Amber Hill is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, England, approximately west-north-west from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The 2001 Census measured its population at 268, increasing to 294 at the 2011 census.

History and governance

The name Amber Hill reputedly comes from the village standing on a seam of

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

coloured gravel. Amber Hill was a plot of 30 acres allotted under the Holland Fen Enclosure Award to provide materials for repairing the roads of several parishes having rights of common on

Holland Fen Holland Fen is a settlement in the Borough of Boston (borough), Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately north-west of the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and less than west of the River Witham. History Holland Fen ha ...

. It was formed a

in 1880. The village is one of eighteen

parishes A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

which, together with

, form the

Borough of Boston The Borough of Boston is a local government district with borough status in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in the town of Boston. The borough covers a wider area that includes villages such as Wyberton, Butterwick, Kirton-in-Hollan ...

. The local government has been arranged in this way since the reorganization of 1 April 1974, which resulted from the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. This parish forms part of the Swineshead and Holland Fen electoral ward. Hitherto, the parish formed part of Boston Rural District, in the

Parts of Holland The Parts of Holland is a historical division of Lincolnshire, England, encompassing the south-east of the county. The name is still recognised locally and survives in the district of South Holland. Administration Parts of Holland was one of th ...

. Holland was one of the three divisions (formally known as ''parts'') of the traditional county of Lincolnshire. Since the

Local Government Act Local Government Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom, relating to local government. The Bill for an Act with this short title may have been known ...

of 1888, Holland had been, in most respects, a county in itself.

Landmarks

Amber Hill church, dedicated to

Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, was built in 1867 and is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It was made redundant in 1995 and sold as a private dwelling house. The graveyard is still public, and interments still take place there. Amber Hill Tower Mill was one of several pumping

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

s once standing in Holland Fen. Late in the 19th century it was converted to steam power and continued to work driven by traction engine and finally by tractor, until about 1960. The engine at Spinney Farm has a brick tower, internal gearing and its scoop wheel (rebuilt 1960), although its cap and sails were removed when it was converted to be driven by steam. A

scoop wheel Rim driven Scoop wheel of the Stretham Old Engine, Cambridgeshire A scoop wheel or scoopwheel is a pump, usually used for land drainage. A scoop wheel pump is similar in construction to a water wheel, but works in the opposite manner: a wate ...

and channel on Claydike Bank was built in the 19th century of red brick, cast iron, and wood. It was originally belt-driven, and is Grade II listed.

Amenities

Toftstead County Primary School was built in 1881, extended in 1969—at the time of the closure of Hedgehog Bridge at

Brothertoft Brothertoft is a village in Lincolnshire, England, about northwest from the market town of Boston. It is part of the civil parish of Holland Fen with Brothertoft . History Evidence has been found that the area now known as Brothertoft was kn ...

and Barley Sheaf School at

—and finally closed in 2010. Jubilee Park Playing Field children's recreation area was opened in 2005 after five years of planning and fundraising by local people.

Population

Geography

References

{{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire