Title: Revealing the Enigma of Glentham’s Good Friday Statue Ritual
In the charming village of Glentham, situated in Lincolnshire, there once existed a long-standing tradition centred around a peculiar statue known colloquially as Molly Grimes. Hailing from the 14th Century, this effigy, situated beneath the organ loft in St Peter’s Church, illustrates a woman in perpetual rest. Up until 1832, there exists historical evidence that seven local women were compensated with a shilling to collect water from a far-off well and cleanse the statue each Good Friday.
Renowned local historian Adrian Gray, originally from Dunholme, expresses his wish to see the long-neglected ritual reinstated. The precise origins or identity represented by the statue are as yet not confirmed, but the prevalent belief is that it portrays Anne Tourney of the esteemed Tourney family, whose mortuary chapel was located within the church. The title ‘Molly Grimes’ is speculated to have originated from ‘malgraen’, an archaic term meaning ‘holy image washing’. A once commonplace nursery rhyme echoes this custom: ‘Seven elderly maids, many moons ago, arrived on Good Friday, to cleanse Molly Grime.’
This tradition ceased to exist when the ownership of the land was transferred, and the money for the maids was discontinued. Gray remarks that during his childhood in the 1960s, knowledge of this custom was scarce. Even though its initiation is ambiguous, regional papers chronicled its decline in 1832. Gray theorizes that the statue might be connected to a generous benefactor who once financed the ritual. Lamenting its loss, Gray suggests the local education institutions may respark the tradition, albeit with a less lengthy journey to fetch water.
This article was adapted by The Lincoln Post from original reportage by www.bbc.com.
