Friskney 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 ...

within the

East Lindsey East Lindsey is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. Its council is based in Horncastle and the largest town is Skegness. Other towns include Alford, Lincolnshire, Alford, Burgh le Marsh, Coningsby, L ...

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.OS Explorer map: Skegness, Alford & Spilsby: (1:25 000): The parish includes the settlement of Friskney Eaudyke. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 1,563. in 652 households.

History

The place-name 'Friskney' is first attested 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, where it appears as ''Frischenei''. It is recorded as ''Freschena'' circa 1115 and as ''Freschenei'' circa 1150. The name is Viking, meaning 'freshwater island' (

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''Frescan'' ēa). In 1885 ''Kelly's'' reported two

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapels, one built in 1804. The chapel built in 1839 is Grade II* listed. It recorded that Friskney parish was a centre for brick making and the catching of shrimps and cockles. In the early part of the 19th century, much of the land was

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

or swamp, where wildfowl were caught by use of

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''eenden kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to ...

ponds. One of these ponds is now a listed ancient monument. The swamp was drained in the early 19th century and the land converted for arable cultivation.

Governance

Friskney is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

called Wainfleet and Friskney. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 4,192.

Geography

Friskney is situated north-east from the town of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, and south-west from the coastal town of

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

.''A to Z Road Atlas'': Boston A-Z Street Atlas: Published by A to Z: Edition 1, 2008: Scale: 3.3 inches to 1 mile (5.3 cm to 1 km): The nearest railway station is at Wainfleet All Saints, to the north-east. The nearest major roadway is the A52 which runs from the eastern side of the village. Friskney, with its surrounding farmland, is the largest village by area in the UK, and one of the largest in Europe.

Community

The

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed

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 ...

church is dedicated to All Saints. The original church was constructed in the late 12th century; it had elements added up to the 15th. Restoration to 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 ...

was carried out in 1849. During an extensive restoration in 1879,

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

and

Early English Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

architectural fragments were discovered. The lower stage of the tower, with large

lancet windows A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

, is Early English, as is the second stage. The two upper stages are 15th-century, as is the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

. In the north

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

is an incised stone slab to John de Lyndewode (rector, 1374) and a mutilated

effigy An effigy is a sculptural representation, often life-size, of a specific person or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain ...

of a 14th-century knight, most likely damaged during the

iconoclasm Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...

of the Protestant Reformation.Cox, J. Charles (1916) ''Lincolnshire'' pp. 130–132; Methuen & Co. Ltd During the 1879 restoration, a series of faded wall paintings were revealed between the arches of the arcades. Abbey Hills, the site of an old religious house connected with Bolington ullingtonPriory''Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull'' 1885, pp. 398, 399 or

Bardney Abbey Bardney Abbey in Lincolnshire, England, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 697 by Æthelred of Mercia, King Æthelred of Mercia, who was to become the first abbot. The monastery was supposedly destroyed during a Danish raid in 869. In 1087, ...

, lies half a mile west from the church. On the western side of the village on Dickon Hill Road is the Parrot Zoo and National Parrot Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was opened in 2003. The sanctuary was renamed as Lincolnshire Wildlife Park in 2016 due to the expansion of the site, and contains both the National Parrot and Turtle sanctuary within amongst other rescued animals. The village has a church hall, two

public houses A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

, The Anchor and The Barley Mow, and a village shop with post office. There are sports clubs for archery, bowls and cricket, and a football team. The cricket club first XI competes in the South Lincolnshire and Border League.

References

External links

*
Friskney Village WebsiteThe Parrot ZooFriskney Bowman Archery ClubFriskney Bowls Club
{{authority control Villages in Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire East Lindsey District