Holland Fen is a settlement in the Borough of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

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 approximately north-west 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 ...

, and less than west 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 ...

History

Holland Fen has been known as the Haute Huntre, or Eight Hundred Fen. In 1720 Earl Fitzwilliam decided to drain the Holland Fen, having been frustrated by the local Commissioners of Sewers. He built the North

Forty Foot Drain The Forty Foot or Forty Foot Drain is a name given to several of the principal channels in the drainage schemes of the Fens of Eastern England, the name being qualified when there is a need to distinguish between them. They are Vermuyden's Dr ...

, which emptied by Lodowicks Gowt into the River Witham above Grand Sluice. The North Forty Foot was subsequently diverted to the South Forty Foot Drain at Cooks Lock and from there to Boston Haven through Black Sluice. The Haute Huntre was drained and

enclosed Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

in 1767. Holland Fen was an 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 ...

created in 1812 and abolished in 1948. It is now part of the

Holland Fen with Brothertoft Holland Fen with Brothertoft is a civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, consisting, as the name indicates, of Holland Fen and Brothertoft, but also includes the areas known as Pelhams Land , Harts Ground and Pepper Gowt Plot. The population ...

parish. Holland Fen consists of: *Holland Fen *Ferry Corner Plot *River Bottom * North Forty Foot Bank *Hedgehog Bridge *Toft Tunnel

Church

The church is dedicated to All Saints and was built as a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

Fosdyke Fosdyke is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 480. It is situated approximately south from Boston, just off the A17, and east from the junction ...

in 1812. It was constructed of brick in

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

style, with

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

only, and bell turret.''

Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses o ...

of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull'' 1885, p. 481 In 1964 ''Pevsner'' noted a chancel dated 1880, a west gallery on iron shafts, a

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

with

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) * Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...

pilasters In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wall ...

, and a

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. Re ...

probably by William Bell.

Pevsner, Nikolaus Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (19 ...

; Harris, John; ''The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire'' p. 575; Penguin, (1964); revised by Nicholas Antram (1989), Yale University Press. Today, All Saints' Church is part of the Holland Fen with Brothertoft Group, also known as "Five in the Fen" which also includes: *Saint Gilbert Of Sempringham,

Brothertoft Brothertoft is a village in Lincolnshire, England, about northwest from the market town of Boston. It is part of the civil parish of Holland Fen with Brothertoft . History Evidence has been found that the area now known as Brothertoft was k ...

*Christ Church, Kirton Holme *Saint Margaret of Scotland,

Langrick Langrick is a small village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Langriville, and on the B1192 road, north-west from Boston. The village lies in the Lincolnshire Fens, and less than east from th ...

*Saint Peter,

Wildmore Wildmore is a civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately north-west from the town of Boston and south from Horncastle. There is no village called Wildmore; the village of New York lies wi ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire