[Transcription © SA Whittle-Bruce 2003]

Donington,Lincs

William White's History,Gazetteer and Directory 1882

Donington is a small but well-built market town, 11 miles SW of Boston,and 10 miles N. by W. of Spalding, and is a polling place for the southern division of the county. It is in the Parts of Holland, Spalding union, and a county court district, Kirton wapentake and petty sessional division, Donington polling district of South Lincolnshire, and North Holland rural deaconry of Lincoln archdeaconry. Its parish in 1871 contained 1667 inhabitants and 5475A. 3R. of land, including the hamlet of Northorpe, about a mile N.W. of the town, and many scattered houses. The soil is generally a rich loam, with a sub-soil of silt or clay, and yields abundant crops of grain and potatoes; hemp and flax were formerly grown. The parish is in the following copyhold manors, viz. Wykes, in Donington, of which the Trustees of Cowley's Charity and Henry Smith, Esq. are joint lords; Monks Hall, in Gosberton and Mears, of which Henry Smith, Esq., is lord. Richard Gleed, Esq. of Park House, a neat mansion, with pleasant grounds, has an estate here, as also have many small proprietors. The Great Eastern and the Great Northern Railway Companies are making a joint line from Spalding to Lincoln, which will pass through this district. Donington is of great antiquity, and had a large market every Saturday, but it sunk into insignificance many years ago, owing to the proximity of the large market towns of Boston and Spalding. The town was lighted with gas in 1856, by a company with a subscribed capital of £1700, and has of late years been much improved by the erection of new houses, &c. It has three annual fairs, viz., September 4th for oxen, and May 26th and October 17th, for horses, oxen and merchandise. There was formerly a heronry on Wykes Farm. 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, many years ago, to Wykes Farm. They arrived here annually in February and departed in September. Donington CHURCH (St. Mary and Holy Rood) is an ancient structure, mostly of Decorated character, consisting of nave, north and south aisles, chancel, and a lofty tower and spire containing five bells, and a clock presented by the representatives of the late B. Smith, Esq., of Horbling The chancel contains a sedilla and piscina and a large eastern five-light window, corresponding with the fine west Perpendicular window of the nave. The church was restored in the year 1868, under the superintendence of J. Fowler, Esq., of Louth, at a cost of about £2,200. The restoration of the chancel was effected at the expense of the late Rev. John Wilson, of Wigtoft, who bequeathed £1800 for keeping the building in repair. In the church is a monument to the memory of Captain Matthew Flinders, who was educated here and who twice circumnavigated the globe, and a stained glass window in memory of the late Captain and Mrs Gleed. The organ has been rebuilt by Mr. T.H.Nicholson of Lincoln. The living is a rectory valued in K.B. at £13.17s,3 1/2d., and now at £300, in the gift of Simeon's trustees, and incumbency of the Rev. J. D. Grenside M.A., who has a neat residence, 16 acres of glebe, and yearly rent charges of £100, awarded in 1767 in lieu of the vicarial tithes, and of £154 in lieu of the rectorial tithes. The Primitive and Free Methodists, and the Baptists, have each a chapel here. In the town is a well -endowed Charity School, founded by Thomas Cowley, of Wykes House, 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. A large addition was made to the property by the enclosure of the fens, and it now produces an income of £1500 per annum, arising from 734 acres of land, the Red Cow Inn, a blacksmith's shop, a market garden, several dwelling houses, and a moiety of the profits of the manor of Wykes.The trustees are the Vicar, the Revs. Joseph Holmes, Henry Thomas Fletcher, Canon Moore, Colonel Moore, and Henry Smith, Esq. B. Smith, Esq., solicitor, of Horbling, is clerk to the trustees. The head-master is a clergyman, and teaches the classics and mathematics; and there are four other masters and five mistresses. £5 a year is expended in weekly doles of bread to the poor; and £5 a year is paid to the vicar for a sermon at Easter. The founder also left a house in Cheapside, London,(then let for £250 a year, but now of much greater value), to , on condition that two boys of Donington should be admitted into that Institution. two boys were admitted, but on the expiration of their terms, the governors refused to take two more, as it was supposed they were bound to do. The average income is now about £1600. A new scheme was issued by the Charity Commissioners in December 1858, for the better management of the school, and another new scheme is expected shortly(1881) to be in existence. The school buildings now contain accommodation for the upper and lower boys' and girls' and infant schools, and residences are attached for the principal masters and mistresses.The schools are free to all the children of the parish; there are about 400 in attendance. Exhibitions of £25 a year, tenable for three years, are granted for enabling boys tp proceed to Universities, and £100 for apprenticing or advancing them in life. The poor of Donington have the following yearly doles: 64 for shoes, left by one Barnes,; £7.10s, left by one John Crawford, out of land at Quadring, and distributed in coals; £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 2A.4p. left by Mr. Pilkington; about £18 from nearly 8 acres allotted at the enclosure, in lieu of lands left by John Thompson, Thomas Howitt, and another donor; 20s. left by Thomas Howitt, out of a farm at Northorpe; and £8 from four tenements, derived from an unknown donor; and £10 charged upon the rectorial tithes, given in blankets.

POST, MONEY ORDER, TELEGRAPH OFFICE, AND SAVINGS BANK at Mr John J. Bartram's, Market Place. Letters arrive at 6.25 a.m. daily, and are despatched at 6.50 p.m. weekdays, and at 6 p.m. on Sunday via Spalding. money Order and savings Bank business is transacted from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Saturday till 8 p.m. Telegraph Office is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sunday.