Brothertoft

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Brothertoft
Lincolnshire

St Gilbert of Sempringham, Brothertoft
Location
Grid reference: TF272461
Location: 52°59’50"N, 0°6’19"W
Data
Post town: Boston
Postcode: PE20
Dialling code: 01205
Local Government
Council: Boston
Parliamentary
constituency: 		Boston and Skegness

Brothertoft is a village in Holland, the south-eastern part of Lincolnshire, about four miles north-west of Holland's chief market town, Boston and in Holland Fen.

History

Evidence has been found that the area was settled in the Roman period: the site of a possible building was uncovered at Cannons Farm in Punchbowl Lane between 1957 and 1959.[1] A denarius of Septimius Severus was found along with pottery, potsherds, animal bones, ditches and hollows.[1] A Roman vase was dug up about 1970 at a separate site in Brothertoft by Mr Epton.[2]

The hamlet is first recorded at sometime after 1350 and before 1540.[3] Brothertoft hamlet is mentioned in the Diocesan Return of 1563 (Deanery of Holland, parish of Kirton,) as having ten households.[4] William Marrat, a local historian writing in 1814, noted that the traditional belief for the origins of the village name lay in a grant being awarded to two brothers in order that they could "inclose" (that is, separate and cultivate) the area from the surrounding fenland. The word "toft" is an Old Norse term found in the eastern counties and refers to a homestead or enclosure. Hence the place name of Brother-Toft.[5] In an addendum Marrat wrote that the place had been a vaccaria (or vaccary[6] - literally, a cow shed) of the abbey at Swineshead and had once been called 'Toft' because of it relatively raised position above the fens.[7] There are records of receipts which were probably from the area in the Swineshead entries of the Valor Ecclesiasticus.[8] These are not definitive as another historian of the period, Pishey Thompson, pointed out that Toft was used as a name both for Brothertoft and Fishtoft in the late fourteenth century.[9] The raised position did not exclude the area from flooding and, for example, in 1763 the villagers were forced to live in the upper stories of buildings due to the amount of water ingress.[10]

Sempringham Priory

While the surrounding land belonged to Swineshead in the Middle Ages, the manor of Brothertoft was worked by the Sempringham Priory.[11] The Order of Sempringham originated in 1131. About that time Gilbert of Sempringham became the rector of the church of Sempringam. He then instituted the rule of St. Augustine and many statutes from the customs of Augustinian and Premonstratensian canons.[12] The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 values "Brodertofte" at £9.16s.1d.[11] On 18 September 1538 Brothertoft was surrendered by Robert Holgate, chaplain to Cromell, with Roger the Prior (Prior of 1538) and 16 canons as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.[13]

Holland Fen riot

Prior to Frederick, the fenland often flooded to the point where boats had to be used for transport, and it was during his time at Brothertoft that drainage, and then enclosure began.[14] Around 1767 the inhabitants of Brothertoft, who occupied 52 houses in the hamlet, were "most active" in rioting as a protest against the enclosure of Holland Fen. They regarded this land as being for their pleasure and sustenance, and in particular as a location for fishing and fowling. Aside from general rioting and the removal of recently erected fencing, up to 200 people also played football on the land in an attempt to assert their historic rights, forcing Frederick to send men to guard the area.[15] The situation led to serious injury and deaths, including the loss of an eye by a Captain Wilks who had been employed by Frederick to command the guard and who was shot.[5] This common land had also traditionally been the scene of an annual fair, called the Toft drift, lasting a week from 8 July and attracting visitors from nearby villages and from Boston.[7]

Parish church

Brothertoft chapel c 1843

The church, which is dedicated to St. Gilbert of Sempringham, was a part of the chapelry of Kirton around 1837[16] and was owned by the lord of the manor,[5] it being at that time a chapel of ease.[17]

Marrat was of the opinion that the building was not particularly old, being built of brick and roofed with flat tiles, and that the Saxon window arches were the exception and perhaps indicated an earlier use for the building. He noted that the oldest register was from 1757.[5] However, he subsequently amended his writings on the basis of new information which indicated a construction date around 1600 using materials from a chapel at Coningsby.[7] Lewin also noted that he had seen registers, or perhaps copies of them, for as far back as 1682.[8]

Stephen Lewin described the church in 1843 as:

The west end ... has a low door with pointed Tudor arch; above this is a window of two lights with circular arches without tracery; the south wall is pierced with a door, a window of three lights and a window of two lights without tracery; the north wall has in it two windows of three lights with trefoiled tracery and the east end has a window similar to these. At the apex of the roof at the west end is an octagonal turret, constructed of wood containing one bell with the date 1721.[8]

Rebuilt between 1847 and 1854 to a design by Lewin, the church is a Grade II listed building and has a small bell tower.[18]

In 1922, when St. Gilberts was dedicated as a parish church, the building of the rectory house was completed.

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Brothertoft)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 National Monuments Record: No. 352534 – Site of a possible Roman building at Cannon's Farm
  2. ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 352540 – Jar
  3. ↑ Hallam, H E; Thirsk, Joan, eds (1989). The agrarian history of England and Wales. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-521-20073-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=XSE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA142. 
  4. ↑ Hodgett, Gerald A. J. (1975). Thirsk, Joan. ed. Tudor Lincolnshire. The History of Lincolnshire Committee. p. 193. ISBN 0 902668 05 6. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Marrat, William (1814). The history of Lincolnshire. 2. Boston, Lincs.: William Marrat. pp. 186–193. https://books.google.com/books?id=ShAHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA186. 
  6. ↑ Hallam, H E; Thirsk, Joan, eds (1989). The agrarian history of England and Wales. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-521-20073-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=XSE9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA309. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Marrat, William (1814). The history of Lincolnshire. 2. Boston, Lincs.: William Marrat. pp. 410–413. https://books.google.com/books?id=ShAHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA410. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lewin, Stephen (1843). Lincolnshire churches: an account of the churches in the division of Holland, in the county of Lincoln. T N Morton. pp. 72–74. https://books.google.com/books?id=YAwNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA72. 
  9. ↑ Thompson, Pishey (1856). The History and Antiquities of Boston: And the Villages of Skirbeck. Boston: John Noble. p. 483. https://archive.org/details/historyandantiq00thomgoog. 
  10. ↑ Padley, James Sandby (1882). "Holland Fen Riots". The fens and floods of mid-Lincolnshire. Lincoln: C Akrill. p. 43. https://archive.org/details/fensfloodsofmidl00padl. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Brammer, Betty (2000). Holland Fen with Brothertoft. Holland Fen with Brothertoft Parish Council. 
  12. ↑ The Priory of Sempringham – A History of the County of Lincoln - Volume pp @: The Priory of Sempringham (Victoria County History)
  13. ↑ Page, A, ed (1906). History of Lincolnshire. 2. London: Archibald Constable and Company. p. 186. https://books.google.com/books?id=1WU-AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA186. 
  14. ↑ Thompson, Pishey (1820). Collections for a topographical and historical account of Boston, and the hundred of Skirbeck. Boston: J Noble. p. 155. https://books.google.com/books?id=thUHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA155. 
  15. ↑ Padley, James Sandby (1882). "Holland Fen Riots". The fens and floods of mid-Lincolnshire. Lincoln: C Akrill. p. 40. https://archive.org/details/fensfloodsofmidl00padl. 
  16. ↑ Moule, Thomas (1837). The English Counties Delineated. 2. Virtue. p. 190. https://books.google.com/books?id=la0_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA190. 
  17. ↑ Lewis, Samuel (1831). A topographical dictionary of England. 2. London: S Lewis & Co. p. 550. https://books.google.com/books?id=g84qAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA550. 
  18. ↑ National Heritage List 1360445: Church of St Gilbert, Holland Fen With Brothertoft
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