Holland Fen
| Holland Fen | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 All Saints' Church, Holland Fen | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF235496 |
| Location: | 53°1’47"N, 0°9’34"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Lincoln |
| Postcode: | LN4 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Boston |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Boston and Skegness |
Holland Fen is an area of the Great Fen, in Holland, the south-eastern part of Lincolnshire. It is also the name of a tiny hamlet it its midst, along a droveway about five miles north-west of Holland's main town, Boston, and less than a mile west of the River Witham.
History
Holland Fen has been known as the Haute Huntre, or Eight Hundred Fen.[1]
In 1720, Earl Fitzwilliam decided to drain the Holland Fen, having been frustrated by the local Commissioners of Sewers. He built the North Forty Foot Drain, which emptied by Lodowicks Gowt into the River Witham above Grand Sluice. The North Forty Foot was subsequently diverted to the South Forty Foot Drain at Cooks Lock and from there to Boston Haven through Black Sluice.[2]
The Haute Huntre was drained and enclosed in 1767.[1]
As Holland Fen as a settlement was established, a Church of England parish was created for it in 1812, but abolished in 1948. It is now part of the 'Holland Fen with Brothertoft' parish.[3]
Within Holland Fen there are hamlets and settlements barely more that farmsteads and other places of interest:
- Holland Fen hamlet
- Ferry Corner Plot
- River Bottom
- North Forty Foot Bank
- Hedgehog Bridge
- Toft Tunnel
Church
The church is dedicated to All Saints and was built as a chapel of ease to Fosdyke in 1812. It was constructed of brick in Perpendicular Gothic style, with chancel and nave only, and bell turret.[4] In 1964 Pevsner noted a chancel dated 1880, a west gallery on iron shafts, a pulpit with fluted pilasters, and a chalice probably by William Bell.[5]
Today, All Saints' Church is part of the Holland Fen with Brothertoft Group, also known as "Five in the Fen" which also includes:[6]
- St Gilbert Of Sempringham, Brothertoft
- Christ Church, Kirton Holme
- St Margaret of Scotland, Langrick
- St Peter, Wildmore
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Holland Fen) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Thompson, Pishey (1856). History and Antiquities Of Boston. Longman. p. 355. https://archive.org/details/historyandantiq04thomgoog.
- ↑ Wheeler, W. H. (1868). "History Of The Fens Of South Lincolnshire". p. 44. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ptsearch?id=loc.ark%3A%2F13960%2Ft1xd1dh90;q1=%22north%20forty%20foot%22.
- ↑ Holland Fen@ on Vision of Britain
- ↑ Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p. 481
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1964; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09620-0page 575
- ↑ All Saints at Holland Fen, Holland Fen on A Church Near You