Walcot, Kesteven
| Walcot | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 Beech and St Nicholas's Church, Walcot | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TF061351 |
| Location: | 52°54’11"N, 0°25’26"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Sleaford |
| Postcode: | NG34 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North Kesteven |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Sleaford and North Hykeham |
Walcot is a village in Kesteven, the south-western part of Lincolnshire. It stands a mile west of the A15, which marks the path of a Roman road known as Ermine Street, seven miles south of Sleaford, nine miles east of Kesteven's main town, Grantham, and a mile north of Folkingham.
The name is apparently of old English origin. One theory is that 'Walcot' is derived from the Old English 'walh' and 'cot', which means "Briton's cottage(s)".[1] It might alternatively by weall cot for 'wall cottage' or walu cot; 'ridge cottage'.
History
Walcot is a probable site of prehistoric or Roman settlement. Earthworks indicating rectilinear ditched enclosures and a circular dwelling have been found, evidenced through crop marks and aerial photographs. > Mediæval ridge and furrow field systems have also been recorded.
In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village is written as "Walecote". In 1086 it consisted of 6 villeins, 14 freemen and 5 smallholders, land for 6 plough teams, a 30-acre meadow and a church. In 1066 lordship of the manor was held by the Abbey of St Peter, Peterborough, though by 1086 it was in the hands of Gilbert de Ghent.[2][3]
Marrat, in his History of Lincolnshire (1816), notes the village as being in the wapentake of Aveland. He mentions the existence of two Elizabethan manor houses, one to the west of the church, belonging to Sir Gilbert Heathcote, the other to the south-east of the church, to Edward Brown. Both Heathcote and Brown were Lord of the Manor and principal landowners.[4]
Walcot is recorded in the 1872 White's Directory as a "pleasant village" northwest of "Falkingham" (Folkingham), and four miles from Billingborough railway station. The parish contained 193 people within 1,474 acres of land. Sir William Heathcote, 5th Baronet, was lord of the manor, and also improprtiator of parish tithes—receiving (typically) one-tenth of the produce or profits of the land—and patron of the incumbent's vicarage, which was held by the vicar of Folkingham, who was supported by glebe of 52 acres at Quadring, 35 acres at Mareham le Fen and 32 acres at Spanby. Close to the village was a chalybeate spring, White's stating that it was "formally noted for medicinal virtues, but it lost its reputation many years ago". The poor of the parish received coal at Christmas, paid for by a yearly £14 rental from just over three acres of land at Walcot, and an acre at Spanby; a further 10 shillings yearly came from land rent at Newton. Parish professions and trades listed included the parish vicar, the parish clerk, a schoolmistress of the infants' school, the landlord of the Black Horse public house, a toll keeper, a dressmaker, two tailors, one of whom was also a draper, a shopkeeper, a carpenter, a blacksmith, five farmers, two of whom were also graziers, and a carrier—transporter of goods and occasionally people between centres of trade—operating between the village and both Bourne and Sleaford.[5]
In 1885 Kelly's Directory noted that the village contained "springs of very pure water… one strongly chalybeate". Agricultural production in a parish of 1,747 acres was chiefly wheat, barley and oats. Parish population in 1881 was 149. Lord of the manor and principal landowner was Lord AvelandPC, DL, JP.[6]
Parish church
The parish church is dedicated to St Nicholas. It dates from the 12th century, with additions and adaptations up to the 18th, and restorations in 1899, 1907 and 1926. The architectural style is mainly Decorated Gothic, the interior being of an earlier, Early English date. The church is a Grade I listed building.[7]
The church has a Perpendicular Gothic clerestory, a nave, aisles, and a tower with crocketed broached spire containing 4 bells. In the aisle to the south is a canopied niche with buttresses and pinnacles. In the chancel is a piscina and a priest’s door. Pevsner notes a 17th-century south entrance paneled door incorporating a wicket, and the existence of an 1809 paten by William Fountain.[6][8] Marrat describes two brass plates, to Isaac Lavington (d.1635) and John Lavington (d.1637), in the floor of the north aisle, and gives the patron of St Nicholas' as Sir Gilbert Heathcote.[4] Within the churchyard is a Grade I listed shaft of a 14th-century cross with a later added sundial.[9][10]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Walcot, Kesteven) |
- Information on Walcot, Kesteven from GENUKI
- Walcott weeping beech - YouTube
- Walcot on Vision of Britain
References
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
- ↑ Baron Gilbert de Ghent; Ournorthernroots.com. Retrieved 15 April 2012
- ↑ Walcot, Kesteven in the Domesday Book
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Marrat, W. (1816); The History of Lincolnshire, Topographical, Historical, and Descriptive; pp. 166-169; reprinted BiblioBazaar, LLC (2010)
- ↑ White, William (1872), Whites Directory of Lincolnshire, p.590
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p. 698
- ↑ National Heritage List 1360637: Church of St Nicholas (Grade I listing)
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, 1964; 1989 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09620-0page 702
- ↑ National Monuments Record: No. 348538 – Church of St Nicholas
- ↑ National Heritage List 1061738: Cross in the Churchyard of the Church of St Nicholas, Walcot Near Folkingham (Grade I listing)