The Church, a Grade I listed building, is built in local ironstone with Westmorland slate roofs. It has developed through the centuries from its 12th century origins, and provides the focal point of the village, from which it commands extensive views. Surrounding the Church is a dry stone wall which has recently been renovated with the help of village volunteers.



Other than the Church, the older buildings date from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. These tend to be concentrated on Caistor Lane, Beck Hill, and Front Street. The village contains some thirty Grade II listed buildings and over seventy ironstone and pantile houses.

To the East of the Church, Caistor Lane is flanked by a number of ironstone cottages* with clay pantile roofs, several having sliding sash windows. These are interspersed with later houses which blend in well with their older neighbours, and the slope of the hillside.

On the North side of the Church is the former smithy which has been converted into Blacksmith's Cottage.

To the West of the Church, Rasen Road runs through the upper village. Along this road are a few old stone cottages interspersed with more recent houses of various designs ranging from the 1920's to the 1970's. All the buildings are well spaced and provide a pleasant frontage to the main road through the village, except for the rear views of houses in Springfields.

Across the Rasen Road from the Church, Beck Hill drops steeply down to a ford over the River Rase. On the left, opposite Front Street, is the Tennyson d'Eyncourt Memorial Hall, built in 1932 in stone and timber to an unusual design which blends well with the surrounding landscape. The buildings on Beck Hill are a pleasant mix of 18th and 19th century stone houses and 20th century dwellings. Two attractive houses, The Old Bakery and Old Laundry Cottage proclaim their former uses. Across the ford in Bayons Park are more examples of old houses that have been restored and extended.

Front Street, viewed from Beck Hill with Lincoln Cathedral on the horizon, offers a spacious aspect with buildings set back from the road. In the first section there are mainly early 19th century Buildings. These include Brick House* (the first house in the village to be erected completely in brick), formerly a shop and house but now two houses with a slate roof. Opposite is School House*, built in the early 19th century from coursed ironstone, and the fine Primary School*, built in 1856 from coursed ironstone to a most interesting Gothic design, with a hammer beam roof, modelled on Westminster Hall.

Further along is Crown House*, formerly the Crown Inn, built of stone and brick and whitewashed. The house next to Crown House was originally a Primitive Methodist Chapel (1846).
Opposite Crown House stands the Tea Rooms, a Victorian building erected as the village stores. An attractive row of cottages adjoins it to form a continuous terrace. The cottages vary in style and size, one in exposed stone, one in exposed brick, and the others colour-washed. Two of the cottages are thought to be formed from an old chapel.

At the end of the terrace is a small butcher's shop which has been in use for over 100 years. This is an attractive feature at the junction with Church Lane, a pleasant footpath walk from the centre of the village up to the Church.

Back again on Front Street, The Chantry is a property which was rebuilt in the mid 20th century and is one of many good examples in the village of newer properties built in a traditional style.

From this point Front Street becomes a narrow, winding street closely built up with late 18th and 19th century cottages and a red-brick 19th century Methodist Chapel converted into a house. This section also contains Post Cottage, formerly a shop and post-office, which has been converted and extended in an agreeable manner. (The rear view is pictured).

On the left is The Smooting, a narrow lane leading to a footpath which follows the River Rase to the bottom of Beck Hill. In The Smooting there are a few houses built of stone and brick. One was a former butcher's slaughter house, another has an attractive carving of a soldier by Walter Taylor a local stonemason, and a third is painted white and has a slate roof. There is also a group of council-built retirement bungalows.

Further down in Front Street is a second butcher's shop, next to the former Wesleyan Methodist Chapel*. The Chapel is a handsome stone and brick building dating from 1819, which again has been beautifully restored, and unobtrusively converted for use as a modern studio. Opposite this Chapel is "Howsham's Field" which provides summer grazing for cattle and a welcome open area in the village centre.

The ancient, rubble-walled King's Head Inn with its gardens and thatched roof is another attractive feature of the village. The building is said to have origins in the 14th century.

In Kingsway and Sandy Lane the buildings are more widely spaced, contrasting with the closer development of Front Street. There are several modern buildings among much earlier houses. In the main they are well sited and blend in well with the local scene. A modern dwelling of note is Rase Thatch. Further along Sandy Lane stands the 18th century Watermill House. This former corn mill is built in stone and has the River Rase cascading over its mill-race at the side.

As Sandy Lane leaves the village one of the old lodges of Bayons Manor, the West Lodge, is situated at the entrance to the former Park.

At the junction of Sandy Lane and Cow Lane stands Old Market Garden*, a charming 19th century stone house; Linden House* with its castellated extension; and an interesting 18th century stone farm cottage.

The first section of Cow Lane contains several houses of relatively recent construction but only one is in a traditional design. Along Cow Lane there is a group of whitewashed council houses built in the 1950's and thoughtfully placed around three sides of a small green. Some of these houses are now in private hands. Adjacent to them is the second of the village pubs, the Olde Barn Inn, which is painted white and which has been considerably extended from the original small ironstone cottage. Here the lane becomes narrower and twisting, owing to the position of a number of small cottages. The newer, brick-built properties towards the end of Cow Lane stand back from the road and are well-spaced. This brings us back to Rasen Road.

Further along Rasen Road towards Market Rasen a new estate of "executive style" houses, Springfields, has recently been built. The fronts of these houses are in several designs which attempt to reflect traditional local features, incorporating brick and stone construction with pantile roofs. In this style, as individual houses, they would probably have blended in but as a group the development is out of character with the village. The uniform plain brick rear elevations of some of these houses present unappealing and uncharacteristic aspects to Rasen Road. More thought should have been given to this elevation. The garages are prominent, uniform and unsympathetically sited. In other parts of the village, too, the results of unimaginative planning which does not reflect the character of the village can also been seen. In general planning decisions appear to have paid scant regard to rear views of buildings and/or extensions.

Still further along Rasen Road at the junctions of Walesby Lane and Thorpe Lane is a group of dwellings. A number of these have been built or extended in the last 35 years in varying designs, but for the most part they sit comfortably with their older neighbours from the 19th century and earlier in the 20th century. Overall this area presents a pleasant aspect with mature trees and well-kept cottage gardens.

Situated approximately one mile from the village lies Tealby Thorpe, an attractive group of houses and cottages approached from either direction by fords, one of which, the Long Ford, follows the bed of the River Rase for some 25 metres. One of the two principal houses here is the brick and pantiled Thorpe Mill*, a building of interesting design which still incorporates the machinery and workings of the old water mill. On the other side of the lane, Thorpe Farm* is a beautifully restored and handsome early 19th century farmhouse with an 18th century barn in local ironstone with some brick.

Tealby has often been described as ‘higgledy-piggledy’. Applied to individual properties it describes the way many have been repeatedly extended over the years and for the most part remain attractive. It also covers the many ornate or unusual architectural features often found on even simple properties.

The village as a whole is a heterogeneous mix of buildings, evolved seemingly without a planned influence. Old co-exists with new, big with small, ornate with simple. Tight clusters overlook open spaces and even the institutional buildings do not dominate.

In addition to the intrinsic architectural quality of the buildings described, many also owe their appeal to their setting and to the general topography of the village. The twists and turns of Tealby's streets and the changing aspects these provide, the gentle inclines, well-established trees, and well tended gardens, all contribute to the overall character of the village.