Ropsley is a village in the

South Kesteven South Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Bourne, Grantham, Market Deeping and Stamford. The 2011 census reports 133,788 people at 1.4 p ...

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. The village is situated approximately east from

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln a ...

, and falls within 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 ...

Ropsley and Humby Ropsley and Humby is a civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. According to the 2001 Census it had a population of 808, increasing to 816 at the 2011 census. The parish consists of the small villages of Ropsley and ...

. Ropsley is the location of the source of the River East Glen (River Eden).

History

Ropsley was the birthplace of

Richard Foxe Richard Foxe (sometimes Richard Fox) ( 1448 – 5 October 1528) was an English churchman, the founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was successively Bishop of Exeter, Bath and Wells, Durham, and Winchester, and became also Lo ...

, the Tudor Bishop who funded the Grammar School at Grantham and Corpus Christi College at Oxford. A 300-year-old ring dam, south-east from the village and identified by a group of trees, was once used as a sheep wash; the blue brickwork of the sheep wash can still be seen. There are paths from the village, past the ring dam, to Little Humby. There several disused quarries nearby, two of which are situated within the village itself.

Community

There is now one 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 ...

: The Green Man, The Ropsley Fox closed down in 2012. Previous pubs included The Peacock. The village bakery was on the high street for 300 years, one of the oldest in the country, closing in 1979. Now a private house, many people can remember visiting the bakery as children to get the family bread and cakes. Ropsley village hall has grounds which incorporate a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

court, a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

pitch and a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

pitch. There is a 12-hole golf course on the outskirts of the village. The village running club is Ropsley Road Runners. Ropsley war memorial is in the centre of the village and dedicated to First and Second World War servicemen. Each year on

Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces members who have died in ...

a parade, led by a piper, travels from St Peter's Church to the memorial for two minutes silence. A number of walks in the Ropsley area run through traditional English woodland, including Ropsley Rise Woods. Previously there were several small farms in the Ropsley area. Today very little of the land is used for livestock; it is almost all arable farmland, growing crops including barley and oil seed rape.

St Peter's Church

The church of St Peter dates back to Norman times. Some parts of the church appear to be of Anglo-Saxon origin. The building dates back to at least 1380. In the 17th century part of the church was demolished and re built by the vicar of the time, Reverend Francis Furlong, because dry rot was discovered in the walls. Two war memorials are inside St Peter's Church: one commemorates War dead, the second, a

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

window, is a memorial to Sgt Pilot of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, William Philip Dales from

Little Humby Little Humby or Humby is a hamlet in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of Ropsley and Humby, east from Grantham, south-east from Ropsley and south from the A52 road. Great Humby, a smaller h ...

. The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

is part of The North Beltisloe Group of parishes in the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

Beltisloe Beltisloe is a Deanery of the Diocese of Lincoln in England, and a former Wapentake. The Wapentake of Beltisloe was established as ancient administrative division of the English county of Lincolnshire before the Norman Conquest of 1066.

in the Diocese of Lincoln."Ropsley P C C"
, Diocese of Lincoln. Retrieved 14 May 1012 From 2006 to 2011 the incumbent was Rev Richard Ireson and from 2012 Rev Mike Doyle.

Education

The first school was built here in 1717, endowed by James Thompson. It was rebuilt about 1805 after a fire. A Public Elementary School was built here in 1874, and enlarged in 1894 with an increased pupil intake of 400. Today the school teaches almost 100 pupils. It has its own wildlife area, playground, climbing frame and football pitch, and a bell tower and hall. The school holds a Summer Fete and a Christmas Fayre biannually. Each year at harvest time the school holds a

harvest festival A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. ...

; children walk from the school to the church with their offerings. The food collected is then raffled-off.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire South Kesteven District