Eagle is a village in the

North Kesteven North Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The district is located to the east of Nottinghamshire, north-east of Leicestershire and south of the city of Lincoln. Its council, North Kesteven District Council, is b ...

district of

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 south-west 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 east from

North Scarle North Scarle is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 640. The village is situated close to the River Trent, about south-west from the cit ...

. Eagle is part of the

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 ...

of Eagle and Swinethorpe. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 793. All Saints Anglican church dates from the 13th century and is Grade II listed. It was rebuilt in the 18th century and again in 1904.Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' p. 120; Methuen & Co. Ltd The village has a primary school, post office, village hall, park, nursing home, playing field, and public house.

Toponymy

Scholars believe that the name means "Oak-tree wood or clearing.", from Old English ''āc'', an oak-tree and Old English ''lēah'', a forest, wood, glade or clearing, and in consequence, there is no connection to the large bird of prey, the

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

History

Eagle appears in ''

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 ...

'': the landowners were: Roger of Poitou (property formerly by Arnketill Barn), Durand Malet, Odo the Crossbowman (land formerly owned by Gunnketill), and Countess Judith (land formerly owned by Earl

Waltheof of Northumbria Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria ( enm, Wallef, on, Valþjóf) (died 31 May 1076) was the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls and the only English aristocrat to be executed during the reign of William I. Early life Waltheof was the second son of Siwa ...

). Eagle had a church and a priest. Countess Judith's manor had a value of £12. Countess Judith was a niece of King

William I of England William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

– she was the daughter of his half-sister

Adelaide of Normandy Adelaide of Normandy (or Adeliza) ( 1030 – bef. 1090) was the ruling Countess of Aumale in her own right in 1069-1087. She was the sister of William the Conqueror. Life Born 1030, Adelaide was an illegitimate daughter of the Duchy of Normand ...

and her husband Lambert II, Count of Lens. She was also the widow of Earl Waltheof of Northumbria (1072–75, the last of the Anglo-Saxon Earls of England) who she had betrayed over his part in the Revolt of the Earls, and who was executed in 1076. A

preceptory A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a '' precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddh ...

of the Knights Templar was founded in Eagle by King Stephen. In 1312 it passed to the

Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

and became one of only two infirmaries for Templars in England. Stephen's original endowment included the manor of Eagle and the churches of Eagle, Swinderby and Scarle.

Lincolnshire preceptories

Until their disbandment in 1312, the Knights Templar were major landowners on the higher lands of Lincolnshire, where they had a number of preceptories on property which provided income, while

Temple Bruer Temple Bruer with Temple High Grange is a civil parish and a former extra-parochial area in North Kesteven, Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coast ...

was an estate on the Lincoln Heath, believed to have been used also for military training. The preceptories from which the Lincolnshire properties were managed were: * Aslackby Preceptory,

Kesteven The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland. Etymology Th ...

() * Bottesford,

Lindsey Lindsey may refer to : Places Canada * Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia England * Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 ** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, ...

() *Eagle, Kesteven () *

Great Limber Great Limber is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 271. It is on the A18, west from Grimsby and 8 miles east from Brigg. In 1885 ''Kell ...

, Lindsey () *

Horkstow Horkstow is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England, south-west from Barton-upon-Humber, south from South Ferriby and north from Brigg. It lies on the B1204, and east from the navigable River Ancholme.

, Lindsey () *

Witham Preceptory Withham Preceptory, one of the smallest Knights Templar preceptories in England, was founded, before 1164, at Temple Hill, near South Witham, Lincolnshire, and was abandoned in the early 14th century. The site of the former preceptory at Temple ...

, Kesteven () *

Willoughton Preceptory Willoughton Preceptory was a holding of the Knights Templar in Lincolnshire, England. The preceptory stood at the farm still called Temple Garth. Willoughton, founded during the reign of Stephen, was the richest of the English houses of the Tem ...

, Lindsey () * Byard's Leap () was part of the Temple Bruer estate.

Geography

The village main road is High Street, running approximately north-east to south-west. To the north of High Street the road to Scarle branches off towards the west; in the centre of the village Thorpe Road branches off towards the south-east. Church Lane on the west side of the village is a horseshoe loop joining High Street at both ends. Older maps show Green Lane, now a footpath, approximately parallel to High Street on its east. There are three small housing estates: Falcon Close off Thorpe Lane, built in the 1960s; Hilltop Close off Scarle Lane, built in the 1970s; and Kestrel Rise off the southern High Street, built in the 1980s. The areas and hamlets adjacent to the village are Eagle Moor, north-east; Eagle Hall, south-west; and Eagle Barnsdale, south-east. The nearest villages are Swinderby, south; North Scarle, west; and Thorpe on the Hill, east. Eagle is excellently situated for access to the A1 going north and south via the A57 and A46 respectively. It is also only 15 minutes from Newark Northgate station with East Coast Line connections to Edinburgh, Leeds and London (90 mins travel time). Consequently, villages on the SW side of Lincoln are attracting commuters able to afford properties that would be out of reach in the SE. Eagle is home to a number of businesses including catering, software, secondhand/antiquarian books, game shooting, solar panels and horse management.

References

External links