Barrowby 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

South Kesteven South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. Its council is based in Grantham. The district also includes the towns of Bourne, ...

district of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is west of

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

. It overlooks the

Vale of Belvoir The Vale of Belvoir ( ) is in Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire, England. The name is from the Norman-French for "beautiful view". Extent and geology The vale is a tract of low ground rising east-north-east, drained by the ...

and has a Grade I listed

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

. The hamlet of Casthorpe is part of the parish. The 2001 Census listed 795 households and a population of 1,996, which fell to 840 households with 1,952 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It was estimated at 1,986 in 2019.

Etymology

The first written records for Barrowby appear in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086, in which the village is referred to as "Bergebi". This is thought to derive from the Scandinavian languages' ''berg-by'' meaning village by the hill.

History

The Domesday Book record shows there was a church with a priest and of meadow. The village belonged until the 19th century to the historical

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...

Winnibriggs and Threo Winnibriggs and Threo was an anciently established hundred (county subdivision), wapentake in the Parts of Kesteven, the south-east division of the English county of Lincolnshire. Most of the administrative functions of the wapentake had been lost t ...

. The ''

Domesday Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' village of Casthorpe is west from Barrowby. By the 14th century it was referred to in records as two holdings, East and West Casthorpe. It is now little more than a cluster of farm buildings. A further deserted medieval village is Newbo, to the north-west, site of Newbo Abbey. The village was located by archaeologists in 1970.

Geography

Barrowby stands where the

A52 road The A52 is a major road in the East Midlands, England. It runs east from a junction with the A53 road, A53 at Newcastle-under-Lyme near Stoke-on-Trent via Ashbourne, Derbyshire, Ashbourne, Derby, Stapleford, Nottinghamshire, Stapleford, Notting ...

crosses the A1 road, which separates the village from the western edge of Grantham. The village is close to the Lincolnshire border with

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

. It is above sea level and adjacent to the

. From the village it is possible to see

Belvoir Castle Belvoir Castle ( ) is a faux historic castle and stately home in Leicestershire, England, situated west of the town of Grantham and northeast of Melton Mowbray. A castle was first built on the site immediately after the Norman Conquest of 10 ...

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, also called Lincoln Minster, and formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, is a Church of England cathedral in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lincoln and is the Mo ...

, and multiple power stations in the Trent valley, including West Burton and Cottam, near

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...

over away. Adjoining villages include Sedgebrook, Harlaxton, Denton and the hamlets of Casthorpe and Stenwith.

Culture and community

There has been a Barrowby fête or gala in various forms since the 1950s. From 2004 until recently, an annual Barrowby Gala and Beer Festival was held on the village green. The event, with stalls, games, fairground rides, and

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport in which two teams compete by pulling on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal of bringing the rope a certain distance in one direction against ...

, was organised by a committee of village residents. Barrowby combines old buildings, cottages and manor houses, with newer buildings in a housing estate built within the last few decades. Linking the new housing estate and the original Barrowby centre are two main roads, High Road and Low Road. Some surrounding road names reflect the names of patrons and residents who established and shaped the village. Barrowby contains a cafe and a Co-op. It had a post office till 2023 when the post mistress left and a butcher's that closed in 2023. The village public house is ''The White Swan''. Until 1959 there was a second public house, ''The Marquis of Granby Inn'', on the corner of Welby Court and Main Street. It is pictured in a 1910 postcard of the village. The

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Grade I listed parish church, dedicated to All Saints, was built in the 13th and 14th centuries from ironstone and limestone, in the Early English and

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

Gothic styles. The church was extensively restored in 1852 and 1870. It includes a medieval door on the south side of the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, a humorous

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

at the foot of a south window, depicting a head that seems to have been pinched out of place by the adjacent buttress, and a blocked north door. Significant internal features include

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows. The

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

belongs to the Barrowby and Great Gonerby group in the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

Diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leice ...

. The incumbent was Rev. Peter Hopkins until his retirement in 2019. Services are held in Gonerby and at All Saints. There was a Methodist chapel in Chapel Lane, next to where the post office now stands.

Education

Barrowby parish school was built in 1852 adjacent to the church. Part of the original school hall and bell tower remain. It has since been modernised with additional buildings. It has a school roll of about 240 pupils aged 4–11 and has received Basic Skills Mark, Healthy Schools, and

Eco-Schools Eco-Schools is an international programme of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that aims to “empower students to be the change our sustainable world needs by engaging them in fun, action-orientated, and socially responsible lear ...

Silver Status awards.

Notable people

*Dr Thomas Hurst was born in the village in 1598 and became rector of Barrowby in 1629. He became chaplain to King Charles I. *

Henry Savile Henry Savile may refer to: *Henry Savile (died 1558) (1498–1558), MP for Yorkshire *Henry Savile (died 1569) (1518–1569), MP for Yorkshire and Grantham *Henry Savile (Bible translator) (1549–1622), English scholar and Member of the Parliament ...

, diplomat, MP for Newark and libertine (c1642-1687), was born at Rufford and was a great friend of the notorious Earl of Rochester. * Sir John Thorold, 4th Baronet was a landowner who owned about a quarter of the parish, the other parts being split between the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

and the Welby family. The Thorold family also owned land in the nearby villages of Casthorpe and Sedgebrook. Thorold Road is named after Sir John. * Frank Jenkinson, OBE (1882–1965) was born Barrowby Vale, Jenkinson was a farmer, magistrate, and influential local politician. He served as Chairman of Kesteven County Council and was recognized for his contributions to agriculture and public service.

References

External links

*
Location map of BarrowbyAerial view of BarrowbyWeb site of Barrowby CofE Primary School, BarrowbyAll Saints Church BarrowbyBarrowby Improvement Group (B.I.G.)
* {{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire South Kesteven District Areas of Grantham