[Transcription © SA Whittle-Bruce 2002]

Lincolnshire - Helpringham

William White's History,Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire 1842

A large retired village, 7 miles S.E. of Sleaford, has in its parish 764 inhabitants, and 3089 acres of land,including a large tract of fen, crossed by the Car-Dyke, and extending 3 miles eastward to Bicker Fen. It was enclosed in 1773. The high land is chiefly clay, and produces fine crops of wheat and beans. The fen has partly a clayey silt, and partly a moory soil, but is now well drained and fertile. Lord Willoughby de Broke is lord of the manor of Helpringham-with-Bicker, and owner of more than one-third of the soil; and the rest belongs to Mr John Tomlinson, (owner of Knott Hall,) Rev. J. Wilson, W. Forster,Esq., and many smaller proprietors. Thorpe Latimer, now a farm of 272 acres, nearly a mile S. of the village, was a seat of the Latimers for some centuries after the Norman Conquest; and their mansion appears to have been strongly fortified, for its site is still surrounded by a broad deep moat, crossed by a bridge, which now leads to an orchard, in place of the halls of the feudal lords. Lord Willoughby de Broke, the present owner, being heir-general of the Latimers, is also Baron Latimer. The Church (St. Andrew) is a large and handsome structure, consisting of a nave with aisles, a chancel, and a south porch, with a lofty tower and spire at the west end, containing a clock and five bells. A wooden screen, of Gothic workmanship, separates the nave and chancel; and in the south wall of the latter are three ornamented niches or stalls, and a piscina, under a Saxon arch, with round pillars. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £8.3s.4d., and now at £149, is in the patronage and incumbency of the Rev. Thomas Mitchinson. It was formerly in the appropriation of Bourn Abbey. At the enclosure, land was awarded in lieu of tithes, and the vicar's allotment is 102A. 2R. The Baptists and Primitive Methodists have each a chapel here, the latter built in 1841. The Poor's Land, allotted at the enclosure, is 20A., let for £40 per annum, which is distributed in coals. The poor have also £2 a year, as the rent of a rood of land, left by an unknown donor, and upon which a cottage has been erected by John Metcalf, the tenant. On the village green, are the steps and pedestal of an ancient cross.