Burwell is a small 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the East Lindsey district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is situated on the

A16 road This is a list of road designation, roads designated A16 (disambiguation), A16. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * Grand Junction Road, in South Australia connecting Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills * A16 motorway ...

, and north from

Spilsby Spilsby is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16 road (England), A16, east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, north-east of Boston ...

. The village covers approximately .

History

Now a village, Burwell was a medieval market town.Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' pp. 88 ,89; Methuen & Co. Ltd. Cropmarks indicated the extent of the settlement. Burwell Priory, which once stood here, was a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery founded at some point before 1110 by Ansgot of Burwell. It was an

alien priory Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as monasteries and convents, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the Motherhouse, mother-house was in France.Coredon ''Dictionary of Mediev ...

belonging to Grande-Sauve Abbey in

Aquitaine Aquitaine (, ; ; ; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne (), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former Regions of France, administrative region. Since 1 January 2016 it has been part of the administ ...

. It was dissolved in 1427 and sold to the college of Tattershall, along with its chapels at Authorpe, Carlton, Muckton, and Walmgate, and other lands around Burwell. The

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

, Burwell Hall, was in Burwell Park, and was built in 1760 for Matthew Lister. It was demolished in 1958, and only the stables remain. The manor itself was previously held by Henry Percy, Duke of Northumberland; John, Duke of Bedford; Ralf, Lord Treasurer Cromwell; and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. The parish church of Saint Michael, became redundant on 13 May 1981 and was taken over by the Redundant Churches Fund (now The Churches Conservation Trust) on 27 October 1982. It is Grade I listed. The village also had chapels of the Wesleyan Methodists and United Reformed churches, which merged in 1988 making the Wesleyan building redundant. The combined church has since closed. Burwell District Council School was built in 1825 as a National School. It closed in December 1941 with only eleven children on the roll.

Community

The No. 8 bus service operated by Hunts coaches connects Burwell to Alford and Louth on a Wednesday Burwell buttercross was converted into a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

and is now the village hall. Dating from the beginning of the seventeenth century with later alterations, it is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The village is part of the

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Legbourne, based at All Saints church in Legbourne. There is one

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

in the village, the Stags Head which is now closed down.

References

External links

*
Burwell
Genuki.org.uk {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District