Folkingham

This former town is attractively situated in a wide rolling landscape, just up from the fen edge, on the northern incline of an east–west stream valley. The settlement is centred on a large Market Place, positioned between a church on high land to the NW and a former baronial castle on low land to the SE. The modern A15 runs through the market area, rather than bypassing the settlement as at Aslackby and Osbournby, taking a dramatic right-angled turn at its NW corner.

The earliest settlement was probably on the high promontory overlooking stream valleys close to the church.[6] It is likely this was linked to Roman roads (King Street and Mareham Lane) on either side via an east–west route running along what is now West Street and Sleaford Road.[7] The castle site on low-lying land to the SE probably evolved from a pre-Conquest fortified enclosure which was the administrative centre of the soke of Folkingham.[8] A market area developed in between the church and castle and this became the site for weekly markets and seven annual fairs.[9]

A plan and survey of the Castle Hill, Wall & Ditches at Folkingham in the county of Lincoln, 1765 Joseph Featherstone. Includes quote from Camden's Britannia of 1610

The Market Place, West Street and Sleaford Road were lined with houses, farms, shops and inns/public houses and this whole area was remodelled in the late 18th century by the Heathcote Family of Normanton (Rutland) who bought the manor in 1788.[10] The most dramatic manifestation of this work was the refacading of The Greyhound Inn at the top of the Market Place. In recognition of its importance, this area became one of the first designated conservation areas in Lincolnshire in 1968.[11]

Folkingham Market Place looking SE.

The town was bypassed by the railway and declined in the Victorian period as the coaching trade collapsed and services and retailing moved to larger towns.[12] The main development since has been the erection of council housing off West Street in the 1950s, followed by the private Churchfields estate behind, built between 1987 and 1997.[13]

The modern village retains a pub, The New Inn on West Street, and a local shop in the Market Place.

Folkingham is an early Saxon place name and appears in the Domesday survey of 1086 as Folchingeham.[14] Its meaning can be interpreted as the 'Homestead belonging to Folc(a) or the estate of the Folcingas'.[15][16][17][18]

Folc, however, as in 'people or nation' was also used in the Anglo-Saxon period as a district name (e.g. Norfolk) and may have been related to the Scandinavian fylki, meaning district. Could folc, therefore, also refer to a territorial district which became the soke of Folkingham?[19] Folkestone probably derives its name from 'Folca's Stone', which was a meeting place of a territorial area.

In the mid-18th century an alternative spelling of 'Falkingham' was introduced, perhaps in an effort to make the place name sound more genteel – its correct pronunciation is 'Fokingham'. This variant became predominant in the 19th century, but fell out of favour in the early 20th century.[20]

It is likely that Folkingham originated as an Anglo-Saxon settlement in the sixth century, developing into a regionally important royal soke centre, or multiple estate by the eighth century.[19] Its location was obviously attractive to these settlers, being on a promontory above stream valleys between the Kesteven forest and sea access via the fens to the Wash. It was also close to two Roman roads (Mareham Lane and King Street) which led to Lincoln, which still had regional significance. It is probable that Folkingham was the southern centre of the territory of the Billingas people, whose name is reflected in local place names, such as Billingborough.[21]

Dependent territories within the Soke of Folkingham, later Wapentake of Aveland.

In 679 the region was conquered by Mercia, bringing it into the sphere of Mercian royal interest. A royal nunnery at Stow Green, off Mareham Lane founded by Æthelthryth, was entrusted to St Werberg by King Æthelred of Mercia.[22] It is likely that King Æthelred developed nearby Folkingham into a soke centre, or multiple estate, in this period with a minster church dedicated to the popular St Andrew.[23] The Soke of Folkingham, which grew into an estate of over 23 dependent villages, was roughly analogous with that of the later Wapentake of Aveland, which must have evolved from it. The probable minster status of the church is reflected in the numerous dedications to St Andrew within the soke.[24]

It is likely that early settlement was on the highest ground of the promontory around the minster church (current site of St Andrew's Church). This settlement lay north of an east–west route linking it to the Roman roads on each side, which is still discernible in the modern road configuration of West Street and Sleaford Road.[25]

The low-lying region of Lincolnshire, with its long eastern coast punctuated by river valleys, was particularly susceptible to incursion from Norse invaders. It was thus a prime target in the Danish-led Viking raids which started sporadically at the end of the eighth century, developing gradually into a more-focused settlement initiative during the following century.

The extent of Danish settlement in the Folkingham region is revealed by the survival of some twenty-seven place names ending in ‘by’. These are mainly sited on the upland areas surrounding the old soke core and it is possible that some may have had a military function, as has been suggested with similar concentrations on the coast of Norfolk. It is perhaps in this period that a burgh, or fortified settlement, was established at Billingborough, as implied by the place name - perhaps its function was to protect the soke hub from incursion from the east? [26]

Danish settlement in the Folkingham area from place names.

In the tenth century, Folkingham became part of the wapentake of Aveland, an area consisting of fen edge and uplands, stretching from Bourne to Osbournby. Wapentakes were the approximate equivalent in Danelaw of the Anglo-Saxon hundred, and the word, of Scandinavian origin, probably derived from a meeting place, where a presence or vote was taken by the brandishing, or ownership, of weapons. Aveland was probably established as an administrative unit some time after Edward the Elder restored English rule to Kesteven in 918. Its boundaries were defined by the earlier soke of Folkingham.[27] The meeting place of the wapentake was clearly marked on the 1885 Ordnance Survey map, which shows it was connected to Folkingham via Greenfields Lane - a modern farm track now leads down to the site. Until recent ploughing, there were still visible the remains of a moat bordering a rectilinear asymmetric enclosure, defined by a large ditch and banks, measuring one hundred and five metres by forty metres.[28]

The final phase of pre-conquest development at Folkingham was probably the evolution of an enclosed and perhaps later fortified residence on a new alignment at the south east corner of the earlier grid-planned settlement. The fact that Ulf of Fenisc, a major landholder at the time of Domesday, chose Folkingham as his caput, or principal residence implies there was suitable accommodation there for him and his retinue when he was in residence. The siting of a defensive enclosure on an undeveloped peripheral site, at the junction of three stream valleys where marshy ground and water meadows to south and east would have made attack more difficult, would have made sense. Water could be employed to fill defensive ditches and provide a supply for domestic needs. The site also had the advantage of commanding a prospect of the east-west axial road as it crossed the valley - indeed its orientation is towards this rather than the projected grid of the earlier settlement.[29]

A castle was built in the 12th century by Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln[11] and enlarged by Henry Beaumont in the 14th century. He was given a licence to crenellate it in 1312. The last documentary record of occupation of this castle dates from 1372.[30] John Leland described it as a ruin in 1535, in which state it survived until the Civil war.[11] The site was later used as the village house of correction.[11][30][31]

In the late 18th century, Folkingham market place was used for stacking timber. Around it was a horse pond, a market cross and a small town hall. The market place was divided by chains into areas for sheep, cattle, horses and poultry, and for the sale of farm produce and other wares. In 1788 the third Richard Wynne, then lord of the manor, was in financial difficulties and sold off the estate to Sir Gilbert Heathcote, whose great-grandfather, the first baronet, was a member of Parliament, Lord Mayor of London and governor of the Bank of England. When Sir Gilbert acquired the estate he wanted to transform Folkingham into a small market town. His changes included clearing the market place and having it equipped to cater for the stage coaches using the main London to Lincoln road which passed through.[11]

Folkingham (then Falkingham) was the birthplace of Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle (1779–1857), the main author of The Wynne Diaries.[32]

The Falkingham Gas Light Company was founded in 1863. The installation almost certainly used a Water gas or combined Water Gas/Producer gas system to produce gas from coal. No large-scale plant was installed in the village.[33]

In 1940 RAF Folkingham, to the south-west of the village, began use as a Second World War airfield. It provided for troop carrier and airborne units and acted as a decoy airfield. During the 1950s and 1960s it was occupied by Bomber Command as a ballistic missile base.[34] It is no longer in service.[35]

There is a daily express coach service to London and Hull.[45] There are one to three buses per weekday to Grantham, one per weekday to Bourne and Sleaford, and an extra Sleaford run on schooldays.[46] The nearest railway station is at Heckington (11 miles (18 km).

Lincolnshire County Council operates a pre-booking bus service from the village to nearby towns and back.[47]

• Elizabeth Wynne Fremantle (1779–1857), the main author of The Wynne Diaries.
• Ethel Rudkin (1893-1985), folklorist and archaeologist, married George Rudkin from the village.

• Media related to Folkingham at Wikimedia Commons
• "Folkingham (also Falkingham)", Genuki.org.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2011
• Folkingham, homepages.which.net. Retrieved 31 July 2011
• Folkingham, Lincolnshire, astoft.co.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2011
• Folkingham Castle, everingham.com. Retrieved 31 July 2011
• "The Parliamentary Gazetteer’s Summary of Folkingham, 1843", The Bourne Archive. Retrieved 31 July 2011
• "Britain turns out the supercar", Pathe News: BRM car tested at Folkingham aerodrome. Retrieved 31 July 2011
• Folkingham village video. Retrieved 18 December 2010