Show 1 t r r r SCYTHE AS C CHURCH H ORNAMENT T a d Plaited Placed d There to Commemorate Peasants Peasants' Peasants Peasants' Peasants Peasants' Peas Peas- ants' ants Defense of Their Faith At the first sight the scythe is a strange ornament for tor a church but there is nothing incongruous In thes theses these J curious agricultural implements as as' as seen in the parish church of St St. Marys Mary's at Horncastle in Lincolnshire Thirteen of of these blades are nailed above the- the thedoor door in t the e north chapel Atone Atone At At- one time the blades numbered forty or fifty but owing to rust and d decay cay cayman man many of them have been lost Each of the the scythes is about a yard in length The general belief Is that these blades were vere were placed l in iii the church In in commemoration of the zeal of pe peasants peas peas peas- s- s ants who wi wielded them in defense of their f faith it 1 in fn the r rebellion known as The Pilgrimage of Grace Grac which had j Its Us rise at Louth in 1536 When the people saw the ruins of their churches and and abbeys they rose rose in revolt and arming themselves with the instruments of husbandry such as scythes s they th y went ent forth to encounter encounter en cn- en counter the enemy enemy They were Yere beaten and dispersed but bill in the the tho eyes eye's eyes of their countrymen they were heroes and the rude ample ample- ments with which they fought w were were re deemed worthy of an abiding place in inthe the old church where the the peasants had w-s w worshipped Christian Christian Age |