Byard's Leap is a hamlet in the

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 b ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, 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-we ...

, England. It is situated approximately west from Cranwell, and is part of the

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 authorit ...

of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard's Leap. The hamlet is associated with various legends. Byard's Leap is associated with the activities of the Knights Templar, who perhaps held

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

s and

joust Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponen ...

s on the site. It lay at the southern end of their

Temple Bruer Temple Bruer with Temple High Grange is a civil parish and a former extra-parochial area in North Kesteven, Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coast ...

military training ground.

Legend

The story, re-told by

Ethel Rudkin Ethel Rudkin (189321 September 1985) was an English writer, historian, archaeologist and folklorist from Lincolnshire. She pioneered the collection of folk material, particularly from Lincolnshire, and her collections are now part of several publ ...

, states there was a witch called Old Meg, an evil

crone In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructive. The Crone is also an archetypal fig ...

who plagued the local villagers from her cave or hut in a spinney near the turning to

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

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' ...

, here called High Dike. She was a bane of the countryside and caused the crops to whither. A local champion, a retired soldier, came forward in response to the villagers' requests, and he asserted that he could kill her by driving a sword through her heart. To select a horse suitable for this task, he went to a pond where horses drank and dropped a stone in the pond, selecting the horse that reacted quickest, and this horse was known locally as 'Blind Byard', as he was blind. The champion went to the witch's cave and called her out, but the witch refused, saying she was eating and he would have to wait. However, she crept up behind him and sank her long nails into the horse who ran, leaping over . The champion regained control of the horse when they reached the pond, pursued by the witch, where he turned and thrust his sword into her heart, and she fell into the pond and drowned. The spot where Blind Byard landed is marked by four posts in the ground with horseshoes on, and a commemorative stone. The sharply-cut small valley in the limestone, which is now smoothed over by ploughing, is as likely a site as any for the dramatic events, assuming they happened. An aerial photograph shows the High Dike running north and south in the centre,

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the Royal Air Force College (RAFC), which tra ...

is to the east and the valley lies between them. Byard's Leap is at the south centre. The magical horse

Bayard Bayard may refer to: People * Bayard (given name) * Bayard (surname) *Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard (1473–1524) French knight Places * Bayard, Delaware, an unincorporated community *Bayard (Jacksonville), Florida, a neighborhood * Bayard ...

appears in several continental medieval romances. A slightly different telling of the story can be found in Christopher Marlowe's book, ''Legends of the Fenland People'' (1926). A 1973 folk song by the band

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...

told the legend of Byard's Leap.

Lincolnshire preceptories

Until their disbandment in 1312, the Knights Templar were major landowners on the higher lands of Lincolnshire, where they had a number of preceptories on property which provided income, while

was an estate on the Lincoln Heath, believed to have been used also for military training. The preceptories from which the Lincolnshire properties were managed were: * Aslackby Preceptory,

Kesteven The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland. Etymology Th ...

() * Bottesford,

Lindsey Lindsey may refer to : Places Canada * Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia England * Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 ** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, ...

() *

Eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

, Kesteven () *

Great Limber Great Limber is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 271. It is on the A18, west from Grimsby and 8 miles east from Brigg. In 1885 ''Kell ...

, Lindsey () *

Horkstow Horkstow is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England, south-west from Barton-upon-Humber, south from South Ferriby and north from Brigg. It lies on the B1204, and east from the navigable River Ancholme.

, Lindsey () *

Witham Preceptory Withham Preceptory, one of the smallest Knights Templar preceptories in England, was founded, before 1164, at Temple Hill, near South Witham, Lincolnshire, and was abandoned in the early 14th century. The site of the former preceptory at Temple ...

, Kesteven () *

Willoughton Preceptory Willoughton Preceptory was a holding of the Knights Templar in Lincolnshire, England. The preceptory stood at the farm still called Temple Garth. Willoughton, founded during the reign of Stephen, was the richest of the English houses of the Tem ...

, Lindsey () * Byard's Leap () was part of the Temple Bruer estate.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Hamlets in Lincolnshire North Kesteven District