Holdingham
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Holdingham is a
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
in the
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 ...
and
built-up area Buildup may refer to: * Atomic buildup In atomic physics and quantum chemistry, the Aufbau principle (, from ), also called the Aufbau rule, states that in the ground state of an atom or ion, electrons first fill Electron shell#Subshells, sub ...
of 
Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...
, in the
North Kesteven North Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The council is based in Sleaford. The district also contains the town of North Hykeham, which adjoins the neighbouring city of Lincoln, England, 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. It is bisected by Lincoln Road (B1518) which joins the A17 and A15 roads immediately north of the settlement; those roads connect it to
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...
, Newark,
Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...
and
King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
.
Prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins  million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
and
Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
artefacts have been uncovered around Holdingham. There was an early and middle
Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...
settlement, which appears to have disappeared in the 9th century. The current settlement's
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 ...
name suggests a pre-
conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...
origin, though it was not mentioned 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 ...
and appears to have formed part of the
Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
's manor of New Sleaford. Holdingham probably functioned as the
agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
focus of the manor, while New Sleaford (0.9 miles or 1.5 km south) was encouraged to expand as a commercial centre. The land was ceded to the
Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
in 1540 and was acquired by Robert Carre in 1559; it passed through his family and then, through marriage, to the Earls (later Marquesses) of Bristol, who owned almost all of the land.
Enclosed Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
in 1794, it remained a small, primarily agricultural settlement well into the 20th century. The late 20th century brought substantial change. Holdingham Roundabout was built immediately north of the hamlet in 1975 as part of the A17 bypass around Sleaford; the roundabout also accommodated the A15 bypass which opened in 1993. After Lord Bristol sold the agricultural land around the hamlet, major residential development began; private suburban housing estates were completed either side of Lincoln Road between Sleaford and Holdingham in the 1990s and early 2000s. The hamlet thereby merged into Sleaford's urban area. Further developments took place in the 2010s and more housing has been approved for building in the 2020s on land between Holdingham and The Drove to the south-west. Holdingham had its own chapel in the Middle Ages, but this was abandoned 1550; its site has not been identified securely. It has had a public house since at least the early 19th century, serving drovers bringing their cattle from Scotland to London. The hamlet now has petrol filling stations on the roundabout and Lincoln Road, as well as
fast food restaurant A fast-food restaurant, also known as a quick-service restaurant (QSR) within the industry, is a specific type of restaurant that serves fast food, fast-food cuisine and has minimal Foodservice#Table service, table service. The food served ...
s, a hotel, a café and a nursing home, all opened since the middle of the 20th century. The nearest schools and other public services are in Sleaford. The hamlet was anciently part of the parish of New Sleaford; in 1866, the civil parish of Holdingham was established but in 1974 was merged into Sleaford civil parish. The hamlet now lends its name to a ward in North Kesteven, although the boundaries differ from those of the old parish. The ward had a population of 3,709 in 2021, up from 2,774 in 2011.


Geography


Topography

Holdingham is a settlement 0.9 miles (1.5 km) north of Sleaford, a
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...
in the
North Kesteven North Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The council is based in Sleaford. The district also contains the town of North Hykeham, which adjoins the neighbouring city of Lincoln, England, 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 ...
. The old hamlet clusters around and is bisected by Lincoln Road (B1518) immediately south of Holdingham Roundabout, which connects Lincoln Road to the A17 and A15 roads.. A stream called Field Beck (also known as Holdingham Beck) runs east−west through the hamlet within a narrow, shallow valley. To the south of the hamlet is modern housing, which creates a contiguous urban area with Sleaford."Holdingham"
''
Bing Maps Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform framework which al ...
''. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
Holdingham lies between approximately 20 and 30 meters above sea level. The old hamlet on the west side of Lincoln Road is underlain by
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...
mudstone belonging to the Blisworth Clay Formation, a group of sedimentary rocks formed 165–168 million years ago; this forms a narrow outcrop along Field Beck's shallow valley. The bedrock under the rest of the area (including the modern housing developments) is
Cornbrash The Cornbrash Formation is a Middle Jurassic geological formation in England. It ranges in age from Bathonian to Callovian, the uppermost part of the Middle Jurassic. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the form ...
limestone belonging to the
Great Oolite Group The Great Oolite Group is a Middle Jurassic stratigraphic unit that outcrops in southern England. It consists of a complex set of marine deposits primarily mudstone and bioclastic ooidal and fine grained limestone, deposited in nearshore to ...
of
Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...
rocks formed 161–168 million years ago. The soil belongs to the Aswarby series of brown,
calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime (mineral), lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of Science, scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcare ...
earth; it is free-draining,
loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–si ...
y and
lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...
-rich, suited for growing cereals and grasses. The land is classified as a
nitrate vulnerable zone A nitrate vulnerable zone is a conservation designation of the Environment Agency for areas of land that drain into nitrate Polluted soil, polluted waters, or waterways that could become polluted by nitrates due to environmental and health threat ...
.


Parish and ward boundaries

Holdingham gave its name to a civil parish which existed between 1866, when it was separated from the
ancient 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 ...
of New Sleaford, and 1 April 1974, when it was merged into the current
successor Successor may refer to: * An entity that comes after another (see Succession (disambiguation)) Film and TV * ''The Successor'' (1996 film), a film including Laura Girling * The Successor (2023 film), a French drama film * ''The Successor'' ( ...
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 ...
of Sleaford..The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973
(1973, no. 1110). Retrieved 28 May 2024 – via
Legislation.gov.uk legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official Web-accessible database of the statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by The National Archives. Established in the early 2000s, it contains all primary legis ...
.
The parish boundaries, which contained the hamlet and adjacent fields and farm houses, were finally amended in 1882. Since 1998, Holdingham has also given its name to an
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 ...
(Sleaford Holdingham) in the district of North Kesteven. The ward's boundaries have been altered several times. As fixed in 2006, they differed from those of the old civil parish by including the Jubilee Grove and Woodside Avenue
housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision (land), subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to count ...
s, Sleaford Wood, Poplar Business Park and Sleaford Enterprise Park (all east of Lincoln Road); the ward boundaries also excluded most of the land south of the line between The Drove and Sumner's Plantation which had been in the former parish. In 2021, the Stokes Drive and St Denys' Avenue housing estates (to the west of Lincoln Road) were transferred to the Sleaford Westholme ward.The North Kesteven (Electoral Changes) Order 2021
(2021, no. 1052). Retrieved 28 May 2024 via
Legislation.gov.uk legislation.gov.uk, formerly known as the UK Statute Law Database, is the official Web-accessible database of the statute law of the United Kingdom, hosted by The National Archives. Established in the early 2000s, it contains all primary legis ...
.


Climate

The
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
experience a temperate,
maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring ...
with warm summers and cool winters. Data from the weather station nearest to Holdingham (at Cranwell, 3 miles north-west), shows that the average daily mean temperature is 10.1 °C (50.2 °F); this fluctuates from a peak of 17.2 °C (63.0 °F) in July to 4.1 °C (39.4 °F) in January. The average high temperature is 14.1 °C (57.4 °F), though the monthly average varies from 7.0 °C (44.6 °F) in January to 22.1 °C (71.8 °F) in July; the average low is 6.2 °C (43.2 °F) which reaches its lowest in January and February at 1.3 °C (34.3 °F) and its highest in July and August at 12.2 °C (54.0 °F).


History


Prehistoric, Roman and early Saxon settlements

A
Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
flint scraper and two pottery sherds from the same period have been uncovered at Holdingham. Lincoln Road, connecting
Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...
and
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...
, may have
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
origins, although the stretch between Sleaford and Brauncewell (via Holdingham) could be
prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins  million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
. East of the settlement is a suspected Roman
villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...
and skeletons have been uncovered with
Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...
pottery to the south-west; coins and pottery recovered in archaeological investigations date between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD. Along with ditches and
gullies A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or both, which erodes soil to a sharp angle, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to t ...
, the remains of early and middle
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
enclosures and post-built buildings have been uncovered east of Holdingham Roundabout (on the sites where the
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
restaurant and the Furlong Way housing development have since been built); finds included sherds of pottery, much of it produced locally though some from as far away as
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 ...
. Animal bones, loom weights,
querns A quern-stone is a stone tool for hand-grinding a wide variety of materials, especially for various types of grains. They are used in pairs. The lower stationary stone of early examples is called a ''saddle quern'', while the upper mobile st ...
, metal-working waste, remains of crops and domestic waste were also uncovered. The site dwindled in size and was "largely abandoned" in the 9th century; it probably reverted to agricultural use and it is possible that the settlement shifted to the present location of the hamlet on the western side of Lincoln Road. Its decline may also reflect the growing importance of Sleaford.


Later farming village

The word Holdingham derives from the personal name Hald and the
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 ...
words -''inga'' and -''ham'', together meaning "Homestead of Hald's family or followers", as the place name historian A. D. Mills puts it. The place name scholars Kenneth Cameron and John Ingsley make him Halda and his followers the Haldingas. Either way, this implies a pre-
conquest Conquest involves the annexation or control of another entity's territory through war or Coercion (international relations), coercion. Historically, conquests occurred frequently in the international system, and there were limited normative or ...
origin, though the earliest record of the name does not occur until . Although not mentioned 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 ...
, it was probably a dependent part of the
Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...
's manor in Sleaford. In the mid-12th century, the Bishops of Lincoln encouraged trade at New Sleaford (as it became known); they granted it limited liberties and
burgage Burgage is a medieval land term used in Great Britain and Ireland, well established by the 13th century. A burgage was a town ("borough" or "burgh") rental property (to use modern terms), owned by a king or lord. The property ("burgage tenement ...
tenure. An estate survey of 1258, however, shows that tenants in Holdingham held land described as tofts and bovates, implying that it remained a centre of
demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...
farming. The arrangement of the manor's open fields around the settlement add credence to this, suggesting, as local historian Simon Pawley wrote, that Holdingham was "the agricultural focus" of the Bishop's estate at Sleaford. By 1334, the settlement was valued at £2 16s. 3¼d. It remained a part of the Bishop's estate until Bishop
Holbeach Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies from Spalding; from Boston; from King's Lynn; from Peterborough; and by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the ...
alienated it to the Crown in 1540.
Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...
granted it to Edward Clinton, Lord Clinton and later Earl of Lincoln, who sold it to Robert Carre in 1559. It passed through his family and then, by marriage, to the Earls (later Marquesses) of Bristol.. In medieval and early modern times, the settlement was arranged into closes,. fenced-in (
enclosed Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
) plots of land. St Mary's Chapel served the inhabitants from at least 1340, when it is first recorded, until around 1550, around which time it fell into ruin. Its location is unknown. To the west, the land south of Newark Road was part of the Anna (or Annah)
Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...
. The earliest surviving map of Holdingham dates from 1776 and shows the arrangement of closes, surrounded by open fields (Town Furlong to the south, Waze Furlong to the far east and Walnut Tree Furlong to the east, immediately beneath the row of small closes that lined the drove to Sleaford Moor). In 1794 the Marquess of Bristol
enclosed Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...
the open fields; he had by far the largest stake in them, at 1,000 acres, against the combined 96 acres divided between seven other men. In order to compensate inhabitants with
grazing rights Grazing rights is the right of a user to allow their livestock to feed (graze) in a given area. United States Grazing rights have never been codified in United States law, because such common-law rights derive from the English concept of the ...
, Lord Bristol allocated them land on Sleaford Moor, to the east of Holdingham. The
Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
of Sleaford was allocated a farm on the Anna to compensate for the loss of his
tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
s. By the 16th century, the route through Holdingham was used by drovers bringing their cattle from Scotland down to London via
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
. The Green Dragon, a
public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...
at Holdingham, sat on four acres of land which drovers used to put their cattle to pasture while they stopped there for a drink just before the
tollgate A tollbooth (or toll booth) is an enclosure placed along a toll road that is used for the purpose of collecting a Toll (fee), toll from passing traffic. A structure consisting of several tollbooths placed next to each other is called a toll p ...
at Sleaford. It was renamed The Jolly Scotchman in 1821, possibly because of this link. In 1825, Holdingham had eighteen houses and a number of
tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, E ...
s for the poor; together, these housed 25 families.. Although anciently a hamlet in the parish of New Sleaford, Holdingham appointed its own parish officers in the early 19th century. In 1866, Holdingham was reorganised into its own civil parish (though 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 ...
boundaries remained unchanged); at the next
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
in 1871, it had 27 inhabited houses, 31 families and a population of 143. Over the next seventy years, the parish population stayed fairly static before declining slightly; there were only 75 people living in 22 houses in 1951.


Modern developments

A petrol
filling station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...
had been built on Lincoln Road, just south of the hamlet, by at least the 1960s; in 1972, this was taken over by Hockmeyer Motors, who later replaced it with a modern filling station. In 1975, Sleaford's eastern bypass opened, which included the construction of Holdingham Roundabout immediately north of the hamlet and at the intersection of the A15, Lincoln Road and the A17, the latter of which was diverted out of the town and east to Kirkby la Thorpe on a new road.. The town's western bypass was added in 1993, which diverted the A15 around Sleaford from Holdingham Roundabout south to Silk Willoughby. In the early 1990s, a service station opened at Holdingham roundabout with a hotel and restaurant, and a fast food restaurant opened near the roundabout in 2001. From the 1930s onwards, Sleaford's urban area gradually encroached northwards along either side of Lincoln Road: the private North Parade development on the west was built in the 1930s and the
interwar In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
and
postwar A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...
social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
on the east were built near Holdingham's parish boundaries. The Marquess of Bristol still owned almost all of the agricultural land in the parish before the 1960s, but then began selling it off, which allowed
speculative development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to others. ...
to take place around the town including at Holdingham. Suburban housing on St Denys Avenue was built 1968, north of the North Parade estate and within the parish boundaries. The parish was merged with New Sleaford,
Old Sleaford Old Sleaford is a former settlement and ancient parish, now in the civil parish of Sleaford, in the North Kesteven district, in the county of Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremon ...
and Quarrington in 1974 to form the current Sleaford civil parish. In the early 1970s, another speculative estate was built within the Holdingham boundaries adjoining the council housing on the east side of Lincoln Road. The Woodside Avenue estate was also built in the late 1970s, adjoining the Jubilee Grove estate to the north-east. In 1987, the district council designated as development land sites between St Denys' Avenue and Holdingham village on the west side of Lincoln Road, and between Durham Avenue, the Woodside Avenue estate and Holdingham village on the east side.. These lands were developed for private housing in the 1990s and early 2000s, effectively making Holdingham part of Sleaford's contiguous urban area. As the local historian Simon Pawley remarked in the late 1990s, Holdingham had "begun to look more like a suburb of Sleaford than a village in its own right" as a result of these developments.. In the early 2010s, further development took place, followed over the next decade by almost 300 houses and a new
nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...
at Holdingham Grange, east of the McDonald's and bounded to the north by the A17 bypass. The care home opened in 2018.


Future

The ''Sleaford Masterplan'', produced in 2011 for North Kesteven District Council, designated large tracts of land between the existing housing and the A15 bypass as potential housing sites for the period to 2036. In 2017,
planning permission Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to buil ...
was granted to the Drove Landowners Partnership to build 1,400 homes, two schools, a hotel, a community centre and shops on this land, spanning from Holdingham to The Drove; they expected it to be built in phases, with completion in the early 2030s.


Economy


Context

The Sleaford built-up area is the urban centre of the North Kesteven district, and one of the district's centres of employment.. According to a local authority report, Sleaford is also "the main retail, service and employment centre for people living in the town and in the surrounding villages". Retail, services and distribution make up 22% of the town's workforce. The public sector is the predominant form of employment in Sleaford civil parish; public administration, education and healthcare collectively account for 29% of the workforce. Sleaford houses the headquarters of North Kesteven District Council, as well as four
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
s and three
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
s, and is near the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
bases at
Cranwell Cranwell is a village in the civil parish of Cranwell, Brauncewell and Byard's Leap, in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from Lincoln. The principal ...
,
Digby Digby may refer to: Places Australia * Digby, Victoria, a town Canada * Digby (electoral district), a former federal electoral district in Nova Scotia (1867–1914) * Digby (provincial electoral district), a provincial electoral district ...
and Waddington which are major employers in the district. Many of North Kesteven's residents also commute out of the district to work, including at
Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...
,
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 ...
and
Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent () or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...
. Sleaford also includes one of the district council's three "strategic employment locations", Sleaford Enterprise Park, which lies within the Sleaford Holdingham ward. According to
Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...
, the enterprise park in 2024 housed at least 40 businesses, including three manufacturers, 10
retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...
ers or
wholesalers Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In g ...
, three vehicle dealerships, two
plant hire Equipment rental, or plant hire, is a service industry providing machinery, equipment and tools for a limited period of time to final users, mainly to general contractors but also to industry and individual consumers. Renting can be defined a ...
outlets, six
skilled trades A tradesperson or tradesman/tradeswoman is a skilled worker that specialises in a particular Trade (occupation), trade. Tradespeople (tradesmen/women) usually gain their skills through work experience, on-the-job training, an apprenticeship prog ...
(including four vehicle repair shops), a play centre, a restaurant, a training centre, and other services. The Sleaford Household Waste Recycling Centre is also on the site. Still within the ward boundaries but to the east of East Road are buildings housing at least 10 other organisations, including a veterinary clinic, a wholesaler, a training centre, and offices serving an NHS administration. Immediately adjacent but outside of the ward boundaries are other business parks and industrial estates housing companies, including retailers, wholesalers, services and manufacturing concerns.


Workforce (Sleaford Holdingham ward)

According to the 2021 census, 63.9% of the Sleaford Holdingham ward's residents aged 16 and over were economically active, compared with 58.6% for all of England. 61.6% were in employment, compared with 55.7% nationally. The proportion of long-term sick or disabled was 4.6%, slightly higher than England's 4%; 2.3% of people were economically active but unemployed, very slightly lower than the rate in all of England (2.9%). The proportion of retirees was 18.8%, lower than the national rate (21.5%). Of residents over 16 and in employment, 74.5% were in full-time employment, compared to 70.2% nationally. The 2021 census revealed that the most common industry that the ward's residents worked in was wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles (16.7%, slightly higher than England's population as a whole at 15%). Human health and social work activities accounted for 15.6%, slightly higher than the national rate (14.6%). Public administration and defence was overrepresented among the ward's population, accounting for 12.4% of workers compared with 5.8% nationally. The proportion of people working in
manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...
(10.9%) was also higher than in England as whole (7.3%). No other sectors accounted for more than 10% of the workforce, with the next highest being construction (8.2%), education (7.9%), transport and storage (6%), and accommodation and food services (5.7%).
Professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...
and scientific activities were underrepresented (at 2.8% against 6.7% nationally). The proportion of people working in
financial services Financial services are service (economics), economic services tied to finance provided by financial institutions. Financial services encompass a broad range of tertiary sector of the economy, service sector activities, especially as concerns finan ...
(1.7%) was less than half of the rate nationally (3.8%). The census also showed that 10.1% of the working population were
managers Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...
,
directors Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
or senior officials, and 13.4% were
professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...
s, both lower than the figures for England as a whole (12.9% and 20.3% respectively); 15.3% were associate professionals or people employed in technical occupations, slightly higher than the national figure (13.3%). A further 9.5% of people were in administrative or secretarial jobs, almost the same as in England (9.3%), while 11% were in
skilled trades A tradesperson or tradesman/tradeswoman is a skilled worker that specialises in a particular Trade (occupation), trade. Tradespeople (tradesmen/women) usually gain their skills through work experience, on-the-job training, an apprenticeship prog ...
(slightly higher than in England as a whole, at 10.2%). Relative to England, a similar proportion of residents worked in caring, leisure or other
service occupations Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...
(10.1%), but there were higher rates of employment as sales and
customer service Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those who buy or use its products or services, either in person or remotely. Customer service is often practiced in a way that reflects the strategies and values of a firm, and ...
jobs (8.5% compared with 7.5%), process, plant and machine operatives (9.8% against 6.9% nationally) and in elementary occupations (12.2% compared with 10.5% nationally). In more detailed data from the 2011 census, there was wide variation within the ward; 20% of workers on the Stokes Drive estate were in professional jobs, whereas the rate was 3% on some parts of the Jubilee Grove estate; in the latter areas, up to 24% of workers were in elementary occupations, compared with 10% of workers on the Stokes Drive estate. In 2021, 61.2% of residents commuted to work in a car or van, much higher than the rate nationally (44.5%); 19.4% were working mainly from home, lower than England's 31.5%. Most other residents in the ward commuted to work on foot (10%).


Demographics


Population change

There were 20 families living in Holdingham in 1563, according to the
diocesan In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
returns of worshippers. This had increased to 25 families in 1825. The 1801 census recorded 113 residents, which rose to 198 in 1841. This fell to 143 in 1871, 120 in 1881 and 89 in 1891, before increasing slightly to 95 in 1901. It rose slightly to 101 in 1921 and 107 ten years later, but had dropped back to 75 by 1951. The parish was merged into Sleaford in 1974. Since the 1990s, the hamlet has been incorporated into the built-up area of Sleaford. The modern ward of Sleaford Holdingham (which has different boundaries to former parish) had a total population of 2,774 in 2011; this accounted for 16% of the population of Sleaford (17,671). By 2021, the ward's population had risen to 3,709.


Ethnicity, country of origin and religion

According to the 2021 census, the population of Sleaford Holdingham ward was 96% white, 1% Asian or
Asian British British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British people of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with a population of 5.76 million people or 8.6% of the popu ...
, 2% mixed or multi-ethnic, and 0.3% black, African, Caribbean or
black British Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...
, while 0.6% identified with other ethnicities. This implies that the ward was more ethnically homogenous than England as a whole, where 81% of people were white, 10% Asian or Asian British, 3% mixed, 4% black, African, Caribbean or black British, and 2% other. Ward-level data about country of birth has not been released for the 2021 census; in
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, approximately 93% of the ward's residents were born in the United Kingdom (88% in England), 0.4% in Ireland, 4% elsewhere in the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(3% in post-2001 accession states), and 3% in other countries; this made the population much more UK-born than England as a whole, where 86% of the population were born in the UK, 1% in Ireland, 4% in the rest of the EU and 9% elsewhere. In 96% of households, all people aged over 16 had English as their first language. In the 2021 census, 53.6% of Sleaford Holdingham's population reported following a religion (compared with England's rate of 58.6%); 52.1% of the population were Christian, with approximately 56 people belonging to other religions; the proportion of Christians was higher than in England, where 46.3% were Christian, 6.7% were Muslim and 4.3% belong to other religions.


Household composition, age, health and housing

In 2021, 48% of the ward's population were male and 52% female. There were 1,526 households in the ward: 28.0% single-person households, 68.0% one-family households, and 4.0% other types; the rate of single-person households was below England's level (30.1%) and the proportion of one-family households was higher than in England generally (68%). Data on average age has not been published at ward level for the 2021 census. In 2011, the
mean A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...
age in the ward was 38.2 years and the
median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...
39; the latter was slightly younger than England's national average. In 2021, 22.8% of the ward's residents were under 16 (compared to 18.5% in England), while 15.2% were aged 65 and over (below England's 18.3%). 81.5% of the population reported being in very good or good health (very similar to England's 82.2% rate) and an additional 12.8% reported being in fair health, almost the same as the national rate (12.7%). According to the 2021 census, a slightly higher proportion of the ward's residents own their own homes with or without a mortgage (64%) than in England as a whole (62.3%). At 20.4%, a greater proportion of people in the ward socially rent (the figure is 17.1% nationally). 15.6% of residents rent privately or live rent-free; this is lower than in England as a whole (20.6%). 39.6% of houses in the ward were detached, much higher than England's rate (22.9%); only 1.6% were purpose-built flats or tenants, compared to 17% across the whole of England; 40.8% of the houses in the ward were semi-detached and a further 17.7% were terraced. Proportionally more households have a car or van (85.3%) than in England as a whole (76.5%).


Deprivation

For measuring
deprivation Deprivation or deprive may refer to: * Poverty, pronounced deprivation in well-being ** Objective deprivation or poverty threshold, the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country ** Relative deprivation, the lack of resources ...
, the Sleaford Holdingham ward is divided into two statistical units called Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs). The 2010
Indices of Multiple Deprivation Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...
showed that the ward contains both the second-most deprived and sixth-least deprived LSOAs in North Kesteven (out of 60 such statistical units). The data from the 2019 update showed that there remained a disparity between the two areas; the LSOA which covered all the lands east of Lincoln Road (excluding part of the Durham Avenue estate and all of the Furlong Way estate) ranked among the 40% most deprived LSOAs nationally. By contrast, the LSOA covering the rest of the ward ranked among the 20% least deprived areas in the country.


Government and politics


Local government

Holdingham was a hamlet in the ancient parish of New Sleaford, part of
Kesteven The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland. Etymology T ...
's Flaxwell
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 ...
. It was incorporated into Sleaford
Poor Law Union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...
. In 1866, Holdingham was created as a separate civil parish. The
Public Health Act 1872 Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...
established
urban sanitary district Sanitary districts were established in England and Wales in 1872 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures: *Urban sanitary districts in towns with existing local government bodies *Rural sanitary dis ...
s (USD) and Holdingham became part of the Sleaford USD, which in turn was reorganised into Sleaford Urban District (UD) in 1894. Sleaford UD was abolished by the
Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...
and, by statutory instrument, Sleaford civil parish became its
successor Successor may refer to: * An entity that comes after another (see Succession (disambiguation)) Film and TV * ''The Successor'' (1996 film), a film including Laura Girling * The Successor (2023 film), a French drama film * ''The Successor'' ( ...
, thus merging Quarrington, New Sleaford, Old Sleaford and Holdingham civil parishes. Since 1998, Holdingham has fallen within the Sleaford Holdingham wards in Sleaford
Town Council A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities. Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions. Republic of Ireland In 2002, 49 urban district councils and 26 town commissi ...
and North Kesteven District Council; it is represented by two councillors on the town council and one councillor in the district. The settlement also falls within the
Lincolnshire County Council Lincolnshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the latter additionally includes North Lincolnshire and No ...
electoral division of Sleaford, which is represented by one councillor.


National and European politics

Before 1832, Holdingham was in the Lincolnshire parliamentary constituency. In 1832, the
Reform Act The Reform Acts (or Reform Bills, before they were passed) are legislation enacted in the United Kingdom in the 19th and 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the U ...
divided Lincolnshire. Holdingham was placed in the South Lincolnshire constituency that elected two members to parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1885 and Holdingham was in the new Sleaford (or North Kesteven) constituency. It merged with the Grantham seat in 1918. In 1995, Holdingham was reorganised into
Sleaford and North Hykeham Sleaford and North Hykeham is a parliamentary constituency in Lincolnshire, England which elects a single Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It has been represented since 2016 by Dr Caroline Johnson, who is ...
, effective from the 1997 general election. The incumbent is
Caroline Johnson Caroline Elizabeth Johnson (''née'' Burton; born 31 December 1977) is a British Conservative Party politician and consultant paediatrician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sleaford and North Hykeham since 2016. She served as ...
, who has held it since the 2016 by-election and was re-elected with 36% of the vote in
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
.
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 ...
elected a Member of the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
from 1974 until 1994, and then became part of the Lincolnshire and Humberside South constituency until 1999; it then elected members as part of the East Midlands constituency until the United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union in 2020.


Transport

The
A17 road This is a list of roads designated A17 or A-17. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by country. * O'Shea Road in Melbourne, Victoria. * Portrush Road in Adelaide, South Australia * A17 motorway (Belgium), a road connecting Bruges and Tour ...
from
Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent () or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...
to
King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...
bypasses Sleaford from Holdingham Roundabout to Kirkby la Thorpe. It ran through the town until the bypass opened in 1975. The Holdingham roundabout connects the A17 to the
A15 road This is a list of roads designated A15. Entries are sorted in alphabetical order by name of country. * A015 road (Argentina), a road connecting the junction with National Route 14 at La Criolla and the Salto Grande Dam access-road * ''A15 road (A ...
from
Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...
to
Scawby Scawby is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south-west from Brigg, and just east from the A15 road (England), A15 road, and south from the M180 motorway. According to the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 ...
. It also passed through Sleaford until 1993, when its bypass was completed. The nearest railway station is at
Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...
, which is a stop on the Peterborough to Lincoln Line and the
Poacher Line The Grantham–Skegness line, promoted originally as the Poacher Line, runs for between and in Lincolnshire, England. Trains on this route generally operate hourly from to Skegness via the Nottingham to Grantham Line, with additional slowe ...
, from Grantham to Skegness.
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 ...
, roughly by road and two stops on the Poacher Line, is a major stop on the
East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...
. Trains from Grantham to London King's Cross take approximately 1 hour 15 minutes.


Education

The Sleaford Holdingham Ward does not contain any schools or other educational facilities. Education is provided in Sleaford, where there are four
primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
s. The nearest are Church Lane School (on Church Lane) and Our Lady of Good Counsel
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
Primary School (on the Drove); there is also the William Alvey
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
Primary School on Eastgate and St Botolph's Church of England Primary School in Quarrington. There are also primary schools in the nearby villages of
Leasingham Leasingham is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated less than north from Sleaford, and just off the A15. The hamlet of Roxholm lies to the north. When combined with Rauceby figures ...
, Kirkby la Thorpe and North Rauceby. There are three
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
s in Sleaford, each with
sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...
s:
Carre's Grammar School Carre's Grammar School is a selective secondary school for boys in Sleaford, a market town in Lincolnshire, England. Founded on 1 September 1604 by an indenture of Robert Carre, the school was funded by rents from farmland and run by a group ...
, a boys'
grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...
and selective
academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
; Kesteven and Sleaford High School, a selective academy and girls' grammar school; and
St George's Academy St George's Academy is a co-educational comprehensive secondary school based in the English market town of Sleaford in Lincolnshire, with a satellite school at nearby Ruskington. Its origins date to 1908, when Sleaford Council School opened a ...
, a mixed non-selective
comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...
and academy. The grammar schools are selective and pupils are required to pass the
eleven-plus exam The eleven-plus (11+) is a Test (assessment), standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools ...
. St George's is not academically selective. The
co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
Sleaford Joint Sixth Form consortium allows pupils to choose
sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...
courses taught at all three schools regardless of which one they are based at.


Religion

Holdingham had a
chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
in the Middle Ages, which was last in use in the 1550s; it subsequently disappeared and its location is not known with certainty. As of 2020, Sleaford provides the focus for religious worship.
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 ...
services normally take place at St Denys' Church, by the town's market place; Holdingham falls within 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 ...
of New Sleaford. There is a
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church (Our Lady of Good Counsel) on Jermyn Street. Sleaford United Reformed Church and the Sleaford Community Church merged in 2008 to form the Sleaford Riverside Church, which meets at premises on Southgate. Sleaford Methodist Church is located on Northgate. New Life Church Ministries have a centre on Mareham Lane. The
Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...
has a chapel on West Banks. The Sleaford Muslim Community Association has a prayer hall on Station Road. Sleaford Spiritualist Church operates on Westgate.


Historic buildings

There are seven
listed building 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, Hi ...
s in Holdingham. Three entries are in the hamlet itself: the 17th- or early-18th-century cottage 1, Holdingham; the 18th-century building at 12, Holdingham; and the mid-18th-century buildings at 13 and 14, Holdingham. To the west of the settlement is the 17th- or early 18th-century Anna House Farmhouse and outbuildings. To the farthest west in the former parish boundaries are the late-18th-century Holdingham Farmhouse and adjoining mill buildings. In addition to the listed buildings, several others are recorded as having "local interest", including nos. 7–11, Holdingham.


Notable residents

Holdingham gave its name to Richard de Haldingham and Lafford (died 1278), the donor and possible author of the
Hereford Mappa Mundi The Hereford Mappa Mundi (, map of the world) is the largest medieval map still known to exist, depicting the known world. It is a religious rather than literal depiction, featuring heaven, hell and the path to salvation. Dating from AD, the m ...
.


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * * * * . * * . * . * * . * . * . * {{Citation , last=Youngs , first=Frederic A. , title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England , volume=2 , year=1991 , location=London , publisher=Royal Historical Society , isbn=978-0-86193-127-9. Populated places in Lincolnshire Former civil parishes in Lincolnshire Sleaford