Reg's Ride

Cycling UK Louth ride to Belleau Monday 7th February 2022

Report by Ride Leader Reg Bagshaw.

“John Ambler, Reg Bagshaw and John Rickett met up at the Meridien Leisure Centre at 10 am. Tim Newbery, Chris Owen and Mike Gray had sent their apologies.

Due to the very windy weather the Sunday Ride was cancelled (gusts of near 50 mph had been recorded) and it was agreed to meet on the Monday instead.

We left the Leisure Centre and proceeded to Little Cawthorpe, pleased to leave the main road behind enjoying the quiet lanes instead. The weather was cold but with blue skies and glorious sunshine it was very pleasant.

We continued onto Muckton, turning right at Authorpe Grange, passing the walled garden and through to Burwell woods, before returning to Muckton and then onto Meagram Top and Belleau Church. Time for a break in the warm sunshine.

Sir Henry Vane, the lord of the manor of Belleau, was beheaded at Tower Hill in 1662 on the orders of Charles II for having been on the side of the Parliamentarians. A memorial plaque was erected in the church by an American admirer in 1913. Sir Henry Vane was for a short while the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Leaving the church behind and passing the Tudor Dove Cote on the right, we arrived at Authorpe before crossing the A157 at Castle Carlton with its Motte and Baileys and onto Great and Little Carlton with its undershot watermill on the left. A left turn at the war memorial, returning to the delights of the A157 at Legbourne before arriving back at the Leisure Centre at 1 pm. John Ambler elected to go straight home whilst John Rickett and Reg stayed on for tea and coffee (eventually).

Total distance was a modest 23 miles with an average speed a leisurely 11.2 mph. The maximum elevation was 65 metres”.

Ed. Notes from the Lincolnshire Wolds Churches Festival Pamphlet:

Belleau is mentioned in Doomsday as Elgelo, referencing the location on a hill (old Danish lowe and old English hlaw). The name transformed into Helgelow, Hellew and Bellew, the latter being a Norman French adaptation of the name. The church is of great antiquity since it was already being built in the time of Edward II (early 1300’s). Such was Belleau’s importance, in the map room of the Doges Palace in Venice there is a huge globe of the known world. On the map of Great Britain from the sixteenth Century, there is no mention of London, the only named place on the map being Belleau!