St Peter and St Pauls Church Ingoldmells

The name Ingoldmells is from the Old Scandanavian Ingjaldr+melr, or sandbanks of Ingjaldr. It appears, perhaps incorrectly, in the 1086 Domesday Book as in Guldelsmere, and in the 12^th century as Ingoldesmeles.
Ingoldmells is a Norse word meaning the sand dunes of Ingulf.
It is fairly large village in demographic terms, having a population of nearly 4,000. It lies on the A52 adjacent to Skegness on the Lincolnshire Coastline and is a popular tourist destination.
The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul.
For me I found a couple of oddities that don’t seem to be mentioned anywhere.
There is a palm tree growing out of the side of the church and I was told a story about the metal fence around the churchyard being built by a Victorian vicar who could not then pay for it and was sent to jail.
Most interestingly is the grave, in the churchyard, of Frank Foster. He was one of the most famous circus ringmasters of all time (a job I have done) and wrote a book about it called (I believe) Pink coat and spangles.
A parish like Ingoldmells usually formed around a village or other small community and used to be centred around the Parish Church. In the late 1800s Church and State separated but the same area is now represented as a local authority by the Ingoldmells Parish Council and the Church of England by the Parochial Church Council.
During World War 2, Butlins holiday camp in Ingoldmells was commissioned as a naval base and given the name HMS Royal Arthur. The veterans held their last reunion in the church in 2006.
It is entered by a fine porch dotted with flowers and heads. The beautiful 13^th century massive pillars give to it a solidarity and a dignified grandeur. The nave archades with varied capitals are worthy of note as are the aisle windows with flowering tracery, and the present clerestory, which is 14^th century.
Of unique interest is the 600 year old font, the bowl enriched with sunken circles of tracery and flowers, and underneath, heads both human and grotesque.
Set in the floor are fragments of medieval gravestones, and others of the 13^th, 15^th and 16^th centuries which have remained whole. A rare memorial in the floor of the north aisle is the brass portrait of William Palmer, a cripple who died in 1520. At his side is shown his crutches, ye stylt as the inscription calls it. The church gets fourteen thousand visitors each year apparently. I know when I did a season in the church hall it was a quiet place of rest for me.
The Rectory is a beautiful imposing house. I found this. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, £182. * Patron, the Rev. J. Dodsworth. The church lost its chancel about the year 1706; has a transitional Norman nave, of six bays; was greatly improved in 1865; and contains some oak stalls, an octagonal font, and a curious brass of 1520. A handsome rectory house was lately built John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870 – 72))
Ingoldmells in the early days was of greater importance than the neighbouring town of Skegness and it is established that Henry of Bolingbroke (Henry IV) held his Courts here. The grave of William Skegness, who was Chief Steward to the Court, can be seen in the Church.
It is know that the greater part of Ingoldmells as it was then is now under the sea. Owing to the land being at sea level the sea has gradually consumed parts of the parish. At low tide stumps have been visible which have been taken to be the remains of part of the old village. Further erosion has been prevented by the erection of the concrete sea defence wall. This was completed in 1929 and land which was formerly marsh has been completely reclaimed. Butlins Holiday Village at Ingoldmells stands on land which was marshland. West of the sea defence will runs the Roman Bank and prior to the building of the new sea defence wall it was the last line of defence from the sea.
At Ingoldmells Point evidence of Roman salt works were discovered when the work of building the concrete defences was being carried out. Prehistoric pottery-​kilns have also been discovered during excavation work. They are about half-​way between high and low water line, some 500 yards to the north of Ingoldmells Point. The remains consisted of whole kilns, circular in shape and composed mainly of fragments of rough baked pottery and burnt clay.