In 1086, Fleet was listed as Fleot (Old English: the stream, estuary or creek), in the wapentake of Elloe in the Parts of Holland of Lincolnshire.[2]
The Grade I listed Church of England parish church, dating from the late 12th century, is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.[3] The 120 feet (37 m) church tower with spire is detached from the nave by 15 feet (4.6 m). The fabric is mainly Decorated in style, with Early Englisharcades and a Perpendicular west window. According to Cox (1916), the church was restored in 1860, when the chancel was rebuilt, although the canopied sedilia was retained.[4][5] In 1964 Pevsner noted 1798 repairs and considered the church "over-restored". He dated a chancel rebuild to 1843, questioned if it was "done correctly", and recorded Victorian tracery in the aisle windows, a blocked doorway to a previous chapel in the chancel, "fine busts of great variety", a Decorated-style sedilia and piscina with ogee arches and crocketedgables, a reredos dated 1790, and a defaced 14th-century effigy.[6]
Pevsner also recorded an 1854 red-brick rectory designed by Benjamin Ferrey and restored in 2005 by Steven Holmes and Peter Day. A motte south-west of the village where 11th- and 12th-century pottery has been found.[6] The English Heritage record for the now ploughed-down motte site details finds from the Iron Age to the 18th century.[7][8]
