Coningsby is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the East Lindsey

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, England, it is situated on the

A153 road The A153 is a non-primary A road entirely in Lincolnshire in the east of England. Route description The A153 starts at the T-junction with the A607 at Honington and heads east to Sleaford, passing a crossroads with the B6403 - the Ro ...

, adjoining

Tattershall Tattershall is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A153 Horncastle to Sleaford road, east from the point where that road crosses the River Witham. At its eastern end, Tatter ...

on its western side, 13 miles (22 km) north west of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and 8 miles (13 km) south west from

Horncastle Horncastle is a town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains. History Romans Alt ...

Governance

Coningsby is the most populous parish in the electoral ward of Coningsby and Tattershall. The population of this ward taken at the 2011 Census was 6,943.

Geography

Road Bridge over the River Bain, Coningsby - geograph

The village takes its name from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''konungr'' meaning "King" and the

noun ''by'' meaning "settlement", which gives "settlement of the King". Coningsby is about south of

on the A153 Horncastle to

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

road, with the

Lincolnshire Wolds The Lincolnshire Wolds are a range of low hills in the county of Lincolnshire, England which run roughly parallel with the North Sea coast, from the Humber Estuary in the north-west to the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens in the south-east. They ar ...

to the east and the

Fens A fen is a type of wetland. Fen, Fenn, Fens, Fenns, may also refer to: People * Fen (name), a Chinese given name and surname * Fen Cresswell (1915–1966), New Zealand cricketer * Fen McDonald (1891–1915), Australian rules footballer * Kees ...

to the west. The B1192 Kirton to

Woodhall Spa Woodhall Spa is a former spa Village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, on the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, south-west of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, Horncastle, west of Skegness, east-south-east of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Li ...

road passes through the village. At the village's western end it is separated from the village of

by the

River Bain The River Bain is a river in Lincolnshire, England, and a tributary of the River Witham. The Bain rises in the Lincolnshire Wolds at Ludford,J. N. Clarke, (1990), ''The Horncastle and Tattershall Canal'', Oakwood Press, a village on The Vik ...

. The

Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway The Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway, locally known as the New Line, was a railway line in England built to shorten the route between Lincoln and Firsby in Lincolnshire, England. It was built by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), and opened ...

passing through the village opened on 1 July 1913 but closed on 5 July 1970. The former

Coningsby railway station Coningsby railway station was a station in Coningsby, Lincolnshire on the Kirkstead and Little Steeping Railway which ran between Lincoln and Firsby Firsby is a small rural linear village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of ...

has been demolished and nothing remains except for the station master's house. A temperature of , which is the highest temperature ever recorded in the UK, occurred on 19 July 2022 at Coningsby.

Education

Coningsby St Michael's C of E Primary School
is on School Lane. The secondary school is

Barnes Wallis Academy Barnes Wallis Academy (formerly Gartree Community School) is a coeducational secondary school located in the village of Tattershall in Lincolnshire, England. Governance Previously a foundation school administered by Lincolnshire County Counc ...

, th
Gartree Community School
is just outside the Coningsby boundary in Tattershall, near the A153. Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School provides sixth form education to pupils graduating from Gartree and other secondary modern schools. RAF Coningsby Nursery and Kids Club provides childcare for military personnel and the community. The nearest further education college is in

. In late March 2008, renovation of the Tattershall/Coningsby Library included a small learning centre provided by Boston College.

Parish church

Coningsby is overlooked by the tower of its 15th-century

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

, St Michael's, with its one-handed clock face. The face is painted directly onto the wall of the tower and was probably installed in the 17th century. It is 16½ feet (5 metres) in diameter and its hand is nearly 9 feet (2.7 metres) long. The driving weights are large stones and its

pendulum A pendulum is a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate it back toward th ...

swings once every two seconds. The pendulum is not attached to the clock but some distance away, linked by a connecting rod. There are three wheels in the timekeeping mechanism, which needs winding once a day. The tower on which the clock face is painted is on the outside of the building. There is an arched passage under the tower which is part of a public footpath from the A153 High Street to the school in School Lane, through the churchyard. There is also a

canonical sundial A tide dial, also known as a Mass or scratch dial, is a sundial marked with the canonical hours rather than or in addition to the standard hours of daylight. Such sundials were particularly common between the 7th and 14th centuries in Europe, at w ...

, dating from the 12th century, on the south wall of the church. In 1730, Britain's youngest

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...

, Laurence Eusden who was appointed aged thirty, was buried in the church where he had been Rector. Two decades later another poet, John Dyer, was appointed as Rector and while living in the village completed his poem "The Fleece". He died there of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

in 1757, and was buried without memorial in the church chancel.

Amenities

Public houses A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

include the Black Swan, The Castle Inn and the White Bull, are all on High Street, and the Lea Gate Inn on Leagate Road ( B1192).

RAF Coningsby

Half a mile (1 km) to the south of the village is RAF Coningsby, one of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

's most important stations, home of No. 3 Squadron, No. XI Squadron, No. 29 Squadron and No.41 (R) Squadron The airfield houses part of Britain's heritage, the

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events c ...

formed in 1957 to commemorate the Royal Air Force's major battle honours, with a Lancaster, five

Spitfires The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

, two

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

and a

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, ...

. These aircraft still fly and can be seen at air shows during summer, as well as at events of national importance or RAF significance. From 1950 RAF Coningsby was home to three squadrons of Washingtons, the RAF name for the American B29 bombers ("Superfortresses") and for the first 18 months these were maintained by

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

technicians whose conscription was extended to 24 months because of their particular skills.

Economy

Pellcroft Engineering Ltd, in Coningsby, is a company selling agricultural fans.