Algarkirk ( ) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the Borough of Boston in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a 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-west, Leicestershir ...

, England. It is situated south-south-west from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

and near the A16 road. It has a population of 406,Census 2001
/ref> falling to 386 at the 2011 census. An alternative village spelling is 'Algakirk'.

History

Before the Roman conquest the area was home to the Coritani; after Roman departure it became part of the

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wi ...

kingdom of Mercia. Algarkirk has been claimed to be named after Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia, a son of

Lady Godiva Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly re ...

;Cox, J. Charles (1916); ''Lincolnshire'' pp.42, 43; ''Methuen & Co. Ltd.'' he is reputedly buried in the graveyard of the

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 activitie ...

of St Peter and St Paul. The "kirk" element of the name comes from the Old English "circe" meaning church, which was later replaced by the

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

"kirk". The 9th-century church itself is Early English and Norman with a double-aisle

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building with ...

and a

font In movable type, metal typesetting, a font is a particular #Characteristics, size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "Sort (typesetting), sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of ...

Purbeck marble Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. It is a variety of Purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least Roman times as a decorative building stone. Geology St ...

. Under the tower are kneeling brass effigies of Nicholas Robertson (d. 1498), Merchant of the Staple of

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The p ...

, and his two wives Alice and Isabella. In 1492, he and Isabella glazed the church

clerestorey In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper ...

. The church was heavily restored in 1851. Middlecott's Hospital - geograph

Hitherto, the parish had formed part of

Boston Rural District Boston was a rural district in Holland, Lincolnshire, Holland, Lincolnshire from 1894 to 1974. It was formed from the Boston rural sanitary district by the Local Government Act 1894 and did not include the municipal borough of Boston, Lincolnshire ...

, in the

Parts of Holland The Parts of Holland is a historical division of Lincolnshire, England, encompassing the south-east of the county. The name is still recognised locally and survives in the district of South Holland. Administration Parts of Holland was one of th ...

. Holland was one of the three divisions (formally known as ''

parts Part, parts or PART may refer to: People *Armi Pärt (born 1991), Estonian handballer * Arvo Pärt (born 1935), Estonian classical composer *Brian Part (born 1962), American child actor *Dealtry Charles Part (1882–1961), sheriff (1926–1927) a ...

'') of the traditional county of

. Since the Local Government Act of 1888, Holland had been, in most respects, a county in itself until the creation of

Lincolnshire County Council Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a 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-west, Leicestershire an ...

in April 1974 by the combination of

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

, Lindsey (except for those areas transferred to

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

) and Kesteven County Councils. The Algarkirk Woad mill closed down after the 1932 crop. The mill owner was Mr George Nussey Snr.

Demography

The population was recorded as 386 in the 2011 Census, a drop from 406 on the 2001 Census.

Geography

The village was once served by

Algarkirk and Sutterton railway station Algarkirk and Sutterton railway station was a station which served the villages of Algarkirk and Sutterton in the English county of Lincolnshire. It was served by trains on the line from Boston to Spalding. History Opened by the Great N ...

on the now-closed line connecting

and Spalding. The A16 has been rebuilt on the former railway, so Algarkirk village lies between this and the old road, now the B1397. The Boston-Algarkirk Diversion opened in October 1991. The village primary school, the Fourfields school, is shared with Sutterton. The village lies hard against the parish boundary with Sutterton, so that the two parish churches are six or seven hundred metres apart. While most of the parishes in Holland are more or less long and narrow so as to include both saltmarsh and

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

, this was originally achieved in Algarkirk by having a detached fen about 12 kilometres away, in Holland Fen. This is now part of Amber Hill parish and ward. It constitutes part of Five Villages electoral ward, one of eighteen rural wards in the borough, each comprising one or more parishes.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire Borough of Boston

History

Demography

Geography

References

Further reading

External links