Belchford

Belchford
Lincolnshire
St Peter and St Paul's Church, Belchford
Location
Grid reference:	TF294754
Location:	53°15’36"N, 0°3’38"W
Data
Post town:	Horncastle
Postcode:	LN9
Local Government
Council:	East Lindsey
Parliamentary constituency:	Louth and Horncastle

Belchford is a village in Lincolnshire, four miles north of Horncastle and just to the east of the A153. The village population is about 200, according to the recent census.

The village pub is the Blue Bell Inn, which has a restaurant, and provides locally brewed beer.

Steep hills and deep valleys surround the village. Belchford sits amongst the Lincolnshire Wolds, a sudden range of hills rising over the otherwise level land of Lindsey from Louth in the north, to Horncastle in the south. The village attracts ramblers, and hang-gliders who use the ridges from the Bluestone Heath Road to launch into the valley.

The Viking Way, a national long distance footpath, passes through Belchford by the Blue Bell Inn, on its way from the Humber in the north to Rutland in the south.

History

Village history dates back to the Romans and the Vikings. In 1536, during the Reformation, the vicar of Belchford was hanged, drawn and quartered for treason, after leading a rebellion against the crown.

Big Society

Belchford Downhill Challenge

The Belchford Downhill Challenge is held every year in September, as a competition for gravity powered soapbox carts, sidecar outfits and bicycles that race down a half mile course on a steep closed public road at up to 50 mph. The event attracts approximately 50 competing teams from around the United Kingdom and is combined with a craft fair with other attractions for children. Spectator turnout for the event is generally about 3,000.

South Wold Hunt

The South Wold Hunt is based near Belchford.

The hunt was founded in 1823 by the Hon. George Pelham (the younger brother to Lord Yarborough). In the mid-1850s the hunt built kennels at Belchford. During the Second World War the Agricultural Executive occupied the kennels and so the country was temporarily split with the hounds kennelled at Aswardby on the eastern side and Edlington Hall on the western side. The pack were united again in the 1948-49 season when the hounds returned to the kennels at Belchford where they remain today. The South Wold Hounds are hunted every Saturday and most Tuesdays throughout the season, over a varied country which includes part of the Lincolnshire Wolds and the Marsh. The country extends from Market Rasen Racecourse in the north-west to the coast in the east. Woodhall Spa is at the south-west of the hunt's country.

Parish Church

The parish church is the Church of St Peter and St Paul. The original church was built before 1153, but was rebuilt in 1781, with later additions in 1859. The font is 15th-century and the communion table and reredos of the 19th-century.

The church is Grade II listed.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Belchford)

• Belchford village
• South Wold Hunt