Gedney Church.
GEDNEY
Within is a ‘low-side’ window at the south-west end of the chancel which is sometimes called an ‘Ichnoscope,’ and in the vestry is a ‘squint.’ A thirteenth-century cross-legged knight, the fine brass of a lady (1390), recently discovered, and the richly coloured alabaster monument of Adlard and Cassandra Welby (1590) are all worthy of notice; while the abbots’ inscription over the door, “Pax Xti sit huic domui et omnibus habitantibus in ea, hic requies nostra,” is to be contrasted with the worldly-wise motto of John Petty on the old bell-metal door lock, “Be Ware before, avyseth Johannes Pette.” Let into the door is a very remarkable crucifixion in ivory.
THE MUSTARD FIELDS
As we left Gedney and looked back over the fields the tall and Italian-looking campanile, whose bells, however, cannot vie with the eight bells of Holbeach, made a unique and memorable picture. I doubt if there is anything quite like it in England. We passed on eastwards another three miles by Gedney Marsh, with its “Cock and Magpie” inn, while the strong summer scent of the brilliant mustard fields recalled the apt description of our great Lincolnshire poet:
“All the land in flowery squares,
Beneath a broad and equal-blowing wind,
Smelt of the coming Summer.”
As with Shakespeare, once let anything be described by Tennyson, and no other form of words can ever again seem so fit and inevitable. How often does one notice this!
GROUPS OF FINE CHURCHES