The tides have washed up their fair share of both good and bad fortune for the people of Sutton Bridge.
The community experienced the horrors of the 1953 floods when water swept through 80 low lying homes, but thankfully no life was lost.
There are more tales of woe connected to the sea, such as the man caught out by the tides when crossing the marshes – whose ghost is reputed to haunt the area – and, of course, the story of King John’s treasure, lost in the Wash.
Sutton Bridge born Beryl Jackson, a keen local historian, says this last is a myth, but interestingly doesn’t say the same about the first.
The tides have washed up a treasure more recently, in the form of the Rev David Oxtoby, vicar these past three months of St Matthew’s church, and previously in Stamford.
He describes Sutton Bridge as “a lovely, warm, welcoming and close community, with strong family values”. David adds: “In the ebb and flow of rural life, the church plays its part. The primary things the church celebrates, the community celebrates with us.”
Every community group imaginable meets in the church, from a club for the blind to a toddlers’ group called Matts Mums. In between, the church is used for lunches, breakfasts and services that bring the whole family together.
The church was in fact built by the governors of Guy’s Hospital, according to Beryl who, although she has now moved to Long Sutton, probably knows more about Sutton Bridge than most people.
She was involved in the new river trail project that has put up an information panel to help locals and visitors enjoy the community’s history while walking along a footpath on the East Bank of the river.
It’s a fascinating history, covering the reclamation of land to create the community known as Sutton Bridge to the investment in land by Guy’s Hospital. Beryl says Guy’s established about 20 large farms which, following the First World War, were turned into something like 200 smallholdings for returning soldiers.
The community has strong connections with Sir Peter Scott, who lived in the East Bank Lighthouse, and, according to Beryl, was once a fashionable place to “take the cure” in those very same waters that have had such an enormous influence on the lives of the people of Sutton Bridge.