St Peter's Church, Barton-upon-Humber

St Peter’s Church stands on a low rise east of the old town of Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire. It is a former parish church built on the edge of a large circular enclosure once defended by a ditch and timber palisade. Archaeologists have dated an early pagan Saxon cemetery south of the church to the seventh century. The first Christian burials on the site began in the ninth century, and the church itself contains parts from the ninth and tenth centuries. The tower and baptistery survive from this period, linked by a narrow doorway. The church is important because it helped Thomas Rickman recognise Anglo-Saxon architecture in the early 19th century. Major excavations between 1977 and 1985 uncovered thousands of skeletons and wooden coffins, some made from old boats. The dig also revealed the building’s changing phases, from its first Christian use to later Norman and medieval additions. A tall cross in the churchyard and fragments of medieval stained glass remain from later centuries. The church now houses an exhibition about its long history. Visitors enter through the tower, which once served as the nave. The walls show typical Saxon features like pilaster strips cut from Roman stone and small round or triangular windows. The baptistery has a buried font base, and the chancel beyond contains a fourteenth-century rood group. Three skeletons and grave goods are displayed inside, while the rest lie in an on-site ossuary. Outside, the churchyard wall and the Grade II-listed cross add to the site’s quiet interest.