Baston is a village and parish on the edge of

The Fens The Fens, also known as the , in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a ...

and in the

administrative district Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

of South Kesteven,

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. The 2011 census reported the parish had 1,469 people in 555 households. Like most fen-edge parishes, it was laid out more than a thousand years ago, in an elongated form, to afford the produce from a variety of habitats for the villagers. The village itself lies along the road between King Street, a road built in the second century, and Baston Fen which is on the margin of the much bigger

Deeping Fen Deeping Fen is a low-lying area in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England, which covers approximately . It is bounded by the River Welland and the River Glen, and is extensively drained, but the efficient drainage of the land exerc ...

. Until the nineteenth century, the heart of Deeping Fen was a common fen on which all the surrounding villages had rights of

turbary Turbary is the ancient right to cut turf, or peat, for fuel on a particular area of bog. The word may also be used to describe the associated piece of bog or peatland and, by extension, the material extracted from the turbary. Turbary rights, whic ...

fowling Fowling is the hunting of birds by humans, for food ( meat), feathers or any other commercially value products, or simply for leisure (" sporting") or collecting trophies. It is comparable to wildfowling, the practice of hunting waterfowl ...

and

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or sw ...

History

A significant Roman feature of Baston is the Roman road leading across the fen towards Spalding. Part of the modern fen road follows it. At the end of the village, near King Street, was an Anglian

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

which was in use up to about the year 500. This coincides approximately with the date of the beginning of King Arthur's exploits, as reported by the

Historia Brittonum ''The History of the Britons'' ( la, Historia Brittonum) is a purported history of the indigenous British ( Brittonic) people that was written around 828 and survives in numerous recensions that date from after the 11th century. The ''Historia B ...

, when Arthur fought his first battle at the mouth of the River Glen and stopped the spread of Anglo-Saxon settlement for fifty years. The Anglo-Saxon cemetery, of funerary urns, was found by Rev. Edward Trollope in 1851. He found around 10 burials in 1863 and traces of another 16 were found in 1963 Like most places in Europe, Baston suffered from the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pe ...

. Some Baston plague victims are shown in burial lists. A possible plague burial was uncovered during the building of a corn dryer. The 'Baston Pig' was a name for the Lincolnshire Curly Coat pig.

Governance

Baston is served by a Parish Council, two District Councillors who represent Casewick Ward on South Kesteven District Council and a County Councillor representing Deepings West & Rural Division on Lincolnshire County Council. The current District Councillors elected in May 2011 and re-elected in 2015 are Kelham Cooke (Con) and Rosemary Trollope-Bellew (Con). The Lincolnshire County Councillor elected in 2017 is Rosemary Trollope-Bellew (Con).

Geography

Geographically, in the fen, the parish's northern boundary lies on the River Glen, beyond which is Thurlby. To the south is Langtoft and beyond King Street in the west is

Greatford Greatford is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated west from the A15, north-east from Stamford, and south from Bourne. Greatford is noted for Greatford Hall, once the home of ...

Geology

The parish lies on a fan of gravel from the Devensian glacial period, which spreads from the upland mouth of the

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

of the

River Welland The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market ...

, to the east of

Stamford, Lincolnshire Stamford is a town and civil parish in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701 and estimated at 20,645 in 2019. The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed ...

. There are two main forms of business in the parish:

arable farming Arable land (from the la, wikt:arabilis#Latin, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Al ...

and gravel extraction. The flooded gravel pits subsequently lend themselves to development for leisure pursuits such as

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

and

watersports Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boatin ...

. The gravel was washed down from the tundra environment to the west and deposited in the

periglacial Periglaciation (adjective: "periglacial", also referring to places at the edges of glacial areas) describes geomorphic processes that result from seasonal thawing of snow in areas of permafrost, the runoff from which refreezes in ice wedges and o ...

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, known as Lake Fenland, below the icy waters of which the site of Baston then lay. The authors are not entirely convinced by some of the earlier published references in this regard, but they do link to them.

Education

Independent special school

Kirkstone House School Kirkstone House School is an independent day school situated in the rural village of Baston in south Lincolnshire, England. The school provides education for boys and girls aged between 4 and 18. Ages 4 to 11 are taught in the separate junior s ...

has been in the village since 1964. Baston CE Primary School was opened in the village in July 1993.

Sport

In 2002, a group of local residents decided that the village needed an area where a range of sports could be conducted. The cost of a sports hall was thought to be prohibitive, so the project was focused on a multi-use sports and skateboarding area. Following a village-wide survey, which had a 37% return rate, a public meeting was held in June 2002. As a result of both the survey and public meeting, it was decided that there was a mandate from the village to progress the project. Consequently, B-Active was formed as a sub-committee of the BPFMC. As part of this the Baston Football Club was formed in 2005, and joined the Grantham & District Saturday Afternoon League. The club runs two adult teams playing in the Peterborough & District League on a Saturday afternoon. It plays its home games at Brudenell Playing Field in Baston, and is sponsored by local businesses. Baston cricket club plays in the south Lincs Division 1 league. The club won promotion last year by winning the division 2 title. Off the playing field the cricket club is advancing at a rapid pace. Last year saw the club purchase covers, and new this season is a pair of sight screens built from scratch and kindly donated by club member 'Big' Dave Ford. There are tennis courts for year-round use. Both sports field and village hall are managed by the Brudenell Playing Fields Management Committee.

References

External links

"Baston"

Genuki GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

.org.uk
"The Parish of Baston"
The Bourne Archive * {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire South Kesteven District