Important safety notice for St Botolph’s Church, Skidbrooke, Lincolnshire

On the morning of 13th October 2025 the east wall of the Nave, inside St Botolph's Church, collapsed. No one was hurt during the incident and maintenance contractors were soon on site to assess the damage, however, due to concerns about the condition of the building CCT are urging people to heed warning notices, respect safety fencing and stay away.

St Botolph’s Church came into the care of CCT in 1975, after being declared redundant. As part of regular monitoring, it was found that parts of the building, dating to the 13th century, had moved, leading to the site being closed to the public.

Gabriella Misuriello, Head of Conservation, explained, "St Botolph’s has been affected by structural movements periodically since it came into our care and has almost certainly been moving for longer than that. Presumably, changes made to enlarge the church in the past and the draining of the marshes in the last century have combined to make the building vulnerable to subsidence after periods of dry weather, a pattern that is now exacerbated by climate change.

It is a beautiful and peaceful church, set in magnificent isolation in the Lincolnshire marshland. Unfortunately, its isolated location has led to antisocial behaviour resulting in damage to the historic fabric of the building. CCT cares for 357 buildings across England and St Botolph’s is our most vulnerable and vandalised church. We are now taking emergency structural stabilisation measures to secure the building until further investigations and repairs can be carried out.

We have informed Lincolnshire Police of the situation, who we hope will carry out extra patrols in the area to ensure public safety. We’d also like to ask local residents to be extra vigilant and report any activity at the site to CCT or Lincolnshire Police. The risks both to the person and the building are very real. Please stay away.”