the field to the south east of the farm, which is the result of quarrying. The area to the north of the stream has been ploughed and no trace of earthworks remain. (7)
No change since 17 5 65. (8)
The Medieval settlement remains around the modern village of
Dembleby referred to by the previous authorities have been mapped
from good quality air photographs. The remains of tofts and crofts
were visible as ditch defined rectilinear enclosures ranged along
the north side of Green Lane centred at TF 0413 3774 and
TF 0394 3789. They were visible as indistinct earthworks on early
air photographs but showed well as cropmarks on later photography.
The photography was not good enough to show if there were remains of
houses in the tofts. The very fragmentary remains of a possible toft
were visible at the west end of the village, south of Green Lane
centred at TF 0377 3786. The fragmentary remains of possible
Medieval or post-Medieval buildings were visible centred at
TF 0420 3754 adjacent to Holme House on the south road out of
Dembleby. The only surviving block of ridge and furrow out of the
field system that once surrounded the Medieval settlement remains is
centred at TF 0396 3769.
The photography was not good enough to discern any coherent remains
in the vicinity of the Old Churchyard (this is more accurately
located at TF 038 378, and not at TF 034 379 as cited by the
previous authority). The grid reference given by the previous
authority for Town End Field is incorrect.
(Morph No. LI.841.7.1-5)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database.
(9)
TF 03823780. The buried remains of the medieval church of St Lucia and its associated churchyard, lying approximately 400 metres north west of the present church, which replaced it in 1867. The date of origin of the medieval church is not known. The earliest identified architectural features are Norman in date, but part of the fabric and foundations may be earlier. The churchyard lies west of the farmyard at Dembleby House Farm. It now measures up to 50 metres by 32 metres and stands between 1 and 2 metres above the present level of the farmyard. In the northern section of the churchyard is a low, earth-covered mound which represents the buried remains of the medieval church. A 19th century source describes it as 5.4 metres wide and 13.6 metres long. 19th century illustrations depict a combination of medieval and post medieval features, including a medieval south doorway and a post medieval wooden bellcote. The church fell into disuse in the 1860s and was reported as being in bad repair by 1867. Burials continued in the churchyatd until the 1880s. Scheduled. (10) |