Raithby by Spilsby or Raithby is a 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 authorit ...

in the East Lindsey

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 county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

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. It is situated about north-west from the town of

Spilsby Spilsby is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16, east of the county town of Lincoln, north-east of Boston and north-west of Skegness. I ...

. Raithby has associations with founder of

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

, John Wesley, and the Victorian architect, George Gilbert Scott.

History

Raithby is listed in the 1086 ''

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 ...

'' as "Radebi", with 26 households, a mill and a church. The parish church is a Grade II*

listed building 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 ...

dating from the 12th century, although it was largely rebuilt in 1873 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. 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. Ov ...

was enlarged in 1886 by

Temple Moore Temple Lushington Moore (7 June 1856 – 30 June 1920) was an English architect who practised in London. He is famed for a series of fine Gothic Revival churches built between about 1890 and 1917 and also restored many churches and designed ch ...

, and the tower renewed by Hodgson Fowler in 1895. The

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

is Grade II listed and dates from 1907. It was dedicated to the memory of Sophy Janet Rawnsley, of Raithby Hall. In the grounds of the churchyard is a stone cross, mostly dating from 1903 but using part of an earlier shaft. The old base is not used and lies away. The red-brick Raithby Hall was the seat of the Brackenbury and Rawnsley families, built around 1760 for Robert Carr Brackenbury and extended in 1848 and 1873 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. It is now an old peoples home, and is Grade II listed. This village played an important role in the spread of Methodism in Lincolnshire. After visiting Raithby in 1788, John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, declared it ‘an earthly paradise’. Raithby contains one of the oldest Methodist chapels in England, and one of the few surviving chapels opened by Wesley himself. Raithby Chapel was built over a stable block in the grounds of Raithby Hall in 1779 by

Robert Carr Brackenbury Robert Carr Brackenbury (28 May 1752 – 11 August 1818) was born in 1752 at Panton House, near Wragby, Lincolnshire. His biographer, Terence R Leach, Brackenbury's biographer, describes him as a ‘poet, practitioner, philanthropist and mystic’. ...

, and was dedicated by Wesley on 5 July 1779. It is a Grade I listed building. The children of Raithby were served by a village school from 1668 when Thomas Lawford founded a Free School where children from Raithby, Mavis Enderby, Hundleby and Sausthorpe were educated. The school was rebuilt in 1866 to hold 45 pupils. By the 1870s it was known as Raithby and Mavis Enderby School, and Raithby and Enderby CE School by 1925. It closed on 21 December 1949.

Community

Raithby is situated 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 around from the market town of

Horncastle Horncastle is a town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains. History Romans Alt ...

, the "gateway to the Wolds". It is also north-west from the coastal resort of

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 19,579 as of 2011, ...

. Nearby attractions include the birthplaces of Alfred, Lord Tennyson at Somersby, and explorer

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

at Spilsby. The mid-18th-century Grade II listed The Red Lion Inn is the village

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 ...

. Raithby is served by the Interconnet 56 bus service runs which runs from Lincoln Central bus station to Skegness Interchange. The bus stops outside the Red Lion Inn pub.

Notable people

John Morley John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn, (24 December 1838 – 23 September 1923) was a British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor. Initially, a journalist in the North of England and then editor of the newly Liberal-leani ...

(1838–1864), first-class cricketer

References

External links

*
The Red Lion Inn
{{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District