Kirton or Kirton in Holland is an English village and

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 ...

in the Borough of Boston,

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 ...

. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,371.

History

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 terms the village ''Cherchetune''. It then had 52 households, with 30 freemen and 16 smallholders, 12 ploughlands, 10 plough teams, a meadow of , a church and two salt houses. In 1066

lordship of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

was held by Earl Ralph. It had passed 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 of No ...

by 1086. Before the local-government changes of the late 20th century, the parish came under

Boston Rural District Boston was a rural district in Holland, Lincolnshire, Holland, Lincolnshire from 1894 to 1974. It was formed from the Boston rural sanitary district by the Local Government Act 1894 and did not include the municipal borough of Boston, Lincolnshire ...

in the

Parts of Holland The Parts of Holland is a historical division of Lincolnshire, England, encompassing the south-east of the county. The name is still recognised locally and survives in the district of South Holland. Administration Parts of Holland was one of th ...

– one of three divisions or ''parts'' of the historic county of Lincolnshire, which the Local Government Act of 1888 made a county in itself in most respects. The 1885 '' Kelly's Directory'' recorded a

Kirton railway station Kirton railway station was a station in Kirton, Lincolnshire Kirton or Kirton in Holland is an English village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston, Lincolnshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 5,371. History ...

on the Great Northern Railway line between

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 ...

and Spalding line. The station closed in 1961. There existed in the 19th century Congregational and

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

chapels and

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

s for four poor women. The village market was disused. A Gas Consumers' Company Ltd formed in 1865. The main landowners were

the Mercers' Company The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...

, Sir Thomas Whichcote DL, E. R. C. Cust DL, the Very Rev.

Arthur Percival Purey-Cust Arthur Perceval Purey-Cust (born Cust; 21 February 1828 – 23 December 1916) was a Church of England cleric and author who served as Dean of York from 1880 to 1916. Biography He was born as Arthur Perceval Cust, the younger son of the Honou ...

DD, and Samuel Smeeton, whose residence was the "modern white building" of D'Eyncourt Hall. The crops grown in the parish were wheat, beans and potatoes. There was a "large quantity of pasture land" and of marsh land. The 1881 the ecclesiastical parish population was 2,011, that of the civil parish, 2,580.''Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull'' 1885, pp. 504–505.

Kirton in Holland Town Hall Kirton in Holland Town Hall is a municipal building in Station Road in Kirton, Lincolnshire, England. The structure is currently used as a community events venue and as the meeting place of Kirton Parish Council. History The town hall was comm ...

was opened in August 1912.

Church

The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The transepts had double

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s like those of

Algarkirk Algarkirk ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Boston in Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south-south-west from Boston and near the A16 road. It has a population of 406, falling to 386 at the 2011 census. An alternative vill ...

and Spalding, but, in 1804, the central

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

and transepts were pulled down and the

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 ...

shortened, the architect (Hayward) using gunpowder to remove the tower. This was completed by 1809. In 1900 a

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

of the rebuilt church was undertaken by the architect

Hodgson Fowler Charles Hodgson Fowler (2 March 1840 – 14 December 1910) was a prolific English ecclesiastical architect who specialised in building and, especially, restoring churches. Life He was born in Nottinghamshire, the son of Robert Hodgson Fowler ...

.Cox, J. Charles (1916); ''Lincolnshire'', p. 187; Methuen & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 23 April 2011.

Grammar school

In 1624, Thomas (later Sir Thomas) Middlecott was empowered by a Private Act of Parliament to found a

Free Grammar School Free Grammar Schools were schools which usually operated under the jurisdiction of the church in pre-modern England. Education had long been associated with religious institutions since a Cathedral grammar school was established at Canterbury unde ...

for teaching the Latin and Greek languages and providing English commercial and agricultural education to children from the parishes of Kirton, Sutterton, Algarkirk and

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 ...

. By 1835, the school had 40 pupils, some attending free and some paying fees. The Master (headmaster) appointed in 1773, Rev. Charles Wildbore (c. 1736–1802), and later his son by the same name (1767–1842), were later accused of diverting surplus income from the school's endowments for their own use and failing to keep up educational standards. This culminated in a parliamentary report, and ultimately a restructuring of the school management in 1851. By 1885, William Cochran was Master and a new school house had been built next to his house. Under a scheme of the '' Endowed School Act'', amended in 1898, the school ranked as a "second-grade" Grammar School.Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons (1835); ''Parliamentary Papers, Volume 42'', p. 527; BiblioBazaar, LLC (2010). . In the 1830s the village gained a girls' school for 14

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...

and

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

pupils and a

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

for 32 boys and 16 girls. The village now has a secondary modern school:

Thomas Middlecott Academy Thomas Middlecott Academy is a coeducational secondary school in Kirton, Lincolnshire, England. It was previously a community school administered by Lincolnshire County Council, but converted to academy status in March 2015. However the scho ...

''The Old King's Head''

'' The Old King's Head'' is a former public house listed as a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

historic building. The earlier part of it was built at the end of the 16th century. It underwent major alterations in 1661 in Artisan Mannerist Style. It is red brick in English bond, with recent tiles on a former thatched roof. It became a domestic residence in the 1960s, but had fallen into disrepair and was purchased in 2016 by Heritage Lincolnshire, which has assigned over £2 million for its restoration.

Geography

Kirton is on the main A16, B1397 and B1192 roads south of

, near Frampton and Sutterton. Several satellite villages and hamlets take their name from Kirton, including

Kirton Holme Kirton Holme is a village in Lincolnshire, England. It is situated within Kirton civil parish, and approximately west from the town of Boston. Kirton Holme church, Christ Church, is part of the Brothertoft Group also known as 'Five in the Fe ...

, Kirton End, Kirton Fen, Kirton Skeldyke, and Kirton Marsh. Until 1970, the village had

on a line from Boston now closed.

Kirton Meres

The parish contained the ancient manor of ''Kirton Meres'', the seat of Roger de Kirton (d. 1383), ''alias'' de Kirketon / Roger de Meres / Meeres), a Justice of the Common Pleas (1371–1380). The manor house (later known as "Orme Hall") was demolished in 1818 but the arched gatehouse (Porter's Lodge, built of brick, guard room, and chambers over it, with stone dressings, windows, archway, door-ways, and copings, surmounted by highly pitched step gables, with 15 sculpted heraldic shields, some now held by the Spalding Gentlemen's Society, Broad Street, Spalding, Lincs) survived until 1925 on the south side of the Willington Road, one mile west of the village of Kirton. Another of this family resident at Kirton Meres was the churchman Francis Meres (1565-1647).

Local governance

Local governance of the village was reorganised on 1 April 1974, as a result of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. Kirton parish forms its own electoral ward. Kirton falls within the drainage area of the Black Sluice Internal Drainage Board.

Research centre

The former Kirton Research Centre was nearby. Ownership of the centre for horticultural research was transferred from the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United K ...

to the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

in April 2004 and it became part of Horticulture Research International. In August 2009 the University closed it, as public and private funding fell £2 million short of covering its annual running costs.

Notable people

In order of birth: * Francis Meres (1565/1566 – 1647), churchman and author * Joseph Gilbert (1732 – 1821), born in Kirton, was Master of HMS ''Resolution'' on Cook's second voyage. *Dame

Sarah Swift Dame Sarah Ann Swift, GBE, RRC (22 November 1854, Kirton Skeldyke, Lincolnshire – 27 June 1937, Marylebone) was an English nurse and founder in 1916 of the Royal College of Nursing, thereby introducing Nurse registration. Early life Swift was ...

(1854 – 1937), born in Kirton Skeldyke, set up the Royal College of Nursing. * Harold Jackson VC (31 May 1892 – 24 August 1918), a sergeant in

The East Yorkshire Regiment The East Yorkshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1685 as Sir William Clifton's Regiment of Foot and later renamed the 15th Regiment of Foot. It saw service for three centuries, before eventually being ...

who received the Victoria Cross in 1917 and was killed a year later, came from Allandale, Kirton. * Oliver "Ollie" Ryan (born 1985), footballer, attended Kirton Primary School.

References

External links

Parish councilKirton NewsKirton Brass Band Sea ScoutsKirton Primary SchoolMiddlecott SchoolKirton Town Hall

Media

Horticultural research station to close in 2009
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirton, Lincolnshire Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire Borough of Boston