Essendine

The village church at Essendine, eight miles south west of Bourne, is tucked away off the A6121 and is easily missed for it is accessible only by a track. It is a tiny building dedicated to St Mary Magdalene and dates back to Norman times when it may have been the chapel of a castle that once stood nearby because traces of the moat and earthen fortifications survive. 

The door is Early English and the carvings above it are likely to have come from the castle itself and as the church has no tower or timber turret, two bells are hung in an open bell-cote at the west end of the building.

Severe flooding in this part of the country damaged the church during the spring of 1998 and floodwater seeped into the building to a depth of thirty inches, destroying hymn and prayer books and lifting the wooden block floor. Restoration work was carried out and a new tile floor laid and the church was reopened for services in November 2001.

The village is on the extreme western edge of our boundary and more within the Stamford district than that of Bourne, but is included here because of its past associations with the town. It is best known for its railway connections because this was the stopping place for trains on the main east coast line where passengers alighted and goods were transferred on their way to Bourne and the east. The remains of the railway station and associated workings survive.

The story of Essendine and its connections with Bourne during the railway era
can be found on the CD-ROM A Portrait of Bourne

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