Bigby, Lincolnshire

From Wikishire
Jump to: navigation, search
Bigby
Lincolnshire
All Saints' church, Bigby, Lincs. - geograph.org.uk - 143914.jpg
All Saints, Bigby
Location
Grid reference: TA059073
Location: 53°33’7"N, 0°24’8"W
Data
Population: 234  (2001)
Postcode: DN38
Local Government
Council: West Lindsey
Parliamentary
constituency:
Gainsborough

Bigby is a village in Lincolnshire, in the Lindsey part of the county. It is about 10 miles south of the Humber, and 4 miles east of Brigg. The village is in the Lincolnshire Wolds, the highest part of Lincolnshire and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The hamlets of Kettleby and Kettleby Thorpe lie within the parish, and that of Somerby is situated nearby.

The name Bigby comes from an Old Norse personal name Bekki + Old Norse býr, meaning "settlement" or "farmstead".[1]

Bigby is recorded in the Domesday Book account as "Bechebi", and the Lord of the manor was William son of Nigel.[2]

Parish Church

Parish church is dedicated to All Saints. It dates from the 12th century, with later additions and restorations in 1779 and 1878. It is a Grade I listed building.

On the north side of the chancel is a large alabaster tomb to Sir Robert Tyrwhit of Kettleby hamlet, who died in 1581, and his wife. To the east is a monument to Sir Robert Tyrwhit of Kettleby, who died in 1617, and Lady Bridget Manners his wife who died in 1604.[3]

Wartime

Bigby is one of four Thankful Villages in Lincolnshire, because it lost no men in First World War. There is a war memorial in the parish churchyard in remembrance of two local men who died during Second World War.[4]

Pingley Farm, or Camp 81, was the site of a second world war Prisoner-of-war camp. Purpose-built to house 750 low-risk prisoners, by May 1946 Pingley camp actually held 984. It still exists today but is derelict.[5]

Kettleby

The hamlet of Kettleby lies a mile and a half west of Bigby village.

At Kettleby there was a mediæval village, now deserted, first recorded in a will of 1066. The Domesday Book records two manors: Kettleby, whose Lord of the Manor was Ralph, nephew of Geoffrey Alselin, and Kettleby Thorpe, whose Lord was listed only as Gilbert.[2] Thereafter Kettleby merged with Kettleby Thorpe, also a deserted settlement.[6] Kettleby is mentioned in 1334.

Today the area is occupied by the earthworks of Kettleby Hall.[6]

Kettleby Hall was reputedly a moated hunting lodge built in the reign of James I and later the chief seat of the Tyrwhitt family. The last male heir sold-up in 1648 because of debts, and the building was demolished in 1696-97. The present farmhouse on the site dates from the 19th century.[7]

Outside links

References

  1. Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Domesday Map". Bigby. Anna Powell-Smith/University of Hull. http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/search/?geo=bigby. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  3. "British Listed Buildings". All Saints Bigby. English Heritage. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-196552-church-of-all-saints-bigby. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  4. "Thankful Villages". Norman Thorpe, Rod Morris, Tom Morgan. http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/TV/bigby.htm. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  5. National Monuments Record: No. 1412084 – Pingley Farm, Camp 81
  6. 6.0 6.1 National Monuments Record: No. 78655 – Kettleby in Bigby
  7. National Monuments Record: No. 78662 – Kettleby Hall
Commons-logo.svg
("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Bigby, Lincolnshire)