Calceby

Calceby
A white archway and portion of wall stand isolated in a grassy field under a blue sky
Ruins of St Andrew's Church, Calceby
Aerial photograph of fields, with a less-than-straight country lane passing up close to the right hand side. In the top of the frame a modern farmhouse and buildings stand on right of the road. Most of the land is pasture, with two arable fields visible. The crop there is sparse, with large bare patches. The brook wiggles across the upper half of the picture, serpentine in a landscape of straight boundaries. It is narrow and from this height and angle the water surface cannot be discerned. The spring is centre right, its own water course straight and running upwards, toward the brook. The spring is in the greenest of the meadows, with the low humps and bumps of the lost village around.
Calceby brook and spring.
The source of the Great Eau
Calceby is located in Lincolnshire
Calceby
Calceby
Location within Lincolnshire
OS grid referenceTF389755
• London120 mi (190 km) S
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townAlford
Postcode districtLN13
PoliceLincolnshire
FireLincolnshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
List of places
UK
England
Lincolnshire
53°15′32″N 0°04′55″E / 53.259025°N 0.0819°E / 53.259025; 0.0819

Calceby is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of South Thoresby, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately 4 miles (6 km) west from the market town of Alford. In 1961 the parish had a population of 32.[1] On 1 April 1987 the parish was abolished and merged with South Thoresby.[2] Once much larger, Calceby is recorded in the Domesday Book as "Calesbi". Lord of the Manor in 1086 was Earl Hugh of Chester.[3] By the early seventeenth century, the conversion of agriculture from corn to pasture had begun a process of depopulation of the parish.

In 1638 the vicar said that his meagre income from tithes (£13 16s 6d per annum) could only be increased if the village were to be repopulated.[4] The parish church of St Andrew is now in ruins, the last service to take place there being in 1692.[5] Maurice Beresford included Calceby in his "Lost Villages of England".[6]

Calceby Beck & Spring are the source of the Great Eau, and are part of the local network of Chalk Streams.[7][8]

Calceby Marsh has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) as "an outstanding example of base-rich marsh". The site consists of three areas of marshland, each differing slightly in species composition and surrounded by grassland of value to breeding snipe and lapwing.[9]

Calceby Marsh SSSI is owned by the Diocese of Lincoln[10]

References

  1. ^ "Population statistics Calceby CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Spilsby Registration District". UKBMD. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  3. ^ "Domesday Book:Calceby". Domesday Maps: University of Hull. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  4. ^ Hill, Christopher (1956). Economic Problems of the Church (1968 ed.). London: Panther. p. 82.
  5. ^ "Lincolnshire Wolds:Calceby". Lincolnshire Wolds. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  6. ^ Hill, ibid: Beresford (1954) p. 57
  7. ^ "Calceby Beck, South Thoresby" (PDF). Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  8. ^ "The Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project". Lincolnshire Wolds Countryside Service. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  9. ^ "Calceby Marsh". English Nature Org. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  10. ^ "Hidden Glebe".
  • Media related to Calceby at Wikimedia Commons