Place:Swineshead, Lincolnshire, England

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Swineshead is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, approximately west of the town of Boston. The population of the civil parish including Baythorpe was 2,810 at the 2011 census. The parish includes the areas of Swineshead Bridge and North End to the north, Fenhouses and Blackjack to the east, and Drayton to the south.

The distance omitted in the excerpt from Wikipedia is "is 7 miles (11 km) west of the town of Boston".

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The lost village of Stenning, or Estovening, mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086 is represented by the site of the moated Estovening Hall, which was the manor house of the Holland family. Ralph, founder of the Estovening branch of the Holland family was buried in Swinehead Abbey in 1262.

A medieval motte castle is believed to have been constructed in the 12th century by the de Gresley family, lords of the manor of Swineshead at Manwar Ings. The remains of the castle are visible as substantial earthworks, which are a scheduled monument. The easiest access to the motte is by turning off the A52 at the Manor Farm Shop which is located in the Baythorpe region of the village.

Swineshead railway station opened in 1847 as part of the Sleaford and Boston Railway.

Hitherto, the parish had formed part of Boston Rural District, in the Parts of Holland. Holland was one of the three divisions (formally known as parts) of the traditional county of Lincolnshire. Since the Local Government Act of 1888, Holland had been in most respects, a county in itself.

NOTE: The final sentence of this section ought to read "From the Local Government Act of 1888 until 1974, Holland had been in most respects, a county in itself." In 1974 the "Parts of" Holland, Kesteven and Lindsey were abolished and the three were combined into Lincolnshire.

Governance

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Landmarks

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Hardwick House is built on the site of a medieval moated house, possibly a grange, originally owned by Swineshead Abbey, and was listed in the crown bailiff's report when the abbey was dissolved in 1534.

North End Mill is a 3-stage tower windmill built in 1821 which worked until the 1930s, when the sails blew off. It is Grade II listed.

The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel in Swineshead in 1845, which was converted into a Sunday School after a new chapel was built in 1908. This was demolished in 1986 and the former chapel reverted to its original use, and is now a Grade II listed building.

St Marys Church

The parish church is a Grade I listed building dedicated to Saint Mary, and dates from the 12th century with later additions and alterations. The chancel was rebuilt in 1848 by Stephen Lavin. The western tower and font are 14th-century. In the chancel is a black marble wall plaque to Sir John Lockton of Swineshead Abbey, who died in 1610.

Cistercian monastery

Swineshead Abbey was founded in 1135 as a Savigniac monastery, but in 1147 was converted to Cistercian by Robert de Gresley. In 1536 it was dissolved and the building of a private house and a park in 1607 destroyed the last traces of it. The site is a scheduled monument.

Research Tips for the Boston, Lincolnshire, Area

From 1889 until 1974 Lincolnshire was divided into three administrative counties: Parts of Holland (in the southeast), Parts of Kesteven and Parts of Lindsey (further north and/or west). These formal names do not fit with modern grammatical usage, but that is what they were named, nonetheless.

The southern part of Lincolnshire, particularly the Parts of Holland, is very low-lying and land had to be drained for agriculture to be successful. These areas are named "The Fens".

Fenland is a feature of the Boston Rural District and Horncastle Rural District areas. Fenlands tended to be extraparochial until the mid 1850s, but were then identified with names and given the title "civil parish". Many were abolished in 1906, and became parts of larger neighbouring parishes. As a result, Wikipedia no longer provides articles on some of these small low-populated areas.

Sources

• OS New Popular One-Inch Map, Sheet 114, provided online by A Vision of Britain, is an early 20th century map covering the east part of Lincolnshire from Boston to Skegness. It does not list all the fen settlements, but does list all the towns and hamlets. Degrees of longitude and latitude are given along its sides. The map magnifies to a very high scale.

• Normally, A Vision of Britain would also be suggested as a source for parish boundary maps for the area. Unfortunately, this website has made an error in its map indexing and the sub-heading "Boundary Maps" repeats the maps given under "Topographic Maps". It is not possible to view outlines of the parishes located in this area.

• The National Library of Scotland [1] [1] also provides a large number of maps for all the counties and districts of England as well as those of Scotland. Their map indices for England only cover modern placenames, but they do allow the user to view a parish in relation to its neighbours. These maps are very easy to read.

• FindMyPast, a pay website, now has a large collection of Lincolnshire baptisms, banns, marriages and burials now available to search by name, year, place and parent's names.

• GENUKI's page on Lincolnshire's Archive Service gives addresses, phone numbers, webpages for all archive offices, museums and libraries in Lincolnshire which may store old records and also presents a list entitled "Hints for the new researcher" which may include details of which you are not aware. These suggestions are becoming more and more outdated.

• GENUKI also has pages of information on individual parishes, particularly ecclesiastical parishes. The author may just come up with morsels of information not supplied in other internet-available sources.

• Deceased Online, a pay website, now has records for 11 cemeteries and two crematoria in Lincolnshire. This includes Grimsby's Scartho Road cemetery, Scartho Road crematorium, and Cleethorpes cemetery, council records for the City of Lincoln and Gainsborough, and church records from the UK's National Archives for St Michael's in Stamford, and St Mark's in Lincoln, dating back to 1707.