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History of Spilsby
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| Statue of John Franklin |
Spilsby is a market town and civil parish in Lincolnshire. England. The town is situated adjacent to the main A16 Trunk Road at the southern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds north of the Fenlands, 33 miles (53 kilometers) east of the county town of Lincoln, 17 miles (27.4 kilometers) north east of Boston and 13 miles (21 kilometers) north west from Skegness.
The town has been a rural market town for over seven hundred years and has changed little in size or character since the beginning of the 19th century, retaining much of its Victorian charm. The town centre features a range of small supermarkets, traditional newsagents, baker, butchers and clothing stores together with several cafes and ethnic fast food takeaways although many local residents choose to shop on a weekly basis at the larger commercial shopping centres of nearby Boston and Skegness.
At the centre of town is an open square or traditional market place, from which the four main town streets radiate. Markets take place on a Monday. Spilsby is located within a predominantly agricultural area and much of the market produce consists of locally grown vegetables and meat.
Early history and a medieval market town
The area has been occupied by man since pre-historic times. Evidence for this can be found at nearby West Keal where an Iron Age hill fort and defensive terraced earthworks stood at the tip of the Wolds promentory overlooking the present village. The early fortified stronghold had a commanding view of the Wash and almost as far as modern day Spalding across the flat marsh and boglands below.
The Spilby area was visited and occupied by the Romans during the first century until the fourth century AD. An archeological dig and field walk, during the 1960s at nearby Keal Cotes in a large field to the south of the village in the corner where the A16 meets the Hagnaby Lane, discovered many tessellated mosaic floor tiles and roof tiles indicating that a substantial Roman villa or high status Romano-British farmhouse had once stood on the site. Several centuries of agricultural activity had plowed out any possibility of further excavations. The recorded finds from the site are stored at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in Lincoln. In 1849, six Roman funeral urns were dug up in the nearby Fulletby.
Spilsby was probably named before or no later than the 9th century Dane rule period and literally translates from the phrase "Spila's-by" where by is old Norse for "place of dwelling" hence "Spila's village" or more accurately "Spila lives here", Spila (pronounced "Spiller") being the local Viking warlord or chieftain who acted as head of the immediate area. The town was recorded in the Domesday book as Spilesbei but was not much more than a large farmstead and few surrounding crofts under the squireship of the Bishop of Durham in 1082
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| Spilsby Church |
According to historian Graham Platts in his 1985 book "Land and People in Medieval Lincolnshire" (History of Lincolnshire.Vol. 5.1985) a charter was granted to a John de Beke (or John Beck) in 1255 to hold a weekly market in Spilsby each Monday and a three day annual fair in July. Four years later, in 1259, the same John de Beke was granted a further charter to hold a three day Christmas fair on 5-8 December. This would make Spilsby one of the earliest Lincolnshire towns to establish a regular weekly market. The next recorded charter to hold a weekly Monday market in the town and an annual fair in July was granted in 1302 to the Lord of the Manor, Norman noble Robert de Willoughby. A copy of this charter is displayed in the parish church.
At the east end of the town centre’s market place stands a medieval Buttercross monument. In his book “Buildings of England – Lincolnshire” the historian Nikolaus Pevsner suggests that the Spilsby Buttercross dates from as early as the 1300s and certainly no later than the 1500s. The stepped bases of these monuments were used by early traders to display their goods on market day, usually milk, cheeses and of course butter. Standing in the centre of the market place is the building originally known as the Town Hall, later called the Old Town Hall and more recently The Archways store and petrol station. In the 1700s the town civic offices, a small courtroom and the town gaol were in the upstairs level supported by the arches and the ground level was an open covered space used as the local Corn Exchange and by market traders to protect their stalls from the rain
Spilsby in the 19th century
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| Statue of John Franklin in early 20th century |
In 1833 a new cemetery of approximately one acre was established on the main Boston Road. White's 1842 Directory described Spilsby as being "a small, but thriving and well-built market town, pleasantly seated on an eminence, which overlooks an extensive tract of marshes and fens. Eresby is a small hamlet just south of town"
In 1839 the King Edward VI grammar school had relocated from its original 17th century school building to a new school that was built on its current site in Spilsby. The grammar school building was abandoned during the 1990s after the two Spilsby secondary schools had amalgamated as Spilsby High School. The grammar school premises now stand empty.
In the mid 19th century non-conformist Methodism arrived in a big way and several denominations built chapels in the town. The Wesleyan, Primitive and Independent Methodists each had their places of worship. The Independents built a brand new chapel in 1866 and converted their original chapel into a dedicated Sunday school. The Wesleyans built a chapel opposite the Buttercross, in Market Place, during 1878.
A major ‘House of Corrections’ prison for the area was built in Spilsby between 1824-26 and occupied a site where Spence Street and West End now stand. The prison covered just over two acres surrounded by a high brick wall and fronted by a classical sessions courthouse. It was enlarged even further in 1869 to provide eighty five individual prisoner cells. The prison was demolished in 1876, except for the small front area that contained the sessions house with its elegant Greek doric pillared portico, police station and town lockup. The stately and elegantly classical Sessions House of 1826, where court quarter sessions for the district of Lindsey were held until 1878, is now home to the Spilsby Theatre and arts centre. The town gasworks were constructed in 1853, opening in 1854 on Ashby Road, bringing street and house lighting to the town for the first time. In 1908 the North East Lincolnshire Water Company opened a pumping station in Hundleby, with a 75,000 gallon reservoir on Raithby Hill, bringing tap water to homes in Spilsby for the first time.
In 1892 Spilsby Pavilion opened with a further room opened in 1896, each room accommodating 300 to 400 people. At the time the Pavilion was advertised as providing accommodation for "dancing parties and smoking concerts". The Masonic Lodge and Hall opened on Halton Road in 1913.
The parish had twenty two acres set aside as ‘’Poor Land’’, owning many tenements and the Red Lion Public House. Annual rental revenue from these properties, £76 5s 0d (£76.25) in 1842, was distributed half-yearly among any poor in the parish that did not receive any other financial aid from the town’s poor rates. As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Spilsby Poor Law Union which covered thirty three local parishes.
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