Digby
| Digby | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 Digby Cross | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF078546 |
| Location: | 53°4’42"N, 0°23’31"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 621 (2011) |
| Post town: | Lincoln |
| Postcode: | LN4 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Kesteven |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Sleaford and North Hykeham |
Digby is a small village in Kesteven, Lincolnshire. The village is situated in the vale of the Digby Beck watercourse, six miles north of the town of Sleaford and twelve miles south of the county town, the City of Lincoln. The village had a population of 621 at the 2011 census.
Parish church
The parish church is dedicated to Thomas Becket and has a porch with strong Anglo-Saxon elements and carvings. Built in the Gothic style, it has a tall spire, and is Grade I listed.[1]
The church spire was struck by lightning in August 1907 leading to repairs costing £80. In the 1930s a story was circulated claiming that churchyard was haunted.[2]
History and landmarks
Two Bronze Age stone axes, about 4,000 years old, were found in Digby, one now in private possession, the other at Lincoln Museum.[3] Also found were two Bronze Age arrowheads, again one in private possession,[4] the other at Lincoln Museum[5] with a Neolithic partly polished axe also found here.[6]
There is a circular village lock-up which is Grade II listed,[7] and a mediæval stone buttercross in the centre of the village which is Grade II listed,[8] and a scheduled monument although the top section of the pillar and cross appear to have been renewed, probably during the Victorian period.
Near the village is the Royal Air Force grass airfield of RAF Digby (formerly RAF Scopwick). During the Second World War the station was home to Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons and to Douglas Bader, Guy Gibson, and poet John Gillespie Magee.[9] The airfield was Canadian later in the war, as RCAF Digby Fighter Station, with the Operations Room and billets at nearby Blankney Hall.
Community
The village has a school, the Digby Church of England School, the Red Lion public house, allotments, and a winery which uses local produce. There is a War Memorial Hall in Church Street.
Beck House on Beck Street is a Grade II listed stone farmhouse dating back several hundred years. There are also examples of 18th- and 19th-century buildings, now private dwellings, including Digby Manor House, a listed building situated on North Street almost opposite a new housing development, Chestnut Close.
During 2009 the Village Hall frontage underwent extensive re-development and now provides seating and new gardens.
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust manage Digby Corner as a wildlife sanctuary. In June 2007 Digby Fen was home to a breeding pair of Montagu's harriers, the rarest breeding birds of prey in the British Isles.[10]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Digby) |
- Digby + Lincolnshire photos on Flickr
- Digby Parish Council, Retrieved 7 July 2013
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1254176: Church of St Thomas a Becket, Digby (Grade I listing)
- ↑ Rudkin, Ethel H.: "Lincolnshire Folklore", Folklore, Vol.44, No.2, June 1933
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 349126 – Two Early Bronze Age flat axes
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 349099 – Two Early Bronze Age flat axes
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 351257 – 351257
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 351266 – Findspot of a Neolithic partially polished flint axe
- ↑ National Heritage List 1254194: Village Lock Up, Digby
- ↑ National Heritage List 1254084: Village Cross, Digby
- ↑ "Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr. 1922 - 1941", Macla.co.uk. Retrieved 7 July 2013
- ↑ "Rare harriers nesting in county", BBC News, 28 June 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2013
- Healey, Hilary (2008). Digby Diary - Our Village. Digby History Group. http://parishes.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Digby/section.asp?catId=28159.
- Rennison, John (2003). The Digby Diary : a History of RAF Digby in Lincolnshire, 1917-1953. Aspect. ISBN 0-9514047-3-3.
- Hawkins Buch, Mary (1997). Props on Her Sleeve: The Wartime Letters of a Canadian Airwoman. Dundurn. ISBN 1-55002-294-6.
- Gresswell, Fred (1958). Bright Boots. Country Book Club. ISBN 0-7153-8400-7.