Tetney Church: 7x Greatgrandparents, William and Syllina Portas

One of the churchyard stops we made during our latest trip to Lincolnshire was to Tetney's parish church St. Peter and St. Paul. This church's churchyard is where my 7x great grandparents are buried. It was a fairly hot day so we headed inside of the church. As it turned out, there was no need to cruise the churchyard looking for headstones because the earliest ones are from the 1800s according to a listing shown to us by one of the praishioners. William Portas would have been buried 1716 and wife Syllina 1720. I wrote about their wills in previous blogs... about William  about Syllina.

St. Peter and St. Paul is Tetney, Lincolnshire parish church.

According to "The Buildings of England Lincolnshire" by Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, published 1964, St. Peter and St. Paul church in Tetney, Lincolnshire, England is "an impressive Perp Marshland tower, high, of grey Lincolnshire oolite ashlar, with a high three-light w window and very high bell-openings in two-light twins under one ogee arch. The lowest part of the openings is blank and panelled. Blocked small s doorway E.E. The N aisle has windows of 1861 (Withers) except for the E window with its flowing tracery. The s aisle E window is Perp and pretty. The chancel was rebuilt in 1861. The interior is wide and spacious but not particularly poetical. Four-bay arcades, octagonal piers, not very hight, double-chamfered arches. On one N pier that rare thing an inscription commemorating the date of the church or this part. It states that this work was done in 1363, Robert Day being vicar. The pier bases, except for two with Dec moulding, have the characteristic Perp bell moulding. The capitals might be of any date. – Screen. Parts now displayed under the tower. Cusped ogee arches with small panel tracery much like Marsh Chapel. – Plate. Chalice, London, 1787."

The church has a very long history. It has gone through many renditions, renovations, and repairs. Its history goes beyond what we saw. When back home, I was reading about the history on the web and there was so much we missed when we were in the building. I guess that is what happens when you visit somewhere and then later you wish you had done your homework.

Paper angels flank the alter. For a history of this church click here.

Found in the church, a stone carving of a woman. Could have been part of an interior grave. This door looks old, but I don't know if it is from when William Portas was buried in this church yard in 1716.

All in all, our visit to this church was very pleasant. There were no PORTAS graves accounted for on the listings we saw. The parish register entry I found at Salt Lake City for Syllina proves she was buried 1720 in this churchyard. I'm sure William was also buried here in 1716, but I haven't found the entry in the church register yet.