Barkston is an English 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 ...
in the
South Kesteven
South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Bourne, Lincolnshire, Bourne, Grantham, Market Deeping and Stamford, Li ...
district of
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 ...
. The parish population was 497 at the 2001 census and 493 at the 2011 census. The village lies about north of the
market town
A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
of
Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
, on the
A607, just south of the junction with the
A153 to
Ancaster.
History
The village is named in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
as ''"Barchestune"'', which probably means "the farmstead of a man called Barkr." The
deserted medieval village
In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convent ...
of Ringsthorpe lay just to the west of Barkston, on the far side of the
River Witham
The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversid ...
. It is mentioned in the 1087 ''Domesday Book''. The latest archaeological discoveries at the site are from the Medieval period, and the last documentary mention of Ringsthorpe is in the 14th century.
Hickson's Almshouses, built in 1640 and re-built in 1839, still provide homes for local elderly people.
Barkston railway station
Barkston railway station is a former station serving the village of Barkston, Lincolnshire. It was on the Great Northern Railway main line near to the now realigned (Allington chord) junction with the lines to Sleaford and Lincoln
Lincoln mos ...
, closed in 1955, was near th
Barkston South junctionof the
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
and Sleaford railways.
Military history
During the Second World War,
Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 36 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom ''Dad' ...
, the actor who played the main character in the television series ''
Dad's Army
''Dad's Army'' is a British television British sitcom, sitcom about the United Kingdom's Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard during the World War II, Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft (TV producer), David Crof ...
'', was stationed at Barkston with the
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equip ...
, which had the task of servicing searchlights.
RAF Barkston Heath
Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force station near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
RAF Barkston Heath has the Naval Element of No. 3 Flying Training School RAF (No. 3 FTS) which, for a period between approx ...
was in recent years the base of the Joint Elementary Flying Training School (RAF and
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
) in 1995; the
Army Air Corps Army Air Corps may refer to the following army aviation corps:
* Army Air Corps (United Kingdom), the army aviation element of the British Army
* Philippine Army Air Corps (1935–1941)
* United States Army Air Corps (1926–1942), or its p ...
joined in 1996, so that it became the Defence Elementary Flying Training School in 2003, when the RAF withdrew. Now the
703 Naval Air Squadron
703 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy was formed as a long-range catapult squadron on 3 March 1942 at RNAS Lee-on-Solent. During the Cold War, it was reformed as an experimental trials unit, and then as a helicopter traini ...
and
674 Squadron Army Air Corps are parts of the RAF's
No. 3 Flying Training School
No. 3 Flying Training School is a Royal Air Force military training school, which manages elementary flying training for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and also for the training of all non-pilot aircrew for the RAF and is home to the Central ...
. The airfield is also used for the
British Model Flying Association national championships. In June 2003, the
BBMF moved to Barkston Heath for four months.
Geography
The present route of the A607 through the village dates from the 1930s. The
River Witham
The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversid ...
passes through the west of the village. At the 2001 census there were 229 households,
[ 100 per cent of the population were white, 87 per cent declared themselves to be Christian, and 20 per cent of the population were retired.][
To the east, on top of the ]Jurassic limestone
The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period
The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of ...
escarpment, RAF Barkston Heath
Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force station near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
RAF Barkston Heath has the Naval Element of No. 3 Flying Training School RAF (No. 3 FTS) which, for a period between approx ...
stands next to the course of the Roman Road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln (''Lindum Colonia'') and York (''Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earningas'', ...
.
The parish boundary crosses the A607 at the north end of Syston
Syston ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of Charnwood in Leicestershire, England. The population was 11,508 at the 2001 census, rising to 12,804 at the 2011 census.
Overview
There has been a settlement on the site for over 1,000 ...
bypass. Going south, it then crosses the River Witham, the north side of Hambleton Hill, and the East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
at Shire House to the west. North are the Barkston South railway junctions, unused since 2004, either side of Westfield Farm. The boundary follows the north edge of Hurn Wood to meet Marston. Northwards it crosses the Grantham Avoiding Line at Sand Lane, then the East Coast Main Line, and follows the Viking Way
The Viking Way is a long distance trail in England running between the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland.
History
The route was officially opened on Sunday 5 September 1976 at Tealby, by the Deputy Chairman of Lincoln ...
eastwards to meet Hougham and the Witham south of Frinkley Plantation. At Far Hill, it leaves the Viking Way, passing north through Old Gorse Wood to the west of the former Barkston Gorse Farm and Frinkley Lane. Eastwards it touches Carlton Scroop
Carlton Scroop is a small village and civil parish in the South Kesteven Non-metropolitan district, district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish (including Normanton) at the 2011 census was 304. It is situated north-e ...
and at the hilltop Honington at Spellar Wood, following its southern edge.] To the south-west it crosses Frinkley Lane, the Viking Way, Hough Road along the southern edge of Grove Plantations, and the Poacher Line, Grantham–Sleaford railway line. It crosses the A607 at the A153 junction and Minnetts Wood north of Heath Farm, tops Honington Heath to meet Ancaster, and runs across RAF Barkston Heath
Royal Air Force Barkston Heath or RAF Barkston Heath is a Royal Air Force station near Grantham, Lincolnshire, England.
RAF Barkston Heath has the Naval Element of No. 3 Flying Training School RAF (No. 3 FTS) which, for a period between approx ...
. Along Ermine Street (B6403 road New
B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in ...
) it meets Wilsford and North Kesteven
North Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The district is located to the east of Nottinghamshire, north-east of Leicestershire and south of the city of Lincoln. Its council, North Kesteven District Council, is bas ...
, and is briefly the South Kesteven boundary. At the southern edge of Barkston Heath, it follows Heath Lane westward and meets Syston. At this point a track passes through Minnett's Wood along Minnett's Hill.
Community
The ecclesiastical parish of Barkston belongs to the Barkston and Hough group in the Deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
of Loveden
Loveden is a Deanery of the Diocese of Lincoln, England, and a former Wapentake.
Loveden is located broadly to the North of Grantham and includes the villages from Long Bennington in the west to Culverthorpe in the east, and from Welby in th ...
and Diocese of Lincoln
The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire.
History
The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leices ...
. The incumbent since 2013 is Rev. Stuart Hadley.
The parish church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-da ...
of Myra, a philanthropist bishop from whom the legends and customs of Santa Claus derive. It includes a Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
window, a 14th-century spire and 15th-century porch.
The Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
Chapel in West Street was built as a Wesleyan Methodist chapel in 1832. It closed in 2002, but the congregation continued to meet in the village hall as part of the Grantham and Vale of Belvoir Circuit until 2013.
The village pub is ''The Stag'' in Church Street, which also serves "locally sourced" food.[Pub sit]
Retrieved 23 September 2017.
/ref> A mobile library calls once a month, a mobile fish and chip
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
van every Thursday, and a mobile greengrocer
A greengrocer is a person who owns or operates a shop selling primarily fruit and vegetables. The term may also be used to refer to a shop selling primarily produce. It is used predominantly in the United Kingdom and Australia.
In the United ...
every Friday. There is a petrol station with a shop on the main road. Adjacent to it is a hand car wash and a mechanic's garage.
Barkston has Girl Guide and Brownie troops, and a mother-and-toddler group. A produce show is held every summer. The village has a cricket club, an indoor bowls team, and an association football team. The latter plays in the Grantham and District League Premier Division since finishing third in the 2007–2008 season in Division One.
References
External links
*
*
News items
Jet-powered wheelchair in August 2004
Lightning bolt in May 2004
{{authority control
Villages in Lincolnshire
Civil parishes in Lincolnshire
South Kesteven District