[Transcription © SA Whittle-Bruce 2002]

 Donington,Lincs

William White's History,Gazetteer and Directory 1842 

Donington is a small but well-built market town, 10 miles SW of Boston,and 9 miles NW of Spalding. Its parish contains 1759 inhabitants and 6180 acres of land,including the hamlet of Northorpe, many scattered houses,and a large allotment of the adjacent parts of Holland Fen. The soil is exonerated from the tithes, and is generally a rich loam, consisting of a mixture of silt and clay. The parish is in the following copyhold manors, viz., Earls Hall in Frampton, of which Richd Thorold,Esq., is Lord; Wikes,in Donington,of which the trustees of Cowley's Charity are lords; and Monks Hall, in Gosberton, of which Benj. Smith, Esq., is lord. J. and R. Gleed and T. Dods Esq., have estates here, as also have many small proprietors. Donington is of great antiquity, and had a large market every Saturday, but it sunk into insignificance many years ago, owing to the influence which Boston acquired after the enclosure of the fens, and the formation of the navigable drains and good roads which converge in that town and port from the surrounding country. The town has been much improved during the last ten years, by the erection of new houses, &c.; and it has still four annual fairs, viz., May 26th, Sept.4th, and October 17th, for horses,cattle,&c., and August 17th, for horses only. The three first were formerly for the sale of hemp, of which immense quantities were grown in the neighbourhood before the enclosure of the fens. On Wikes Farm, is the only HERONRY in this part of the kingdom. It was originally at Cressy Hall, in Surfleet, the ancient seat of the knightly family of Heron, but after the re-building of that mansion, when many trees were cut down, the herons settled at Cawood Hall, in Gosberton. whence(being again disturbed) they removed some years ago to Wikes Farm. They arrive here in Feb. and depart in September. Donington Church (St. Mary and Holy Rood) is an ancient structure, with a spire and five bells. It is a vicarage, valued in K.B. at £13.17s,3 1/2d., and now at £126. The Rev. John Wilson. is patron and incumbent. One of the monuments is in memory of Captain Matthew Flinders, who twice circumnavigated the globe. The Wesleyans, the Primitive Methodists, and the Baptists, have each a chapel here; and in the town is a well -endowed Charity School, founded by Thomas Cowley, of the Wikes, who by deed, in 1701, and by will and codicil, in 1711 and 1718, bequeathed nearly all his estates for the foundation of a school and almshouse, and other charitable uses. The endowment now produces about £1300 per annum, and consists of 734 acres, 11 houses, a blacksmith's shop, and three gardens in this parish, and of the profits arising from the manor of Wikes. The trustees are about 20 in number, and among them are S.R.Fydell,Esq., Rev.Basil Beridge, Dr. Heath. Henry Rogers,Esq., Rev. H.B. Pacey,DD., and Wm. Dods, Esq. The School is now in four departments, called the Boys' and Girls' Upper and Preparatory Schools, which are free to all the children of the parish, of whom the teachers have generally about 300 under tuition. The almshouses have never been built, but the trustees allow weekly stipends of 6s. each to sixteen old men and womwn. The trustees have in many respects departed from the letter and spirit of the donor's intentions. They provide the scholars with books and stationery, and allow the master the free use of a house, and a yearly salary of £150, for the services of himself and two assistants; and the schoolmistress and her assistant have the use of another house, and each a yearly salary of £32. Sixty of the poorer scholars are clothed at the expense of the trust. Six of the boys, who have attained the age of 14, are put out apprentice every year,with premiums of £15 and a suit of clothes for each, and at the expiration of their servitude, each is presented with a gratuity of £8. The trustees also pay yearly upwards of £300 for books, stationery, taxes, repairs, &c., £33 for bread, distributed at the Church; £5 to the Vicar for a sermon on Easter Tuesday, and £31 in weekly pensions to two superanuated schoolmistresses. The founder also left the reversion of a house in Cheapside, London, to Christ's Hospital, (then let for £250 a year,) on condition that two boys of Donington should be admitted into that Institution. This branch of Cowley's charity is now under legal investigation. The poor of Donington have the following yearly doles: £4 for shoes, left by one Barnes,; £6, left by one Crawfoot, out of land at Quadring; £9 from land purchased with the bequests of Sarah Hall and other donors; £2.10s. from land left by an unknown donor; £2.10s. from 2R.4p. left by Mr. Pilkington; about £18 from nearly 8A. allotted at the enclosure, in lieu of lands left by John Thompson, Thomas Howitt, and another donor; 20s. left by Thomas Hewitt, out of a farm at Northorpe; and £8 from four tenements, derived from an unknown donor.