St John the Baptist’s Church has stood in this quiet fold of the Lincolnshire Wolds for centuries. Now, thanks to a new digital tool called GhostViewer, you can watch it shift and shimmer between past and present — and we’d love your help to add more.
What is GhostViewer?
GhostViewer is a free, UK-focused web app that overlays historical photographs and sketches onto modern images of the same location, letting you literally see through time. The result is an animated GIF or video that fades between the old and new — the same wall, the same roofline, the same view, centuries apart. You can explore existing creations on an interactive map, or contribute your own images to bring a place to life.
It’s a wonderful tool for community heritage projects like ours.
Sutterby is already on the map
We’ve made a start. Using a sketch dating from 1709 (J C Nattes), we’ve created our first GhostViewer: St John the Baptist’s Church, Sutterby — 1790 to 2017 — See Through Time.
You can view it, along with a growing collection of historical photographs of the Sutterby and Spilsby area sourced from Geograph, here:
Explore Sutterby & Spilsby on GhostViewer
There’s already a lot of material there — the Geograph images alone give us a rich archive to work with. They maybe images that you have not seen before… Just head over now and scroll down to see the images
How you can get involved
This is where the community comes in. Do you have old photographs of Sutterby, the surrounding villages, or the wider Lincolnshire Wolds area? A modern photo taken from the same spot as an old one? GhostViewer thrives on exactly this kind of paired imagery.
There are two easy ways to contribute:
- Use the GhostViewer app directly at ghostviewer.co.uk to upload your images and create your own then-and-now overlay.
- Send your images to us — both old and new — and we’ll create the GIFs and videos for you and add them to the collection.
You will also find help documents on how to use GhostViewer – and Richard is always there to help….
Every image adds another layer to the story of this place. Whether it’s the church, the lane, the farmyard, or the landscape beyond — if you have a photograph, old or new, we’d love to hear from you.
Get in touch via SpiritofSutterby@gmail.com or use the Contact Us page.
