There are two crosses at Stainton by Langworth – A village cross (1) and the base of a (presumed) churchyard cross (2) now used as a base for the font.
| Parish/District | Stainton by Langworth/West Lindsey |
| Location | Cross base used as base for the font in St John the Baptist’s church |
| Category | Churchyard cross (now used as a font base) |
| National Grid Ref | TF 06194 77567 |
| Designation | Church is Listed |
| Stone Type | Limestone |
| Refs | Everson, P. and Stocker, D., 2011, Custodians of Continuity, p. 256; Yates and Thorold, 1965, Shell Guide: Lincolnshire, p. 129. |
| Visits | DS/HH: 3 Oct 2000 |
There has been a church at Stainton from at least the thirteenth century and probably from long before that. In 1795 the incumbent, George Bassett, applied for and was granted a faculty, stating that ‘the parish church of Stainton being a very old building suddenly fell down and was obliged to be entirely rebuilt . . . the parishioners have erected and built a very good church on the scite of the old one.’ The resultant church is thus entirely eighteenth century, incorporating a few medieval features from the original church. These now include a large octagonal font bowl with ‘ballflower’ decoration.
In 1846, Archdeacon Bonney, reportedly found this font bowl lying upside down in the churchyard (Harding, 1937, pp137-8). Everson and Stocker think the base on which the font now sits is the spurred base of a twelfth-century pier shaft, however Hilary and I think it more likely to be a socket stone from a lost churchyard cross and that view is echoed by Yates and Thorold in The Shell Guide to Lincolnshire (p. 129).
