Metheringham 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 authorit ...

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 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 ...

. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 3,605. It is about south of the city and county town of

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 north of

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

. The centre of the village is a conservation area.

History

The village is a documented settlement in 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 manus ...

'' of 1086 and is thought to date from Saxon times. It appears to be associated with the name "Medrich". The addition of the plural ending "-es" together with the familiar "-ham" ending is thought to have produced "Medrichesham" (the homestead of Medrich), which in time became corrupted into the modern name of the village. The earliest surviving document relating specifically to the village dates from 24 June 1314, in the reign of Edward II. In July 1599, a great fire left only a few houses standing. It started in a gully that ran the length of the village street. ''White's 1842 Directory of Lincolnshire'' called Metheringham "a large improving village, on a gentle declivity, between Lincoln Heath and the Cardyke

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

, 9 miles S. E. of Lincoln. Its parish increased its population from 536 in 1801, to 880 in 1831, to 1197 in 1841,and contains 5682A res 1R od 32P rchesof land." It also notes, "An ancient Cross, which stood in the village, was replaced by a new one in 1835, at the cost of about £25, and a market is now held round it on Saturday evenings. The drainage of the parish is aided by a steam engine of 25-horse power, and has dried an ancient spring called Holywell." It describes the church (see below) and adds, "Here is a Wesleyan Chapel, erected in 1840. A School was established by subscription in 1841, and there is a flourishing Sick Club, and also a Cow Club. The poor parishioners have 3R.37P. of land left by one Colley; and an annuity of £3, left by John Ellis in 1829." The village war memorial records the names of 42 men who died for their country in the First World War and eight who fell in the Second World War.

Notable person

The village was the birthplace of H. F. Ellis (1907–2000), a writer who developed the comic schoolmaster character A. J. Wentworth B. A. in the magazine ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'' and later in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''.

Geography

Metheringham lies east of the

Lincoln Cliff The Lincoln Cliff or Lincoln Edge is a portion of a major escarpment that runs north–south through Lindsey and Kesteven in central Lincolnshire and is a prominent landscape feature in a generally flat portion of the county. Towards its northe ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

, on the western edge of

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich Groundwater, ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as ...

land extending south-east towards

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

The Wash The Wash is a rectangular bay and multiple estuary at the north-west corner of East Anglia on the East coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire and both border the North Sea. One of Britain's broadest estuaries, it is fed by the riv ...

. It lies on the north–south B1188 between Ruskington and Branston, and on the east–west B1202 and B1189 roads. Dunston is to the north, and

Scopwick Scopwick is a small village and civil parish in the district of North Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England, situated south from Lincoln. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 815. The parish includes Kirkby Green, a hamlet to t ...

and Blankney are to the south. The railway station is in Station Road (B1189). The centre of the village is a conservation area. To the west and the A15 is Metheringham Heath, on which is a SSSI at a local quarry. To the east is Metheringham Fen, across which lies Metheringham Delph, which drains into the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

from where it connects to the

Car Dyke The Car Dyke was, and to a large extent still is, an long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England. It is generally accepted as being of Roman age and, for many centuries, to have been taken as marking the western ...

near an old wartime airfield. The Metheringham Delph nature reserve at Tanvats, and Sots Hole, are nearby.

Community

Metheringham is known to locals as "Meg". The population of the built-up area was estimated at 3,595 in 2018. The parish church of St Wilfrid belongs to the Metheringham group with Blankney and Dunston. There is
Methodist church
built in 1907 by the architect

Albert Edward Lambert Albert Edward Lambert FRIBA (27 May 1869 – 5 November 1929) was an architect based in Nottingham, England. Family He was born in Manton in Rutland on 27 May 1869. He was the son of John Lambert and Louisa. By 1871 the family had moved to Dr ...

. San Damiano House is one of five houses in England of the Community of St. Francis, a

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

Anglican religious order Anglican religious orders are communities of men or women (or in some cases mixed communities of both men and women) in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule of life. The members of religious orders take vows which often include ...

for women. The village has a primary school, a High Street cafe, a

Co-op A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

store, and a traditional butcher's shop, which has been trading for over 80 years. It has four pubs: the ''Star & Garter'' in Prince's Street, the ''White Hart Inn'', the ''Lincolnshire Poacher'' in High Street, and the ''Londesborough Arms''. Metheringham is served by an hourly daytime, Monday-to-Saturday bus between Boston and Lincoln, provided by Brylaine. This runs less frequently on Sundays. Other services run to South Kyme (P. C. Coaches) and to Sleaford (Road Car). There are regular direct Monday-to-Saturday train services to Lincoln,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, Spalding,

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, and Leicester.Trainline Europ
Retrieved 7 December 2015

References

External links

*
Metheringham primary schoolMetheringham and District Community websiteSt Wilfrid's churchMetheringham Airfield"Jet-powered luge - a tea tray on wheels"
''

Lincolnshire Echo The ''Lincolnshire Echo'' is a weekly British regional newspaper for Lincolnshire, whose first edition was on Tuesday 31 January 1893, and is published every Thursday. It is owned by Reach PLC and it is distributed throughout the county. The ...