Welcome to St James Church in Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir. A single Column towered church, similar to those single column towered churches in neighbouring villages.
St James’s Church is at the heart of the Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir conservation area. It is a Grade II listed building embodying and containing many unique survivals of the history of the village and its relationship to the Belvoir estate.
It is the third church building to serve the community of Woolsthorpe since the medieval period. The current structure was designed by G G Place in the 1840s and finally completed with the construction of the tower in 1893. We are told that the Ecclesiologist journal approved of the design at the time.
Of the history of the place, information which is openly publicized includes: (This next part is non-fiction)
According to A Dictionary of British Place Names, the name Woolsthorpe means "an outlying farmstead or hamlet (Old Scandinavian'thorp') of a man called Wulfstan (Old English person name)".
In the 1086 Domesday account Woolsthorpe is referred to as "Ulestanestorp", in the Kesteven Hundred of Winnibriggs and Threo. It comprised 29 households, 6 villagers, 3 smallholders and 8 freemen, with 4 ploughlands and 3 mills. In 1066 Leofric of Bottesford was Lord of the Manor, this transferred in 1086 to Robert of Tosny, who also became Tenant-in-chief.
A possible deserted medieval village lies at the southern edge of the present village just to the east off Woolsthorpe Lane, on the same site of a previous St James church destroyed in 1643 by Parliamentary forces. Of the destruction Kelly's Directory wrote in 1885: "the original church of St. James, of which some fragments of the tower remain, was burned down by soldiers of the Parliamentary Army who bivouacked there during the siege of Belvoir Castle.
(This next part is fiction)
A recent archaeological dig has brought new details of the violent history, of this otherwise peaceful hamlet, to light. Many previously unanswered questions linking to the outcomes of the attacks and fierce battles have now been answered with an impressive array of evidence and information.
In an archaeological column, in the deciphering history journal, the author wrote about a very important, intriguing and yet incredibly puzzling find. It mentioned the action of troops and neighbouring warring factions through the ages.
From the nearby fort on the hill, now occupied by Belvoir castle, columns of troops would come down to engage in combat with groups of soldiers and men from near and further afield. This was a common occurrence at the time and is highlighted through the various aged weaponry found at the dig site. With the variety of weaponry found the archaeologists were in somewhat of a difficult situation to explain why this area was of such importance.
Until the Fifth day, of the planned dig, there seemed no plausible reason. The region had plentiful supply of resources and there was nothing overly special about this site that was worth fighting for…or so they thought. The fifth day unearthed a strange set of symbols. Like true archaeologists they had no idea as to what they had found and enlisted the help of some of the best puzzle columnists the church had to spare.
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