Bratoft is a small hamlet in the

East Lindsey East Lindsey is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Horncastle and the largest town is Skegness. Other towns include Alford, Lincolnshire, Alford, Burgh le Marsh, Coningsby, L ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is situated approximately east from

Spilsby Spilsby is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16 road (England), A16, east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, north-east of Boston ...

, west from Burgh Le Marsh, and south from the

A158 road The A158 road is a major route that heads from Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln in the west to Skegness on the east coast. The road is located entirely in the county of Lincolnshire and is single carriageway for almost its entirety. The road is a ...

. Bratoft

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

listed

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church is dedicated to

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

and

St Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

. The church was completely restored in 1890. The octagonal

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

dates from the early 15th century, and the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

screen and parclose screens date from about 1460.Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' p. 80; Methuen & Co. Ltd On the north wall of the tower interior hangs a picture of the '' Armada'',"St Peter and St Paul, Bratoft"
Forward in Faith. Retrieved 1 July 2011 signed "Robert Stephenson". Between pictorial elements for England, Scotland, Ireland and France is depicted the Armada as a red dragon. The text beneath states:

Spaine's proud Armado with great strength and power
Great Britain's state came gapeing to devour,
This Dragon's guts, like Pharaos scattered hoast,
Lay splitt and drowned upon the Irish coast.
For of eight score save two ships sent from Spaine
But twenty-five scarce sound return'd again.
Non nobis Domine

In 1747 the preacher and biblical commentator Thomas Scott was born in Bratoft. Near Bratoft is Gunby Hall, a

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

property open to the public, a red-brick house, dating from 1700, with

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

walled garden A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...

s, which

Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's ...

described as a "haunt of ancient peace", It is alleged that Sir William Massingberd's daughter tried to elope with one of his postilion riders but her father shot the man dead. Sir William was sentenced to appear in London annually at which time the family coat of arms was smeared with blood. It proved too much so Sir William demolished the family seat at Bratoft Castle and built Gunby Hall in 1700. It is said the ghosts of his daughter and the man walk on the path near the hall. Also within the village is Whitegates Cottage, a small thatched cottage dating from c.1770. Bratoft Meadow is an area of semi-natural species rich grassland. In 1970 a fertilizer experiment was set up to examine the effect of different forms and rates of fertilizer application on the conservation value of this type of old meadow. The particular species of interest in this study was the Green-winged Orchid ''Orchis morio''.

References

External links

*
St Peter & St Paul's Church, Bratoft

Aerial view of Bratoft
* {{Authority control Hamlets in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District