Bardney

A plain little Fen town with a long high street leading down to the River Witham, was once famous for the great Benedictine abbey founded in the 7^th century by Ethelred, king of Mercia and his queen Ostryth niece of Oswald, king of Northumbria. Many years after Oswald was slain in a battle A D 642, Queen Ostryth took his remains to Bardney Abbey and buried them within the walls. Pilgrims once flocked here until the abbey was destroyed by the Danes in 870. In Norman times it was lavishly rebuilt by the Earl of Lincoln. In the Domesday Book it was valued at $429 a year.

In 1912 the abbey ruins were excavated and many interesting relics and bits of stonework now rest in the parish church.

The Parish Church of St Lawrence is mainly 15^th century with a later medieval brick chancel, and one of the finest unearthed monuments dated 1508. The High Altar is said to be the body-stone of King Oswald. Also