Thorpe Tilney is a hamlet in the

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 ...

Timberland Timberland may refer to: Places * Timberland, Lincolnshire, a village in Lincolnshire, England * Timberland, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community, US Other uses * Timberland, land used for forestry and timber production * Timberland (company) ...

in the district of

North Kesteven North Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England. The district is located to the east of Nottinghamshire, north-east of Leicestershire and south of the city of Lincoln. Its council, North Kesteven District Council, is ...

, in the county of

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. The hamlet is located directly south of Timberland, and stretches from Thorpe Tilney on the B1189 eastwards through Thorpe Tilney Fen to Thorpe Tilney Dales beside the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

. Thorpe Tilney was a civil parish between 1866 and 1931 when it was abolished to enlarge Timberland.

Locale

In 1545 three houses in Thorpe Tilney, a possession of the dissolved

Kyme Priory __NOTOC__ Kyme Priory was a priory in South Kyme, Lincolnshire, England. What remains of the buildings are now part of Saint Mary and All Saints Church. The Augustinian Priory of Kyme was founded by Philip of Kyme, steward to Gilbert Earl of Lin ...

, were granted to John Broxholme and John Bellowe. A farm on a slight hill east of the

Car Dyke The Car Dyke was, and to a large extent still is, an long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England. It is generally accepted as being of Roman age and, for many centuries, to have been taken as marking the western ...

may represent the site, which is known locally as Priory Hill. Evans Farmhouse, originally an inn on the then

Billinghay Billinghay is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated approximately north-east from Sleaford, and lies on the B1189 Walcott road near its junction with the A153. Just south ...

to Metheringham road, is also a listed building, built of red brick and dating from 1782.

Thorpe Tilney Hall

Thorpe Tilney Hall is a Grade II listed red brick

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...

dating from 1740 with later alterations and additions. Also listed are the

Orangery An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very larg ...

and attached garden dating from 17th Century, and the stable block and cottage dating from 1740. The current Hall replaces an earlier medieval building, the ruin of which was demolished in 1969, which stood away on the site of Hall Farm. This earlier Hall was struck by lightning and destroyed in 1705, and the Orangery and its associated walled garden relate to this earlier building, and are dated c. 1680. The Hall was used by the Whichcote family as a

dower house A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish or Welsh estate. The widow, often known as the " dowager", usually moves into the dower house from the larger family h ...

for their main seat, Aswarby Park, the other side of Sleaford, and one of their tombs can be seen in the adjacent Timberland church. The Whichcotes continued to own Thorpe Tilney, with a estate, until 1918, when much of the land was bought by the County Council to provide small-holdings for returning soldiers. Latterly, Thorpe Tilney Hall was owned by the aristocratic Stockdale family who restored the building. Freddie Stockdale was a well regarded opera

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. H ...

, in 1977 he oversaw the construction of the Opera Pavilion to a design by Francis Johnson, with stained glass by John Piper in the grounds of the hall. At this time the Hall became well known for operatic performances. Thorpe Tilney Hall was used as a filming location in two separate television productions of Pride and Prejudice, first in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...

and then in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

History

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several part ...

axes made of stone and flint have been found around the village.Archi UK
/ref> Later finds include a piece of

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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

pottery, a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

barrow and a Bronze Age flanged bronze axe.

References

{{Authority control Hamlets in Lincolnshire North Kesteven District