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Braceby is a small village in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. Situated to the south of the A52 road and approximately 6 miles (10 km) east of the market town of Grantham, the village has, since 1931, formed part of the civil parish of Braceby and Sapperton, but prior to 1931 it was a separate civil parish. Braceby belonged to the historical wapentake of Winnibriggs and Threo, and within that to the Soke of Grantham. The church, St Margaret's, dates back to the 13th century but was restored in the 19th. Many village buildings, especially those dating from the 16th and 17th century, include limestone quarried in the district at places such as Ancaster. The population peaked about 1861, when there were 168 inhabitants in 37 houses, but the population declined rapidly. By 1970 it was under 20, but a decision by the local landowners, the Welby family, to sell off empty and unwanted cottages led to some recovery and saved the church from closure. The population in the 21st century is just under 30. Livestock farming (cattle and sheep) has largely given way to arable since the 1970s, but a small amount of permanent grazing remains. Some mixed afforestation has occurred. [edit] Research TipsLincolnshire is very low-lying and land had to be drained for agriculture to be successful. The larger drainage channels, many of which are parallel to each other, became boundaries between parishes. Many parishes are long and thin for this reason. There is much fenland in Lincolnshire, particularly in the Boston and Horncastle areas. Fenlands tended to be extraparochial before the mid 1850s, and although many sections were identified with names and given the title "civil parish", little information has been found about them. Many appear to be abolished in 1906, but the parish which adopts them is not given in A Vision of Britain through Time. Note the WR category Lincolnshire Fenland Settlements which is an attempt to organize them into one list. From 1889 until 1974 Lincolnshire was divided into three administrative counties: Parts of Holland, Parts of Kesteven and Parts of Lindsey. These formal names do not fit with modern grammatical usage, but that is what they were, nonetheless. In 1974 the northern section of Lindsey, along with the East Riding of Yorkshire, became the short-lived county of Humberside. In 1996 Humberside was abolished and the area previously in Lincolnshire was made into the two "unitary authorities" of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The remainder of Lincolnshire was divided into "non-metropolitan districts" or "district municipalities" in 1974. Towns, villages and parishes are all listed under Lincolnshire, but the present-day districts are also given so that places in this large county can more easily be located and linked to their wider neighbourhoods. See the WR placepage Lincolnshire, England and the smaller divisions for further explanation.
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