Eagle is a village in 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Eagle and Swinethorpe, in the

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 ...

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 south-west from

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

and east from North Scarle. The population of the civil parish of Eagle and Swinethorpe taken at the 2011 census was 793. All Saints

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church dates from the 13th century and is

Grade II listed 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, H ...

. 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 the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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

Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book included in the Septuagint and the Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Christian Old Testament of the Bible but Development of the Hebrew Bible canon, excluded from the ...

(land formerly owned by Earl Waltheof of Northumbria). 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 the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was ...

– 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 Norman duke ...

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 The Revolt of the Earls in 1075 was a rebellion of three earls against William I of England (William the Conqueror). It was the last serious act of resistance against William in the Norman Conquest. Cause The revolt was caused by the king's re ...

, 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 Buddhi ...

of the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

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, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

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. In 1921 the parish had a population of 371. On 1 April 1931 the parish was abolished to form "Eagle and Swinethorpe".

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 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 Aslackby Preceptory in Lincolnshire lay to the south-east of Aslackby Church. Until about 1891 a tower, possibly of the preceptory church, together with a vaulted undercroft, survived as part the Temple farmhouse. Temple farmhouse was subsequentl ...

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 T ...

() * 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 road (England), A18, west from Grimsby and 8 miles east from Brig ...

, 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 road, B1204, and east from the navigable River Ancholme.

, Lindsey () * Witham Preceptory, Kesteven () * Temple Bruer, Kesteven () * Willoughton Preceptory, 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 Swinderby is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, just north of the A46 road, south-west of Lincoln and north-east of Newark. Swinderby lies within a rural agricultural community and covers an ...

, 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