Highways and Byways in LincolnshireRawnsley, W. F. (Willingham Franklin)
History
Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire
Rawnsley, W. F. (Willingham Franklin)
Lincolnshire (England) -- Description and travel
Of the three roads north from Lincoln we have spoken of the road on the
ridge which is the continuation of the Cliff road on which we travelled
from Navenby to Lincoln. The view is the notable thing on this road, for,
though it looks down on a series of small villages below its western
slope, Burton, Carlton, Scampton, Aisthorpe, Brattleby, Cammeringham,
Ingham, Fillingham, Glentworth, Harpswell, Hemswell, Willoughton,
Blyborough and Grayingham, all in a stretch of fourteen miles, it passes
through nothing of importance but _Kirton-in-Lindsey_. This Kirton is
a very old place, the manor being once held by Piers Gaveston, the
favourite of Edward II., and later by the Black Prince. The office of
Seneschal was filled at one time by the Burgh family of Gainsborough.
The church is an interesting one, and has a richly carved and moulded
west doorway. Leading from the nave to the tower is a very massive double
Early English arch, resting on a large circular pillar, and two thick
responds. The south doorway is like the western one, richly carved with
tooth moulding. The porch is used as a baptistry. On the north wall of
the nave is a wall-painting representing the seven sacraments and blood
flowing from the crucified Saviour to each.
[Sidenote: “CLIFF” AND “CARR”]
The road east of Ermine Street goes through any number of villages, for
it goes on the low ground, and each parish runs up to the Ermine Street
and has its portion of high ground or “cliff.” Normanby Cliff, Owmby
Cliff, Saxby Cliff, etc., and from the west side each village does the
same, so that we have in succession Brattleby, Ingham, and Hemswell
Cliff. The winds on the ridge apparently, which “extirpated” the church
of Boothby Graffoe, have always deterred people from building on the
height; but none of the places on this low road which occur regularly at
intervals of two miles are of any special importance except Glentham,
which will be noticed later. We will therefore run along the middle
road, the grand old Roman Street, which begins at Chichester and, as
seen on the map, goes through the county north of Lincoln as straight as
an arrow for over thirty miles. At the twelfth mile we pass Spital, and
when, after eighteen miles we get to the latitude of Kirton-Lindsey on
the cliff road, we shall find that the branch road to the right, which
goes to Brigg, takes all the traffic, and the Ermine Street for seven or
eight miles is disused. So, turning off, we pass _Redbourne_ Hall and
_Hibaldstow_, the place of St. Higbald, who came to Lincolnshire across
the Humber with St. Chad to bring Christianity to the Mercians in the
seventh century. This parish runs up to the ridge, and in the middle of
it is an old camp at Gainsthorpe on the “Street.” At Scawby Park, with
its fine lakes, the property of the Sutton-Nelthorpes, we turn eastwards
and reach Brigg. This, once a fishing place on the Ancholme River, is now
the one market town of all this low-lying neighbourhood. Roads from the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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