Bicker
| Bicker | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
| |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF224379 |
| Location: | 52°55’28"N, 0°10’51"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 841 (2011) |
| Post town: | Boston |
| Postcode: | PE20 |
| Dialling code: | 01775 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Boston |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Boston and Skegness |
Bicker is a village and parish in the Holland part of Lincolnshire. The population of the village was 941 at the 2011 census.[1] It is situated approximately nine miles west-south-west of Boston, in the Kirton Wapentake.
History
The mediæval estuary, Bicker Haven, which is now a village, took its name from the town of Bicker. It originally formed the outlet of the River Witham which diverted to Boston after a flood in 1014. When the Anglo-Saxon settlers enclosed the marsh for pasture, and the tide no longer reached the haven, it silted-up, whereby Bicker ceased to be a port and became a farming village. This process had already begun with the Donington branch of the haven.
The A52 previously ran through the village, but it is now bypassed to the south. The Bicker Bar roundabout is part of the Swineshead bypass which opened in 1985.
Geography
The civil parish has an area of around 3,800 acres, and includes the hamlet of Hoffleet Stow. To the west is Kesteven on the other side of the South Forty-Foot Drain.
The boundary with Donington follows the Old Eau to the south-east, passing the northern edge of Rabbit Hills Farm. To the south it meets the parish of Wigtoft. It passes to the west of the A17/B1181 junction at Bank House, named after the former sea bank of Bicker Haven. It follows the A17 to the west, and meets Swineshead at Bolle Hall, following the west of the A17. About 110 yards of the A17 is in the parish, including the Bicker Bar roundabout at the A52, and the Bicker Bar motel and Texaco services. The boundary with Swineshead follows to the north-west along a drain south of East Low Grounds, and includes Bicker Gauntlet. It follows North Drove to the north, along Bicker Fen, south of West Low Grounds. At Holt Hills it meets Great Hale for about 330 yards, then at Ferry Farm borders Little Hale. Near Eau End Farm (on the other side of the drain), it meets Middle Fen then passes close to the line of the pylons on North Fen.
At they very south of the village, Mill Lane (B1181) joins the bypass to the A17.
Community
The Ye Olde Red Lion public house is on Donington Road. The village has a post office with shop, and a parish church dedicated to St Swithin.
North of the main line of 400 kV pylons is the Bicker Fen windfarm consisting of 13 turbines producing 26 MW (2 MW each), enough for 14,000 homes. The construction of the windfarm met some local objection.[2] The windmills sit north from Poplartree Farm and were built in June 2008 by Wind Prospect for EdF. They are of the type REpower MM82, made in Hamburg. Bicker Fen substation is also the proposed landing site for a 1,400 MW power cable from Denmark called Viking Link,[3] as well as the proposed offshore wind farm Triton Knoll.
References
- ↑ "Village population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11120671&c=Bicker&d=16&e=62&g=6445747&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1461323902312&enc=1. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- ↑ Windfarm planning permission granted in September 2003, BBC
- ↑ "Union list of projects of common interest" page 4. 18 November 2015.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Bicker) |