The Church of St. Mary

West Torrington is a rural village on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. The Church of St. Mary has a history stretching back over almost 1000 years, before closing in 2011.

The Church is known as St. Gilbert's other church. He was the incumbent both here and in Sempringham in the 12th Century, having been gifted the vacant churches by his father, Jocelin. 

One of the founders of the Oxford Movement and the Order Of Corporate Reunion, Rev. Thomas Wimberley Mossman, was the Vicar here from 1862 (when the church was restored through local subscription) and presided over the use of Catholic traditions within this Church of England Church. 

It is Grade 2 listed (Historic England listing: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1147481 ), with the Churchyard Cross being both Grade 2 listed and an Scheduled Ancient Monument (Historic England listing: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1063069 ,  https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1013270 ) whilst the grave of Rev. Thomas Wimberley Mossman is Grade 2 listed (Historic England listing: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1147491 )

The Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer website contains a useful overview of the history of the church which can be found here: https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI93215

Its closure in 2011 meant the village lost its last indoor community space.

Our only village indoor (ish!) space was a bus shelter, which gave little room for events or community support in inclement weather.

We needed to #SaveOurSpace. 

The Church was placed on the market in September 2020 with planning permission to convert into a house. By this time the community had already come together to form West Torrington Community & Heritage Action and we had well developed plans to save the building as a community space. With this we would be able to provide a rural community hub to support local needs in addition to ensuring this heritage asset would remain open to the public.

Following positive discussions with both the Diocese of Lincoln and the Church Commissioners explaining the villages needs and commitment to the project, we submitted a tender in November 2020 and were delighted to discover in February 2021 that our offer had been accepted.

West Torrington Community & Heritage Action began its life as an an unincorporated association, that arose as a result of Parish Meetings about the situation. Once we found out our bid had been successful we converted into to a Community Infrastructure Organisation (CIO). This is a form of registered Charity that can hold property for the public benefit

We were granted Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent for the conversion to a community & heritage hub in January 2022 and we completed the purchase in May 2024.

The village created a video to celebrate the purchase, which can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBzt8UC0iHg

We are now moving forward with our repair and restoration plans to create a multi-use space that can support our community. We aim to do this by: tackling rural isolation; providing educational & heritage opportunities; holding events & services; creating a museum to tell the story of the village and the church; and run a community shop and café. 

In addition, we'd encourage third party providers to support all of the above aims, by making sure the church is a welcoming and flexible space whose use can be maximised for the benefit of the community both near and far.

If you’d like to discuss any of this with some of the Trustees, please don’t hesitate to either send us an email or come to St. Mary's when we are open as there will always be a Trustee on hand - we are always delighted to have an excuse to get some biscuits out and the kettle on to talk about the project!