Haddington is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

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 bas ...

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 just off the

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...

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 ...

, now the A46, south-west from

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

and west from Aubourn. It is in 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 authority ...

of Aubourn with Haddington.

Geography

Haddington is part of the

of Aubourn and Haddington. It contains a mixture of houses and farm buildings, all brick built, an
stands
on the north bank 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 ...

200m from th
river
The parish primary school is in South Hykeham.

Earthworks

Between the hamlet and the river are the

earthworks Earthworks may refer to: Construction *Earthworks (archaeology), human-made constructions that modify the land contour * Earthworks (engineering), civil engineering works created by moving or processing quantities of soil *Earthworks (military), m ...

of what appears to be a considerable

manorial Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...

complex or grange. However, it has not so far been possible to carry out the archaeological work needed to positively identify them. The complex consists chiefly of one more or less square

moated A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

area of 30m by 40m, surrounded by water-filled ditches. A rectangular platform which lies to the west is partly ditched and approximately 100m across; it has the appearance of part of a

formal garden A formal garden is a garden with a clear structure, geometric shapes and in most cases a symmetrical layout. Its origin goes back to the gardens which are located in the desert areas of Western Asia and are protected by walls. The style of a forma ...

. There is a narrow bank across it 20m from the west end, which may conceal a buried wall; it encloses part of the west end, but is unclear at its southern corner. A 30m length of water may have been a symmetrical pond. The remainder of the earthworks continue on a layout almost at right angles to the rest. What is onl
visible
is a medieval

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

Community

The ecclesiastical parish is ''Aubourn with Haddington'' which is part of ''The Bassingham Group'' of 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 Graffoe. The parish church is St Peter's in Aubourn. As at 2014 the incumbent is the Revd Canon Nick Buck. The Bassingham group is very active, styling itself ''Withamside United Parish''. The mobile library visits every month. There is no scheduled bus route but flexible public transport serves the parish.

References

External links

*
Parish Council
(shared with Aubourn) *details of permissive site access to the earthworks {{Authority control Hamlets in Lincolnshire North Kesteven District Former civil parishes in Lincolnshire