Stixwould is a small village in the
civil parish of
Stixwould and Woodhall, in the
East Lindsey
East Lindsey is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The population of the district council was 136,401 at the 2011 census. The council is based in Manby. Other major settlements in the district include Alford, Wragby, Spilsby ...
district of
Lincolnshire, England.
Geography
The village is situated east from Lincoln and north-east from the large village of
Woodhall Spa. The
River Witham runs a little over a mile to the west of the village which lies on the southern end of the
Lincolnshire Limewoods.
Stixwould lies on a finger of higher ground on the edge of the Witham
fenland, bordered to the north by the Catchwater Drain and to the south by Reeds Beck.
The historic parish of Stixwould contains numerous woodlands most notable of which are Stixwould Wood to the north-west, Halstead Wood to the west and Long Wood to the south.
Nowadays the ancient parish has been adjoined with the parish of
Woodhall to form the parish of
Stixwould and Woodhall with a combined population of 255 in 2011.
History
Stixwould's name originates from the Old English ''Stigr'' and ''wald'' meaning Stigr's forest or wood, appearing in the 1086 Domesday Book as ''Stigeswalde''.
Major John Edward Almonds, a founding member of the
SAS
SAS or Sas may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers
* ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series
* Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...
, was from Stixwould.
Medieval
Stixwould is recorded in the
Domesday Book as having twenty-one households in 1066.
To the south of the village is an area of
ridge and furrow field systems.
Nunnery
Stixwould Priory, as it is now commonly known, was a
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
nunnery founded in the twelfth century and dedicated to
St. Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
. It was dissolved in 1536. Almost immediately after its founding it was refounded in the
Benedictine order and by 1537 was of the
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
, before being finally suppressed in 1539.
After the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540 the property was given to Robert Dighton.
The earthwork remains of the nunnery and associated fishponds are still visible.
It was one of a number of monastic buildings along the sides of the Witham valley south of
Lincoln. To its north is
Tupholme Abbey and to the south is
Kirkstead Abbey.
Stixwould Ferry
A ferry operated across the
Witham on the site of the now disused railway station from the middle of the nineteenth century until the middle of the twentieth. It was purchased by
Kesteven Council in 1937.
Railway
In 1846 the Great Northern railway company purchased the land to build a rail link from Peterborough to Lincoln along the banks of the River Witham. Works commenced in 1847 and the line opened on 17 October 1848 along with Stixwould station one mile to the west of the village. The station was closed on 5 October 1970 and the station building is now a private residence. The Water Rail Way, part of the
National Cycle Network (Route 1) managed by
Sustrans, now runs along the course of the tracks.
School
A school was built in 1851 and enlarged in 1894.
Church
The
parish church is a Grade II
listed building dedicated to
Saint Peter, rebuilt in 1831 by Christopher Turner. The
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
dates from the 16th century. A 13th-century grave slab, found on the site of Stixwould Abbey, leans against north side of the church tower. There is also a 14th-century churchyard cross in the graveyard. Alice Cranmer, the sister of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, was a nun at Stixwould and its sacristan by 1525. She played a crucial role in his spiritual uncertainties whilst awaiting execution in Oxford, but ultimately he rejected the Catholic view she espoused.
Abbey Farm
Abbey Farm lies to the west of the village occupying the site of the now lost priory. The farmhouse dates from the early seventeenth century, though incorporates materials much older into the construction.
References
External links
*
"Stixwould (Stixwold)" Genuki. Retrieved 4 June 2012
"Stixwould Lincolnshire " A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 4 June 2012
{{authority control
Villages in Lincolnshire
East Lindsey District