Nottinghamshire & Lincolnshire

Monksthorpe Chapel walk

The exterior of Monksthorpe Chapel on the Gunby Estate — Visit Monksthorpe Chapel on this tranquil walk | © National Trust Images

Monksthorpe Chapel was built in 1701 and has a rare open air baptistry. Built in a time when those who believed in the full immersion of believers risked persecution and even imprisonment, this unique secluded chapel was built to look like a barn in order to avoid being discovered. The key is available daily between February and October from Gunby Hall & Gardens for a suggested donation of £5.

Near to

Gunby Estate, Hall and Gardens

Start point

Gunby Hall and Gardens, grid reference: TF466668

Trail information

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Difficulty*

Accessibility**

Full trail

DistanceMiles: 8.0 (km: 12.8)

Short trail

DistanceMiles: 6.0 (km: 9.6)

Duration2 hours 30 mins

Dog friendly***

*Grass fields, country lanes and quiet back roads.
**Long walk with lots of grassy and uneven surfaces.
***Please keep dogs on a short lead at all times. Livestock graze the fields during the year.

Visiting the chapel

If you want to have a look inside the chapel, you can pick up a key (£5 suggested donation) from the team in the Gunby car park during normal Gunby opening times.

Address
Gunby, Spilsby, Lincolnshire PE23 5SS
Directions via Google Maps
By train
Skegness 7½ miles.
By bus
No.6 from Lincoln and Skegness. Layby at Gunby roundabout is a request stop. 530 yards walk to entrance.
By road
On A158 off Gunby roundabout between Spilsby and Skegness. Signposted from A158. 13 miles east of Horncastle. Sat-nav: PE23 5SS - please note that our entrance is an exit off the roundabout and not slightly beyond or before as some Sat-nav systems suggest.
Total stages: 13
Total stages: 13
Start point
Gunby Hall and Gardens, grid reference: TF466668
Stage 1
Go through the white gate (next to the toilets) from the courtyard towards St. Peter's church, past the carp pond. Leave the gardens through a small gate and go through the gate on your left before the ch urch.
Stage 2
Go past St. Peter's church and bear right following the fenceline of the gardens. From time to time, the field will be home to the tenant farmer's herd of Lincoln Red cattle. Look to your left and you will see the remains of the deserted medieval village. Go through the wrought iron kissing gate and continue across the field to another kissing gate.
Medieval village of Gunby
Explore the lumps and bumps of the once thriving village of Gunby, which was originally known as 'Gunnebi' and is first recorded in the Domesday Survey when the land was granted to Eudo Fitz Spirewic, a Norman baron. All that remains today are the earthworks of hollow-ways, tracks and housing platforms. When walking across the parkland, look out also for brown hare, green woodpecker and mistle thrush.
Remains of the deserted medieval village 'Gunnebi', Lincolnshire | © National Trust
Stage 3
Cross Gunby Lane and continue straight on along the edge of the fields towards Candlesby. The path bears 90 degrees to the right. Continue downfield towards the main road, then turn left over the footbridge. Go through a kissing gate, another gate by a cattle grid and along a short path and you will come out behind Candlesby church.
Stage 4
From Candlesby church, retrace your steps to the cattle grid, turn right and head down the hill, taking the right folk in the path towards small cattle pen between two gates. Please close the gates carefully behind you.
Stage 5
Head slightly left towards a corner of the wood. With the wood on your right, continue on to a kissing gate and footbridge The path continues along the edges of the fields, bearing slightly to the right. The footpath is well marked with yellow arrows, until you come out at the concrete bridleway.
Stage 6
When you reach the bridleway, turn right and continue straight on until you reach the road.
Stage 7
At the road, walk straight on and follow it as it bears left. Turn left at the T-junction. You will see a poultry farm on your right, and a farm track signposted 'Monksthorpe' straight ahead. Follow the track until you arrive at Monksthorpe Chapel on your right.
Stage 8
You have reached Monksthorpe Chapel. To return, retrace your steps to the bridleway.
Monksthorpe Chapel
The chapel was used regularly up until the 1970s when it fell into disrepair. The East Midland Baptist Association began restoration before it came to the National Trust in 2001. Originally, the chapel would have had a thatched roof, looking like a barn from the outside to avoid detection. The present interior is typical of the 1840s when it was refurbished. The field adjacent to the chapel belonged to Spilsby airfield in World War II, the extension of which threatened the existence of Gunby Hall in 1944.
Stage 9
At the bridleway, you may return to Gunby the way you came, or, to make the route circular, walk straight on and continue as the bridleway turns into a green lane, until you reach Gunby Lane.
Stage 10
Turn right onto Gunby Lane and follow the road as it bears left towards Bratoft.
Stage 11
Turn left at the next T-junction.
Stage 12
After passing a couple of cottages on your right, you will see the entrance to the old railway line on your left. Follow the old railway line for just under 1km, until it is crossed by the footpath. Along the railway you may see bullfinches, yellowhammers, long-tailed tits and, in summer, whitethroats.
The East Lincolnshire Line
The East Lincolnshire Line was constructed in 1848, linking Grimsby and Boston. The 'Navvies' who constructed the railways were synonymous with antisocial behaviour. Drink was seen as a particular evil, to the extent that Emily Massingberd, a leader of the Temperance Movement, bought the railway inn at Burgh-le-Marsh station and turned it into a temperance inn. The line was closed in 1971 as part of the Beeching Review. Thanks to the limestone, this area of the parkland is particularly rich in wildflowers.
Stage 13
Turn left off the old railway line onto the footpath, crossing a field and past some woods. Turn right at the end and then keep left on to a green lane. Go through a kissing gate into a field with the woods on your right. Leave the field through kissing gate on your right. The footpath bears left and you enter the parkland through a kissing gate, where St. Peter's church is visible.
End point
Gunby Hall and Gardens, grid reference: TF466668
Trail map
Map for Gunby Monksthorpe Chapel walk | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey
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