Alkborough
(or Aukborough) is a parish and pleasant
village on the east side of Trent falls,
where the streams of the Ouse and Trent
unite and form the Humber, across which
extensive and beautiful views of Yorkshire,
including York Minister, may be obtained,
9 miles north from Frodingham station
on the Doncaster and Grimsby section
of the Great Central railway, 5 north-west
from Winterton and 18 northwest from
Brigg, in the North Lindsey division
of the county, parts of Lindsey, North
division of Manley wapentake, union
of Glanford Brigg, Winterton petty sessional
division, county court district of Barton-on-Humber,
rural deanery of Manlake, archdeaconry
of Stow and diocese of Lincoln. The
church of St John the Baptist is an
ancient edifice of stone in mixed styles,
consisting of chancel, nave, aisles,
south porch and an embattled western
tower with pinnacles containing a clock
and 3 bells, on the second of which
is the inscription-
IESU FOR YI MODIR SAKE
SAVE ALL YE SAVLS THAT ME GART MAKE
The font is Norman: the church was restored
and reseated in oak and the chancel
rebuilt in 1887 at a cost of £1,400:
there are 220 sittings. The register
dates from the year 1538. The living
is a vicarage, annexed to Whitton, net
yearly value £250, including 117
acres of glebe, with residence, erected
in 1871 at a cost of £2,000, in
the alternate gift of the Bishop of
Lincoln and J. Goulton-Constable esq.
and held since 1883 by the Rev Benjamin
Hunter BA of the University of London.
The tithes of Alkborough were amongst
the earliest endowments of the monastery
of Spalding when founded by the Sheriff
Thorold in 1052, and it was probably
at this time that the church was built.
There is a Wesleyan chapel, built in
1840, and a Primitive Methodist chapel,
erected in 1864. A reading room was
formed for the parish in 1882. An annual
sum of £6, derived from the sale
of the old almshouses, together with
thirty-two shillings, being a charge
on the manor, is distributed yearly
at the discretion of trustees. The Alkborough
and Whitton Dividend Society (sick and
burial) was formed in 1885, and has
now (1900) 132 members; meetings are
held at the Reading room on the first
Monday in the month at 7.30pm; Mr Charles
Bray, secretary. On the hill are the
remains of a Roman camp, probably the
site of the Roman town of Arquis. The
field which comprises the Roman camp
is called the Countess Close, from the
Countess Lucy, wife of Ivo Tailbois,
who in the time of William the Conqueror
was Lord of Holland: the whole manor
of Alkborough belonged to the Countess
Lucy: in the time of the Norman Conquest,
or very soon after, a small monastic
establishment existed in Alkborough
as a cell or offshoot of the monastery
of Spalding, it was inhabited by three
monks and a secular chaplain, with a
prior over them; this cell ceased to
exist in 1220, but the farm house belonging
to Magdalen College, Cambridge, stands
on the site: the maze, known as "Julian
Bower", was undoubtedly made by
the monks while the cell existed. James
Goulton-Coulton-Constable esq. JP, FSA
of Walcot hall, who is lord of the manor,
and major John William Dent, of Ribston
Hall, W Yorks, are the principal landowners.
The soil is loam; subsoil clay. The
chief crops are wheat, barley and potatoes.
The area is 3,034 acres of land, 1 of
water, 456 of tidal water and 225 of
foreshore; rateable value, £3,162;
the population in 1891 was 427.WALCOT
is a hamlet half a mile south. Walcot
Hall, the seat of James Goulton-Constable
esq. JP, FSA is a pleasant mansion,
with beautiful grounds, described in
a survey made in 1649 as " built
of stone and brick and containing one
hall, one kitchen, two parlours, six
chambers"; but of the age of this
there is no record; additions were made
in 1700 on the south-west side, and
on the south-east in 1800 and in the
latter year all the grounds and gardens
round the hall were laid out and planted.
The Abbey of Peterborough had at one
time a chapel and burial ground in Walcot.Parish
Clerk, Thomas Foster York. Post and
M O O, S B and Annuity and Insurance
Office. Ernest O Booth, sub-postmaster.
London and other letters are received
through Doncaster via Frodingham; arrive
at 9 am and dispatched at 5.10pm. The
nearest telegraph office is at Whitton,
3 miles distant.National School (mixed),
built in 1874, by J Goulton-Constable
esq. to hold 120 children: average attendance,
88; Leonard Winder, master.Carriers
to:Brigg - Thos. Gunson and W Chambers,
Mon, Thurs and Sat
Hull - Thos. Gunson and W Chambers,
Tues and Friday
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