Foston is a village and a
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 ...
in the
South Kesteven 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.
The village is situated northwest 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 ...
. The
A1 road runs through the parish and borders the south of the village. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 525.
History
According to ''A Dictionary of British Place Names'', Foston derives from "a farmstead or a village of a man called Fotr"; Fotr being an
Old Scandinavian person name. 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 manus ...
'', Foston is written as 'Foztun'.
In ''Domesday'' there are entries for two manors in the
Hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...
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 ...
at Foston. Between the two there were 64 households, with 12
villagers, 6
smallholder
A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technology ...
s, and 43
freemen. There were 16
ploughlands and of meadow. The manorial
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
of one manor in 1066 was Thorfridh, this transferred by 1086 to Hervey; the other in 1066, Earl Ralph the constable, transferred to
Count Alan of Brittany
Alan Rufus, alternatively Alanus Rufus (Latin), Alan ar Rouz ( Breton), Alain le Roux ( French) or Alan the Red (c. 1040 – 1093), 1st Lord of Richmond, was a Breton nobleman, kinsman and companion of William the Conqueror (Duke William II o ...
who was also
Tenant-in-chief
In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...
to King
William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
for both manors.
In 1872 ''
White's Directory'' reported that Foston had a population of 329 within a parish of , the land of which largely belonged to the
Earl of Dysart
Earl of Dysart (pronounced ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1643 and has been held continuously since then by descendants of the 1st Earl, William Murray.
Creation
The title was created in 1643 for William Murray, ...
. The
ecclesiastical parish
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 ...
was a joint
benefice with
Long Bennington under the
patronage of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
. The
impropriator was the Earl of Dysart, but the
tithes
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
(tax income from parishioners derived from their profit on sales, or extraction of produce and animals, typically to the tenth part) were commuted after an enclosure of 1793
Inclosure Act
The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...
]. A National school (England and Wales), National School was built in 1847. The nearest railway station was at Hougham, Lincolnshire, Hougham. Trades listed in 1872 included three tailors, four shopkeepers, two shoemakers, a cattle salesman, a corn miller, a butcher, a carpenter, a blacksmith, a machine owner, a harness maker who was also an assistant overseer, two carriers—horse-drawn wagon operators carrying goods and sometimes people between places of trade—operating between the village and both
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
and Grantham, and seven farmers, four of whom were also
graziers. There were the
licensed victualler
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the t ...
s of The White Horse, The Duke William and The Black Boy
public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...
s. The victualler of The Black Boy was also a wheelwright.
Landmarks
At the south of the parish, south from the A1 and east from Foston Road leading to
Allington, is the site of an 18th-century windmill.
Foston contains five
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
buildings. The Grade I parish Church of St Peter on Church Street dates to the late 12th century, with later additions and changes, including, in 1859, those by
Charles Kirk, son to the senior
Charles Kirk. Foston's Grade II listed buildings on Main Street are: the brick built Manor Farmhouse, dating to the late 18th century; the late 18th-century 'Renard', a red brick house converted from two cottages; and The Old Hall, a stone and red brick house dating at its earliest to 1647. On Newark Hill is The Old Post Office, a Grade II brick house dating to the early 19th century.
References
External links
Foston Village Community Web site
{{authority control
Villages in Lincolnshire
Civil parishes in Lincolnshire
South Kesteven District