KIRKSTEAD CHAPEL
Kirkstead is three miles further south, and here is one of the
most beautiful little thirteenth-century buildings in the county.
It is near the ruin of the abbey, of which only a gaunt fragment
remains. This chapel of St. Leonard is a real gem of Early
English architecture. It is an oblong chamber with vaulted
roof adorned with tooth and nail-head ornament, springing
from bosses low down in the wall. The wall is arcaded all round,
and the capitals exquisitely carved. Bishop Trollope speaks
of the western door as "one of the most lovely doorways imaginable,
its jambs being first enriched by an inner pair of pillars
having caps from which spring vigorously and yet most delicately
carved foliage, and then, after a little interval, two more pairs
of similar pillars carrying a beautifully moulded arch, one
member of which is worked with the tooth moulding. Above
this lovely doorway, in which still hangs the coeval delicately
ironed oak door, is an arcade of similar work, in the centre
of which is a pointed oval window of beautiful design. The
inside is still more beautiful than without."
Inside, part of a rood screen with lancet arcading is earlier than anything of the kind in England, except the plain Norman screen in the room above the altar in Compton Church, Surrey. A mutilated effigy of a knight with a cylindrical saucepan-*shaped helmet and a hauberk of banded mail, shows a rare instance of thirteenth-century armour. It is thought to be Robert, second Lord of Tattershall, who died about 1212.
The ruinous state of this lovely little building, which was used for public worship until Bishop Wordsworth prohibited it, as the building was unsafe, has long been a crying scandal; the owner always refusing to allow it to be made safe by others, and doing nothing to prevent its imminent downfall himself. The present Act of 1913 has, it is devoutly hoped, come in time to enable proper and prompt measures to be taken to put it into a sound condition.[1]
Quite near to Kirkstead is the newest Lincolnshire watering-*place—Woodhall Spa.
A deep boring for coal in 1811 found no coal but struck a spring or flow of water, which is more highly charged with iodine and bromine than any known spa. This has been utilised, and a fine range of baths, on the principle of those at Bath, has been set up, though the water, unlike that at Bath,
- ↑ This is now being done.
