Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. la, Croilandia) is a town in the

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

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. It is situated between

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and Spalding. Crowland contains two sites of historical interest, Crowland Abbey and Trinity Bridge.

History

The town's two historical points of interest are the ruined medieval Crowland Abbey and the 14th-century three-sided bridge, Trinity Bridge, which stands at its central point and used to be the confluence of three streams. In about 701, a monk named Guthlac came to what was then an island in the Fens to live the life of a hermit. Following in Guthlac's footsteps, a monastic community came into being here, which was dedicated to

Saint Mary the Virgin Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

, Saint Bartholomew and Saint Guthlac in the eighth century. The place-name 'Crowland' is first attested circa 745 AD in the ''Vita S. Guthlaci auctore Felice'', reprinted in the ''Memorials of Saint Guthlac'' published in

Wisbech Wisbech ( ) is a market town, inland Port of Wisbech, port and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district in Cambridgeshire, England. In 2011 it had a population of 31,573. The town lies in the far north-east of Cambridgeshire, bord ...

in 1881. Here the name appears as ''Cruglond'', ''Crugland'', ''Cruuulond'' and ''Cruwland''. It appears as ''Croiland'' 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 ...

of 1086. The word ''"cruw"'' is thought to mean a bend, and to refer to the bend in the

River Welland The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market ...

at Crowland, which was more pronounced before the draining of the fens. The town of Crowland grew up round the abbey. By a charter dated 716,

Æthelbald of Mercia Æthelbald (also spelled Ethelbald or Aethelbald; died 757) was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands from 716 until he was killed in 757. Æthelbald was the son of Alweo and thus a grandson of King Eowa. Æthelbald came to t ...

granted the isle of Crowland, free from all secular services, to the abbey with a gift of money, and leave to build and enclose the town. The charter's privileges were confirmed by numerous other royal charters extending over a period of nearly 800 years. Under Abbot Ægelric the fens were tilled, the monastery grew rich, and the town increased in size, enormous tracts of land being held by the abbey at the Domesday Survey. The ''

Croyland Chronicle Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. la, Croilandia) is a town in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland c ...

'' (1144–1486), an important source for medieval historians, is believed to be the work of some of the monastery's inhabitants. The town was nearly destroyed by fire (1469–1476), but the abbey tenants were given money to rebuild it. By virtue of his office the abbot had a seat in parliament, but the town was never a parliamentary borough. Abbot Ralph Mershe in 1257 obtained a grant of a market every Wednesday, confirmed by Henry IV in 1421, but it was afterwards moved to Thorney. The annual fair of St Bartholomew, which originally lasted twelve days, was first mentioned in Henry III's confirmatory charter of 1227. The dissolution of the monastery in 1539 was fatal to the progress of the town, and it rapidly sank into the position of an unimportant village. The abbey lands were granted by Edward VI to

Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln Edward Fiennes, or Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln KG (151216 January 1584/85) was an English landowner, peer, and Lord High Admiral. He rendered valuable service to four of the Tudor monarchs. Family Edward Clinton, or Fiennes, was born a ...

, from whose family they passed in 1671 to the Orby family. In 1642, near the start of the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, the remains of the abbey were fortified and garrisoned by Royalists under Governor

Thomas Stiles Thomas Stiles or Styles ('' fl.'' 1642–1662) of Walton in the parish of Paston, Northamptonshire, was a captain in the Royalist army during the English Civil War. He was governor of Crowland in 1642–1643 and after a time as a prisoner, command ...

. After a short siege it was taken by Parliamentarian forces under the command of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

in May 1643. The surrounding agricultural area suffered from extensive flooding in 1947 as the

and the surrounding drain network was overwhelmed with

meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be ...

. A flood defence bank, West Bank, still exists, forming the north-west perimeter of the village and eastern flank of the River Welland's flood plain. The

Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line"''Joint Line Joy'', in the Railway Magazine, June 2015 was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern cou ...

crossed the north-east part of the parish until the 1980s. It passed near De Key's Farm to the east and Martin's Farm to the north. Postland railway station was near Postland House.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

in the name of Crowland and Deeping St Nicholas exists. This ward has a total population taken at the 2011 census of 6,172.

Geography

Crowland is nearer to the outskirts of

than Spalding, and (similar to other settlements of the Welland) is less than north of the boundary with the City of Peterborough. The main road is the A16, which provides connections with Spalding to the north and Peterborough to the south (via the A47). The east-west B1166 connects with Deeping St. James, the north side of the Welland to the west and Holbeach Drove to the east, and Thorney is accessed via the B1040 to the south-east. From 1894 the parish, being the only part of the Peterborough Rural Sanitary District in Lincolnshire, formed its own Crowland

Rural District Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

. This was merged into

Spalding Rural District Spalding was a rural district in Holland in Lincolnshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from the Spalding rural sanitary district. Spalding itself constituted a separate urban district. It was exp ...

under a

County Review Order The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boar ...

in the 1930s. It has formed part of the

district since April 1974. Crowland falls within the drainage area of the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board.

Nature reserve

The Crowland Ponds Nature Reserve is north of the town, next to the west side of the Welland.

Education

The town currently has one school, South View Primary, which has moved from its former home on Reform Street to the much larger former St Guthlac School site on Postland Road in September 2014. Crowland's former secondary school was named The St Guthlac School after the abbey's founder. It was situated at the junction of the

B1166 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 G ...

and B1040. Lincolnshire Country Council made the decision at the begin of July 2011 that The St Guthlac School would close as part of the creation of the

University Academy Holbeach University Academy Holbeach is a Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England. The school was established in 2011 following the closure of The St Guthlac's School in Crowland and ...

, to be situated on the site of the former George Farmer Technology and Language College in Holbeach.

Notes

References

* Detailed History * Abbey History

External links

Crowland Parish Plan Website

"Hen Spectacles 1951"
Pathe newsreel {{authority control Towns in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire South Holland, Lincolnshire Nature reserves in Lincolnshire