Edenham
| Edenham | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 Remains of the Saxon cross in Edenham | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF061218 |
| Location: | 52°47’2"N, 0°25’40"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 291 (2011) |
| Post town: | Bourne |
| Postcode: | PE10 |
| Dialling code: | 01778 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Kesteven |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Grantham and Stamford |
Edenham is a village in Kesteven, the south-western part of Lincolnshire, some three miles north-west of Bourne, and on the A151 road. The parish is principally located in the valley of the East Glen which flows through the village.
Geology
The village sits in a broad valley is incised into a gently sloping and much dissected plateau of glacial till which is more graphically described by the older term, boulder clay. The till caps the ridges to either side, the one clothed by the Bourne Woods and the other by the park of Grimsthorpe Castle. All the solid geology is Jurassic.[1]
Hamlets in the parish
The main village of the parish itself is Edenham. The parish also includes a number of outlying hamlets:
- Grimsthorpe (52°47’39"N, 0°26’46"W)
- Scottlethorpe (52°46’33"N, 0°26’36"W
- Elsthorpe 52°48’10"N, 0°25’50"W
The parish is associated with two lost villages:
- Elsthorpe deserted mediæval village (52°48’29"N, 0°26’8"W)[2] located near the modern hamlet of that name. It appears in the [[Domesday Book][ as Aislestorp, belonging to Alfred of Lincoln and having a mill, 5 villagers, all Freemen; 2 ploughlands. 1 lord's plough team, 2 men's plough teams; 18 acres of Meadow, and 240 acres of Woodland. Sunken roads, building plots, and a fishpond have been located at the site of the original settlement.[2]
- Southorpe (52°48’40"N, 0°27’12"W)[3] It appears in the Domesday Book as Sudtorp, belonging to Guy of Craon and having a mill, 10 villagers, of whom 6 were smallholders; 2 ploughlands. 2 lord's plough teams, 2 men's plough teams; 16 acres of Meadow, and 200 acres of Woodland. There was a chantry chapel here in the 12th century. A priest was last instituted at Southorpe in 1521, and by 1563 only one family remained.[3]
History
The name 'Edenham' is from the Old English Eadan ham, meaning "Eada's homestead", or from ea dene ham which would mean "River-valley homestead". The river East Glen which flows through it is sometimes called the "Eden" by a process of back-formation from the name of the village.
Edenham appears in the Domesday Book as having 32 villeins, 4 smallholders, 24 freemen, 5 lord's plough teams, and 9 men's plough teams, with 400 acres of woodland and 29 acres of meadow.[4]
The parish was the site of the Cistercian abbey of Vaudey, founded in 1147 by William, Earl of Albemarle. It was dissolved during the 1536 Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries.[5]
Documents of 1307 mention the existence in Edenham of "a hospital".[6]
Since 1516 parish land and villages have been owned by the de Eresby family of Grimsthorpe Castle. This major ancestral seat two miles to the north-west of the village influenced Edenham's estate village character. The de Eresby baronetcy has continued in an unbroken line since 1313, and heads of the family have been Earls and Dukes of Ancaster and the Earl of Lindsey.
The 19th-century Baron Willoughby de Eresby built the Edenham and Little Bytham Railway which connected the village to the East Coast Main Line at Little Bytham.[7] Apart from crossing a road in near Little Bytham station, it ran exclusively on his estate.
The Australian poet and novelist Frederic Manning stayed at the vicarage after he arrived in the country in 1903. He returned there after the First World War and began writing The Middle Parts of Fortune (republished in an expurgated version under the title Her Privates We), a novel which he completed in the neighbouring parish, Bourne.
Parish church
The parish church, the Church of St. Michael and All Angels, retains some Anglo-Saxon fabric from the earlier building. The Saxon church was dedicated to the 'Holy Cross', but the dedication is now to St Michael and all Angels. It is a Grade I listed building.[8]
The church has an Angel Roof, the beams supported on the back of carved and painted angels.[8] Family monuments were moved from St Matthew's church in Normanton[8] when that church was affected by the construction of Rutland Water.
The Parish of Edenham is part of the Edenham with Witham On The Hill Group of the Beltisloe Deanery of the Diocese of Lincoln.
The vicarage, unlike other vicarages and rectories in rural parishes, has never been sold to a private buyer. It remains the spiritual centre of three parishes and eight small villages, and is run by the Diocese of Lincoln as a retreat for contemplation and prayer.
A cedar tree overhangs the road from the churchyard, and nearby are the remains of a Saxon cross, a Grade II listed structure[9] and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[10]
Community
The village Church of England primary school is a Grade II listed building,[11] has a roll of just over one hundred pupils.[12]
Apart from agricultural employers, businesses in the village include The Five Bells public house and the local school. The coal merchant and post office having closed
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Edenham) |
- Information on Edenham from GENUKI
- Church:
- "Welcome to St Michael's & All Angels, Edenham", forwardinfaithlincs.org.uk. Retrieved 26 July 2011
- http://www.greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/edenham.html
- "Edenham. Church: St Michael", robschurches.moonfruit.com. Retrieved 26 July 2011
- Another general history site
References
- ↑ Institute of Geological Sciences Geological Maps of England and Wales One-Inch Series Sheet 143 (1967)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 National Monuments Record: No. 348468 – Elsthorpe
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 National Monuments Record: No. 348516 – Southorpe
- ↑ Edenham in the Domesday Book
- ↑ Cox, J. Charles (1916) Lincolnshire p. 120; Methuen & Co. Ltd
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 1345164 – Hospital
- ↑ Pearson, R.E & Ruddock, J.G. Lord Willoughby's Railway the Edenham Branch (1986) ISBN 0-9511656-0-7
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 National Heritage List 1146587: Church of St. Michael and All Angels (Grade I listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1146650: Churchyard cross south west of Church of St. Michael (Grade II listing)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1009202: Churchyard cross, St Michael's churchyard (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
- ↑ National Heritage List 1062832: Primary School (Grade II listing)
- ↑ Edenham C of E School