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Walcott near Billinghay is a small village and civil parish in the North Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately 2 miles (3 km) north from Billinghay and 7 miles (11 km) north-east from the town of Sleaford. The population at the 2001 census was 532. The Gilbertine Catley Priory of St Mary was founded between 1146 and 1154; and dissolved in 1538. No sign of the priory can now be seen, but the site is scheduled. The parish church is a Grade II listed building of red brick dedicated to Saint Oswald and built in 1852. It was presumably named after a previous chapel at Walcott, dedicated to Saint Oswald, and given by King John (1166-1216) to Spalding Priory, which formerly stood in the centre of the village and was pulled down around 1790. The countryside around Walcott is agricultural in nature, with sheep farming and the growing of potatoes being prominent. [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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