Despite the fairly large development of new houses and barn conversions, which has recently taken place, Skillington is still very much a farming community.  Only the 2001 census would reveal in detail how the impact of new inhabitants and that inevitable modern phenomenon, the commuter, has swung the balance of its inhabitants away from the land - and that is safe from our eyes until the year two thousand, one hundred and one.  However, the District Council extracted some interesting facts from the 1991 census and these are something of a starting point for comparisons with the past. Also, the list of voters tells us that there are 253 people in the village registered as eligible to vote at this moment in time and that there are 131 dwellings.  To celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, 55 medals have been ordered by the Parish Council for the children of Skillington to mark this occasion so, we can add something of that number to the number of voters and get a total population of about 300.

 Skillington, however small, can be said to have arrived well and truly in the twenty-first century … It has its own web page on the internet!  Check out www.skillington.info.

 One interesting project undertaken by ladies of the parochial church, to commemorate the passage into the new millennium, was the hand-embroidery of kneelers for the church.  These record some landmarks in the village's past, repeated in this History.  A trip up to the church where these can be seen is well worth the walk. Details are given in chapter 2.

The Parish Council is the body which keeps a watchful eye on most of the everyday happenings which may impinge on the lives of the villagers and which are not under the higher jurisdiction of District or County Councils or of the Government.  It has six members, only one being a woman, plus a clerk and this group meets every month.  We shall look at some of the issues they have had to grapple with in the past and mention some of those council members who have given particularly long service to the village community.

Sadly, the post office cum shop no longer functions from the large house standing on the corner of Middle Street by the Square.  This ceased to trade in late 1994 but the village continues to be well served with meals and liquid refreshment by the two inns, The Cross Swords and The Blue Horse.  We will be able to trace their history well back into the past.  For those wishing to purchase foodstuffs in the village, a long-established butcher's van still delivers to the door; milk is delivered; there is a fish and chip van; and, additionally, there is the bang up-to-date service of groceries from Tesco and other superstores via the internet.  There is, also, a library van and deliveries of fuel oil.

The sports and recreational amenities are to be enhanced by the building of a new sports and leisure hall, a community centre.  This will be built on land off the Grantham Road now used by the football team.  The village may be said to be prospering.  Was this always so?  We shall see.

 As to the farming tradition ….   This is still a major industry operating in the village itself but there are now inhabitants with diverse outside interests including computing, flying modern jet fighters, and being a director of one of the nation's leading football clubs.  Although the farm work is often carried out behind hedges or high walls there are signs in the village of that activity.  Chickens stroll haughtily across the central square, sheep are occasionally herded along the village streets, and tractors move hay about or trim the hedges.   And, if you are visiting one of the pubs, the chances are you may overhear some ' farm talk '.

For our last look at present time, what about the links with our neighbouring communities?  The village is now well provided by a network of roads that can take us to other villages or the main town in our area, Grantham.   What was the influence of this ancient and famous town on the lives of the past Skillington villagers?  And, when we travel to Colsterworth, perhaps to the doctor's surgery or the newsagents/post office, do we pause to think that its Main Street was once part of the Great North Road?   That coach and horses, which were the main form of travel just over two hundred years ago, thundered along this famous thoroughfare, within touching distance of some of its houses?  Was this surrounding network of roads always so?  We may be surprised at what we find.

So, now we can begin our journey back in time in the manner of H.G.Wells's famous hero.  We soon leave behind us the ubiquitous mobile phone being pressed avidly to someone's ear or bleeping its intrusive call when all should be quiet.  What else?

Back to Top