Digby 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 district of

North Kesteven North Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The council is based in Sleaford. The district also contains the town of North Hykeham, which adjoins the neighbouring city of Lincoln, England, L ...

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. The village is in the vale of the Digby Beck watercourse, north from the town of

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...

and south from

Lincoln city centre Lincoln City Centre is the city centre, historical and History of Lincolnshire, cultural area of Lincoln, England, Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England. It is defined as the areas along the city's High Street, Lincoln, High Street. Each part of the ...

. The village has a population of about 574, increasing to 621 at the 2011 census, and a parish council.

Etymology

The name Digby is of

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

(dic "dyke, ditch") and

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

(býr "farm, settlement") origin.

History and landmarks

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

partly polished axe was found in Digby. Two

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

stone axe Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a c ...

s, about 4,000 years old, were also found here, one now in private possession, the other at Lincoln Museum. Also found were two Bronze Age

arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...

s, again one in private possession. the other at Lincoln Museum The church is dedicated to

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

and has a porch with strong

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

elements and carvings. Built in the Gothic style, it has a tall spire, and is Grade I listed. There is also a circular

village lock-up A village lock-up is a historic building once used for the temporary detention of people in England and Wales, mostly where official prisons or criminal courts were beyond easy walking distance. Lockups were often used for the confinement of d ...

which is Grade II listed, and a medieval stone

buttercross A buttercross, butter cross or butter market cross is a type of market cross associated with English market towns and dating from medieval times. The name originates from the fact that the crosses were located in market places, where people ...

in the centre of the village which is Grade II listed, and a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

although the top section of the pillar and cross appear to have been renewed, probably during the Victorian period. In the 1930s the churchyard was said to be haunted. The church spire was struck by lightning in August 1907 leading to repairs costing £80. Near the village is the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

grass airfield of

RAF Digby Royal Air Force Digby otherwise known as RAF Digby is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station located near Scopwick and south east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, in Lincolnshire, England. The station is home to the tri-s ...

(formerly RAF Scopwick). During the Second World War the station was home to

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

and

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

squadrons and to

Douglas Bader Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, (; 21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared ...

Guy Gibson Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam ...

, and the pilot and poet John Gillespie Magee. The airfield was Canadian later in the war, as

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canad ...

Digby Fighter Station, with the Operations Room and billets at nearby Blankney Hall.

Community

The village has a school, the Digby

C of E C, or c, is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C ...

School for children aged 4 to 11, the Red Lion

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 ...

, allotments, and a winery which uses local produce. There is a War Memorial Hall in Church Street. Beck House on Beck Street is a Grade II listed stone farmhouse dating back several hundred years. There are also examples of 18th- and 19th-century buildings, now private dwellings, including Digby Manor House, a listed building situated on North Street almost opposite a new housing development, Chestnut Close. During 2009 the Village Hall frontage underwent extensive re-development and now provides seating and new gardens. The

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, (part of the The Wildlife Trusts, Wildlife Trusts partnership), covers the whole ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It was founded in 1948 as a Volunteering, voluntary charitable organisation dedicated to ...

manage Digby Corner as a wildlife sanctuary. In June 2007

Digby Fen Digby may refer to: Places Australia * Digby, Victoria, a town Canada * Digby (electoral district), a former federal electoral district in Nova Scotia (1867–1914) * Digby (provincial electoral district), a provincial electoral district i ...

was home to a breeding pair of

Montagu's harrier Montagu's harrier (''Circus pygargus'') is a migratory bird of prey of the harrier family. Its common name commemorates the British naturalist George Montagu. Taxonomy The first formal description of Montagu's harrier was by the Swedish nat ...

s, the rarest breeding birds of prey in the British Isles.

Transport

The village is on the north–south B1188 approximately west from the

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million N ...

's National Route 1.

Ruskington Ruskington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, located approximately north of Sleaford on the north–south B1188 road and slightly north of the A153 road. The villa ...

railway station is to the south, on the Sleaford to Lincoln line."Lincoln Line Looking North"

Geograph Geograph Britain and Ireland is a Web application, web-based project, begun in March 2005, to create a freely accessible archive of geographically located photographs of Great Britain and Ireland. Photographs in the Geograph collection are cho ...

.org.uk. Retrieved 21 July 2011 Approximately south-west from Digby is

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish 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 (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

, which has a regular

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

express train to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

External links