St.Georges Church, Goltho nr Wragby

[Glen TK]

Yesterday I discovered some family lines connected to this church and today via the Wragby Heritage Group on facebook the following sad news;

October 21, 2013
Today we have some very bad news to report about this beautiful medieval church. Sometime during the early morning it was burnt down. Fire crews were unable to prevent the destruction, and it appears that only the outside walls are still standing. I do not know the full extent of the damage as I do not want to disturb the police and fire crews on site. I will publish more when I get to know more.
St. George’s dates from around 1540, and the interior furnishings from the early 18th century. It is now a redundant church. A service is held at the church every St. George’s day. The unique design of the church and it’s location led it to being used in the BBC series ‘Moll Flanders’, where it represented a New England Church.

For some unknown reason the church, which had always been locked, with key available from a nearby farm, had been left open, apparantly after orders from the council. a previous desecration of the cross in the church was not acted upon by either the council or the police.

Fire Investigation Officers believe the cause was a lightning strike. Strike one church off the list of places to visit when next in my home county.