This Information Panel will be installed outside the gates of St. Luke’s Hickling in the summer of 2025.
We are very grateful to the Revd. Paul Massey and the Hickling Parochial Church Council for all their help and support and also to everyone who has helped us with donations, including our County Councillor, John Cottee, and our Borough Councillor, Tina Combellack.
We are also very grateful to Photocast who created the zinc-etched panel and to local craftsman, Jak Cotterill who designed, made and fitted the lectern stand.
The text featuring on the Churchyard panel:
(please follow the links at the top of the page to explore the separate sections in more detail).
St. Luke’s Parish Church, Hickling – Come in and explore. Please get in touch if you would like to know more.
‘God’s Acre’.
The peace and quiet of ‘God’s Acre’ offers a valuable wildlife and wildflower habitat. The abundance of primroses and snowdrops can partly be attributed to the Victorians when mothers grieving for their deceased infants planted them in their memory.
Of interest is the old Black Poplar at the bottom of the churchyard beyond the site of what is believed to be a burial pit. Also, the yew trees familiar to churchyards. The mature cherry tree south of the porch was planted in 1985 to commemorate the life of Fred Maltby Warner who was born in Hickling in 1865 and who, following his family’s emigration to America when he was an infant, grew up to become the first foreign born Governor of Michigan.
‘There But Not There’
In 2018, a ‘There But Not There’ life sized ‘Tommy’ silhouette was installed in the churchyard. He was funded by subscription from the community alongside eleven head and shoulder silhouettes which are placed on the pews in Church to represent each of those men from Hickling who were killed during WWI and WWII. ‘Tommy’ stands with bayonet fixed (the position taken by a soldier when commemorating the fallen) and his head is bowed in remembrance. These figures remind us that humanity struggles to live in peace and it reminds us of the terrible cost when we fail to find that peace.
The Weather Vane
The word ‘vane’ derives from the Old English ‘fana’, meaning ‘flag’. Cockerels are common after Pope Nicholas (858-867) decreed their use as a reminder of Peter’s denial of Jesus. The age of the Hickling weather vane isn’t known but it is thought to be several hundred years old; it was repaired and cleaned in 2003 and placed off centre to prevent damage to the lead of the Church Tower. The Cockerel itself is made from copper and, when it was fully restored in 2018, 17 shot marks were identified – it appears to have been used for target practice at some time in the past.
Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life sculpture is a medieval cross slab, probably dating from the late C13th or early C14th. It is made of sandstone and has been set into the external west wall of the south aisle.
Belvoir Angel Headstones.
The oldest surviving headstones date from the 1700s, including a significant number of the locally distinctive Belvoir Angel headstones. Carved in Swithland slate they are a beautiful example of folk art and they can be found across the Vale of Belvoir and its surrounds, dating from 1680 to 1760.
The Church Clock
The church clock was installed in 1885 and it was paid for by local farmers so that farmworkers knew when to start and finish work. This mechanical clock had to be wound up 3 times a week. It replaced a 200 year old clock which had a single wooden hand. In 2017, the clock was cleaned and an automatic mechanism fitted.
The Benchmark
A benchmark is etched into the outer wall of the Church near the base of the tower and to the left of the ‘Tree of Life’. This is one of some 500,000 benchmarks carved across Great Britain from 1840 as Ordnance Survey mapping began; they marked fixed points which were used to calculate the height above mean sea level. Many have now disappeared, and the system has been replaced by modern mapping technologies but a handful, including this one, still remain in the village.
The Sundial
The traces of a simple sundial can be found carved into the south facing wall of the Church a few paces to the right of the porch. A finger hole can be seen, this was used to cast a shadow that gave an indication of the time of the day.
(2025)
Churchyard Booklet:
(March 2024) The Hickling Local History Group has produced the first in a series of information booklets. This one is written by Carol Beadle and focuses on the Churchyard of St. Luke’s, Hickling.
Please contact us if you would like to buy a copy – the booklet has 24 pages in full colour and they cost £4.50 each.
