Fashion changed over these years, of course, particularly for women, but then, the fair sex has always looked for new dress styles and in post war Britain their preferences have been given full rein.  It was no doubt the war years themselves which caused the introduction of trousers being worn by females … and it also helped to push along the emancipation of that sex, which truly began in the next period we shall look at.  But, at the end of the war, women were still not as financially independent of their men-folk as they now are and it was this factor which often held a failing marriage together.  It was many years after the war before we had our first woman prime minister – and even this event, as previously mentioned, has some Skillington links.

The period saw the dreadful disease myxomatosis deliberately introduced to reduce the rabbit population and this took that particular meat off our tables for many years.  Mr Bill Meads recalls that fried rabbit was a particular favourite of the Americans based at Saltby when they came into the Skillington pubs for a meal, and the wartime song Run Rabbit, Run mentions the popular rabbit pie of those days.

But in 1953 we had the wonderful pageantry of Queen Elizabeth's coronation to relieve any gloom, though we were getting back to normal … the Conservative government of 1951, which saw Winston Churchill briefly back at the helm, quickly swept aside the last remaining rationing of food.

The period not only saw the Cold War era, it saw an end to it when the Berlin Wall was torn down.  It also saw the tremendously exciting start of the "Space Age".      

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People:   Below is a list of the surnames of those villagers, living in Skillington in 1997, whose name origins in the village go back to 1947 – fifty years of continuity stretching across most of this current period.  We shall try to discover in subsequent chapters whether any of these names stretch back even further towards the origins of the village ….. 

Bird; Bowles; Brown; Charlesworth; Cox; Goodliffe; Gray; Hall; Hand; Hollier; Joyce;  Meads; Selby; Tomlin; Tyler; Whittle; Wright.

[Author's Note: The continuity of each surname does not necessarily show that a particular family has been living in the village over this period.   That would prove a very difficult exercise for most historians to accomplish.  Also – and I have to admit that family trees are very unfair to the ladies – the continuity through the female line is easily obscured because of the change of surnames!  However, we shall attempt to discover which of our "magnificent seventeen" will be found in earlier periods.  It should be pointed out, too, that in this period several family names join our quest for that with the longest continuous association with the village.   Prior to the early 70s, the Newton name is to be found.   Another is the Christian family, which finally disappears in the next period we shall consider. Others that we may look out for as we journey back through the records are the names Barker; Bell; Burroughs; Dolby; Duffin; Harris; Houghton; Ingleton; Johnson; Morley; Rayson; Rick; and Robinson.] 

The fact file mentioned earlier and taken from the 1991 census by South Kesteven DC reveals that there were 244 people living in the village that year, their age grouping being broken down thus:

Almost half were living in their own homes or were buying them.

The Nature of Employment statistics showed that, perhaps surprisingly, by far the largest group was that involved with ' Distribution and Catering '.  The original key industry of the village, farming, (there listed as Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing), stood at only 18%.  Of the age group available for work, this would be 28 in number, but that figure may be too high as some ' available for work ' (housewives) would be unemployed.  We shall see later how this compares with the census for 1901. 

The Parish Council and its affairs:  Browsing through the Minute Books covering this sixty-one year period, one is struck by the way certain items continued to plague the council members (and, presumably, the villagers also) over quite long periods.  Some even cropped up again after apparently being laid to rest - and do so even today, one such being flooding.  Other thorns in the Council's side were: Cars being parked around the central green; Gypsies (viz. close proximity to the village); Vehicles speeding through the village; Water supply.   But the pre-eminent concern which, looking back over the intervening years can seem amusing but must have been a grievous matter at the time, was the employment of a gravedigger.  This is a story in itself and it stretches back at least as far as 1956 when the absence of a paid digger caused the following to be minuted, "grave-digging to be done by anyone available at the time."!!!   Then, in 1960, the gravedigger, Mr Brewster, left the village and two years later (January 16^th 1962) an Emergency Meeting of the Council was called to hear the following …

For the funeral of one villager "considerable difficulty was experienced in obtaining the services of a gravedigger, the clerk having contacted all the likely young men in the parish and attempted to obtain help from Woolsthorpe, Sproxton and Stoke.  Eventually,    Mr F.Meads undertook the task assisted by Mr Thos Burroughs."  [Both councillors] "All went well until the grave was almost finished when there was a big cave-in  –  the whole of the northern side.  The undertaker and the two aforementioned volunteers tackled the matter manfully and after five hours a fairly presentable grave existed.  Early on Friday morning the south side of the grave collapsed and it was only by dint of enormous efforts the funeral was able to take place that afternoon as arranged."

The solution by the council was to increase the gravedigger's fee.  But, in 1963, the incumbent gravedigger resigned.  Also, it was found that graves were out of line, necessitating pegs to be put down to cause a re-alignment.  In 1965 it was found that in Burial Law Practice it was clearly stated that 4ft-3ins was the depth necessary for a single grave … "and to inform the gravedigger that 6ft  (virtually 2 metres) was not necessary" was minuted.

Eventually, the gravedigger's job seemed to get itself resolved, possibly around 1970 when a "new, young man was appointed" and, in that same year, "The cemetery keeper was willing to learn to dig graves."

There were, of course, other causes for complaint, such as the smell from the Fish Well which, it was stated in 1967, was in a "most insanitary state, full of stones and rubbish.  The smell is foul."  But against these nuisances there must have been some moments of satisfaction for the villagers and their Council.  For example, electric street lighting was approved in 1954 with the order being for 12 lamps at a total cost of £74-10s.  Also, the celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 with a 'tea for children and OAPs ' and, in recognition of that event, it was decided ' to raise money for a bus shelter.'  The building of old peoples' bungalows in 1960 must have been satisfying too, though this was slightly held-up by a shortage of bricks!

Undoubtedly, one of the greatest benefits to the village was the improvement to the water supply.  We take for granted now our household supply of fresh, clear water, there at the turn of a tap, yet only a few decades ago all was different, as we shall see in the next chapter.  In 1944, the Council minuted its appreciation of the working of  ' the new water scheme.'  Grantham Water Company was at one time responsible and they extracted water from springs at Little Ponton.   

Having two greens can cause some confusion.  The top (church) green was found to be common land and was officially registered as the village green by 1970 when Miss Monckton offered to have a tree planted on it.  The grass on the green in the central square was cut through the auspices of the Parish Council but its kerbstones laid by the District Council.  The PC arranged some tree pruning but permission for stalls on it rested with the higher authorities.  Was the responsibility for this central green ever resolved?  See photographs on page 44, which show the central green in its earlier years.

As to the people on the council who have represented the villagers: a full list would perhaps be inappropriate - and rather difficult to extract from the minutes - but some stand out for their long service.  Several members of today's Council have given quite long service; Chairman Michael Claxton and Mr Neville Clark have been there since at least 1988, Mr Gerald Goodliffe and Mr Bill Meads even longer, clocking up about 25 and 35 years of service respectively.  The latter carried on the fine tradition of his uncle, Fred Meads, who was a councillor from 1949 until his death in 1977.  Mr T. Burroughs was on from 1964 to 1993 and Mr James Whittle from 1959 to 1973 but the longest serving member seems to be Mr Drabble who completed almost 40 years from 1952 to 1991!  [Author's note: some of these dates may be slightly inaccurate]

Other prominent villagers during this period:  Now is perhaps an appropriate point in this History to mention the older inhabitants of Skillington who have directly contributed to this work by allowing me to record their own reminiscences and memories, plus permission to reproduce a few photographs of times gone by.  These are, Mrs Hilda Foley (formerly Siddans) born in the first house up Buckminster Lane (now called Molland's Cottage and somewhat altered).  Hilda, at a "good age" still drives up the frantic A1 from her home in Grantham to attend Methodist functions in the village;  Mr George Tyler, who was born in 1915 in the small terraced cottage on Front Street, overlooking the central green, where he still resides.  George's book of reminiscences has made a huge contribution to the written history of Skillington;  his near neighbour, Mr Roland Tomlin; Mr 'Tally' Hand, the oldest villager, born in 1910 in Chapel Row who, sadly, died before this history was finished.  Tally was a former farm-worker and railwayman as well as an accomplished all-round sportsman;  and his friend and 'walking companion', Mr Bill Gray, born in Blue Town.  Bill, the second oldest male in the village after Tally, was a "Postie" for many years and set something of a record I would guess for miles travelled by a Skillington villager … this was estimated at his retirement as 137,000 miles by cycle and 27,000 walked.

I am sure no-one would begrudge Mr Tyler having a special pat on the back for he laboriously, by hand, set down on paper several pages of his personal reminiscences (and opinions).  These paint a wonderful picture of what life in a small rural community many years ago must have been like.  Each item from this latter account is acknowledged as and when used.  Other villagers, of not quite such vintage years, have given me considerable help and they are included in the list of acknowledgements at the end.

The village baker was Billy King.  Although only a small man, he hefted around the village two large baskets, filled with his produce.  Billy was famous for his dough cakes.   The shopkeeper (at the Post House, corner of Middle Street) at the time of the shop's closure was Mr R.J.F.Kirkham.   Mr Kirkham, I believe, was quite interested in the history of the village but left before I could tap into his knowledge.  The Miss Monkton mentioned earlier (in the Parish Council minutes, presenting a tree) lived at Home Farmhouse.  She was the Hon. Isabel Monckton, daughter of the 8^th Viscount of Galway and she married Baron King of Wartnaby, Leics. in 1970.  By their marriages, both she and Lance Newton thereby earned entries in Debrett's Peerage 

And what of the "home grown" celebrity mentioned in the introduction.  As we shall see in subsequent chapters, the Morley's were a ' name ' in the village from Victorian times through to the post war period.  It was after the Second World War that Mr L.W.R.Morley really hit the bigtime in the business world, however.  It was his ideas and his dogged determination in the face of sceptical experts that led to the formation of the well-known local company, Vacu-lug, in 1950.  This is based at Gonerby Hill just outside Grantham but by 1972 it had 80 plants in 50 countries overseas!  How did this amazing success story come about?

To quote from the company magazine:  "In 1947 Mr Lewis Morley was carrying out experiments to find an efficient and economical method of reconditioning the unusual sizes of tyre fitted to American earth-moving and agricultural equipment, which had been brought into this country under a lease-lend agreement during the latter part of WW2.  To have remoulded these tyres, a wide range of different types and sizes of mould would have been needed; these were not available in Britain and would have been exorbitantly expensive to obtain.  There was a need for a method of reconditioning off-the-road tyres in order to reduce imports of new units from the States and economise in the use of rubber, of which there was then a world shortage.  Mr Morley felt a more sensible approach was to apply new rubber only to that part of the tyre which suffers wear during use, i.e. the lugs, and to apply this pre-formed lug rubber by hand, thus obviating the need for moulds."

Despite the opinion of the trade and of rubber engineers, who thought this impractical, Mr Morley was not convinced and he contacted Mr Rawls of Ohio who was carrying out parallel experiments.  In 1949 experiments were completed and re-lugging went into production.  In 1968 all patents, rights and trade-marks were purchased outright by the

British company.  They even became associated, if obliquely, with the Concorde program – it was Vacu-lug who supplied the tyres for its tow vehicle!

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The Newton family made a huge impact on the farming history of the village and its members not only provided employment for many villagers but also contributed enormously to the social life of the community.  The surviving son, Joseph Robert (known to some as Joey) lives just a few miles away in Leicestershire's Stonesby and still farms on the other side of our parish border at Saltby.  It was his father, Lance, who farmed extensively in Skillington until his death in December 1969, taking over from Fred and Fanny.  We shall look at the Newton family tree and perhaps be surprised at some of the things history will reveal about this prominent village family.

Going back to the war period itself.   One of the major fund-raising causes, as might be expected, was for the Armed Forces.  The Grantham Journal had an unusual snippet about Skillington from those austere times…. "6 bananas brought back from the Middle East were put up for competition and realised £3-10s.  Winners were Mr G.Kettle and Mrs Bryan."   The W.I. sent parcels to the ' five lads who have joined ' in 1940.  Also actively fund-raising, the Journal informs us, but this time for the Methodists' Funds, were carol singers who obtained £1-15s from a house-to-house collection.  The church, not to be outdone, had its soloists Messrs A. Elmwood and E. Tyler, with choirboys and the Vicar, sing some ' old and beautiful carols.'  To round off Christmas of that first year of the war, "Scholars attending St James' Sunday School had a happy gathering at the vicarage" and the adults too had a Christmas Party.   Mrs F.A.Newton had "kindly invited ladies of a working party to a tea in the village hall."

One can find many other news items referring to the people of Skillington in the war-time editions of the Journal (copies of which are on micro-film at Grantham Library).  Readers remembering those days will probably recall some typical advertisements which accompanied such news ….   If one had ' a cold, chill or flu ', Beechams powders at

2 1/2d were the thing to take;  Smokers' Fur required Phillips's Dental Magnesia;  "You bet I'm feeling fit again" indicated that Lifebuoy Toilet Soap had been used;  and "Doctors and nurses recommend California Syrup of Figs" for those wishing for a regular toilet habit.

By the end of the war there were recipes telling us how to use that war-time commodity dried eggs, but, if you wanted the real McCoy, eggs had risen from £2 per hundred in 1941 (perhaps people ate a lot of eggs in the early war years!) to 6s per dozen. [Now they are 62p per dozen].

Enclosed by these ads, Skillington's Women's Voluntary Service, W.I. and Methodist Guild were some of the groups mentioned.  Whist experts appear to have been Mesdames Bird and Charlesworth, Private L. Tyler and Messrs R. Parkin jun. and A. Whittle.

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Mr Bill Meads was but a boy when his father, Logan, took over the Blue Horse pub just before the war broke out.  At that time it was simply a "beer house" with no bar and no spirits for sale.   What was worse, during the war years, beer was rationed to the pubs so, Mr Meads senior came to an arrangement about opening nights with the neighbouring Cross Swords to eke out the ration.  Beer was fetched up from the cellar to the Tap Room, which had a paved floor and two very solid wooden tables, all of which required scrubbing each day.  Even the Meads's kitchen was open to the public and Bill remembers that some characters were not averse to sneaking a morsel from the plate of one of the family as they ate!  

As well as the locals (about a dozen on a good night), Forces personnel, both officers and other ranks, came over from the Saltby air base* to the pubs.  To start with these were British airmen or Australians and Canadians but some villagers were in for a novel experience – their first close encounter with a coloured man.  Mr Bill Meads remembers that the first black Americans to visit sat in a row, with the villagers sitting facing them with some bemusement.   But, although there were many sad moments during the war, when airmen who had become familiar faces failed to return from a mission, there was plenty of laughs and good humour to relieve the tension.  One such incident was when Bill's father discovered one morning that revellers from the base had all thrown their caps up onto the roof.  This caused enough amusement on both sides for it to be repeated.   They probably had a good singsong too for, although the pub had no piano at first, this was soon rectified and the Blue Horse even ' imported ' a pianist from Grantham, a Miss Rylette.   One thing which astounded the Americans, though, was our war-time austerity, rationing and the lack of "essentials" …. sugar for example.  Mr Meads tells of the Americans who came in asking for coffee.   When told there was coffee (or tea?) but no sugar, they were temporarily thrown out of their stride - but then leapt into their jeep to return soon with a whole sack full.  Bill says he had never seen so much sugar! (* see photograph of Saltby airbase and details of units stationed there in appendices 1 and 2).

But, inevitably, wars bring tragedy and heartbreak and Skillington village could not escape this.  In St James church is a simple, wooden-framed list of those who fought "for King and Country" in WW2.   Some are marked as being either killed in action, missing or prisoners of war.   Red crosses by three names indicate those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  The 29 listed are :-

 * John Newton's parents, Fred and Fanny, had a special plaque hung in the church in memory of the loss of their youngest son, who, flying with Coastal Command, was lost over the North Sea.  Although in a reserved occupation, John had volunteered for duty.

 On a happier note:  I am sure many servicemen or women must have received medals during the war, however, one member of Skillington's community received special recognition for his bravery as a civilian …  Fred Meads was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1946 and this was later presented to the church by his widow and, as he was the Captain of Bells, it is displayed in the belfry.  The act of heroism was the rescue of crew members from a crashed and loaded bomber.  What were the details of this crash? …

Due to wartime reporting restrictions some of the details following were deduced by other researchers.  It is thought that the bomber was an American B17, therefore not from Saltby airfield.  It is unclear whether it crashed due to bad weather or engine failure but the crash may have been at Airfield Farm.  The Grantham Journal for Friday June 29^th 1945 gives this further information: "When an aircraft carrying a crew of nine, and laden with bombs, crashed in a field a few miles from Grantham, five airmen were thrown clear, but four were trapped.  For the part they played in the rescue operations, Albert Barker of Sproxton and Fred Meads of Skillington, both ironstone labourers, employed by the Stanton Ironstone Co., have been awarded the B.E.M. (Civil Division).  Barker and Meads … entered the plane.  They found one airman with two bombs lying across his body and another pinned down by a bomb.  They removed the bombs, and, with help, extricated the injured men and carried them to safety."  Part of the plane was on fire and bombs and bullets were strewn everywhere.  The injuries to some crew members were horrendous. Two of several others to help out with the rescue and to receive commendations for Brave Conduct were Skillington's J.Duffin and G.Goodliffe.  I am sure everyone would agree that this was bravery of the highest order.   

To finish this section about the villagers themselves, a remarkable record of longevity for a family passing on its trade within the family is probably set by both the Meads and Selbys … the former providing butchers for the community and the latter being blacksmiths.  Both these have given good service for over a hundred years!        

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Dwellings:   The new developments mentioned at the beginning of chapter 1 were carried out by Hazel Homes of Leicester and by Rochford Homes with planning commencing in 1988 and completion in the year 2000.  Altogether 20 new houses and seven barn conversions were completed in this period, with access off Middle Street and Back Lane.  Planning conditions stipulated that they must fit in with the conservation aspect of the village and this they do quite well.  The main criticism which might be levelled is that they were aimed at a higher part of the property market than that necessary but neglected lower end, so-called starter homes being essential to younger couples and even single people wishing to own their first homes.  Be that as it may and aside from some initial opposition to the size of the development, they are now a part of Skillington's history and the newcomers who live in them will, hopefully, take their place alongside the older residents whom we shall meet in these pages.  One of the tasks of the Parish Council was to fight to reduce the initial number of houses proposed and this they did with some success.

During this post-war period many of the older houses were demolished.  These included the Old Bakehouse, which stood at the church end of a line of terraced cottages in Poke Row (see my later comments on Poke Row), as well as several other adjacent cottages. (See photograph, page 70).  One dwelling which is still occupied but has changed its function, is Red Berry Cottage at the top end of The Square.  This formerly served as a surgery two days per week until 1989, with Dr Stafford providing the service until his retirement, when Dr Bamber transferred this practice to Colsterworth.  It was known then as Surgery House.

The seven dwellings in the village which are listed buildings are … the first two at the Grantham Road end of Poke Row (and which stand slightly farther back than the three nearer to the church);  "The Abbey" (Manor House) and the other Manor House adjacent to Tyler's Farm; Tyler's Farm itself; Weston's Farm;  and the Old Vicarage (now called "Skillington House").  The large house on Middle Street called Home Farmhouse is also quite old.  A partially broken off shield on the end wall of the house informs passers-by that it was built in 1843 but, clearly, the part farthest from the road is older.   We shall look at some of these dwellings in more detail later.

Weston's Farm and the unlisted Home Farmhouse have another claim, this made by people who have previously been inside them …. They are accredited with being haunted.  Although I have no details of the haunting of the latter, Peter Selby gave an eerie first-hand account of the haunting of Weston's Farm from when he was a boy and his family lived there.  Firstly, his younger brother, when playing alone in the large, deep cellar under the house would be heard talking to "someone".  When Peter was upstairs and his mother downstairs on one occasion, both heard someone in the house cry out "Mrs Selby".  This could not be traced.  But, even more eerily, Peter saw a floating candle on the landing pass through a wall.  All this adds up to a quite spooky saga.       

Other buildings:  The plan for the proposed community centre has been displayed to villagers and comprises a large brick-built structure featuring a main hall, committee room, storage room for sports equipment and changing rooms and showers.  It is certainly an ambitious project far exceeding the amenities previously offered jointly by the former village hall and the Football Club's changing facilities.

The village hall for many years was the old school (see photograph on page 69), almost the first building one meets upon entering the village from Colsterworth and unmistakable.  Its period as a school ended in December 1972 when the twelve remaining pupils left, each with a £1 pound Savings Certificate and with gifts to the staff, comprising Mrs Whittle, Mrs Marriott and Mrs Norris, being presented by ' ever-willing helper, Mrs Meads ' (from Mr Cryer's History of Skillington).   The reason it ceased to function as a school for the children of Skillington was because of dwindling numbers and the opening of a primary school at Colsterworth.  It was sold in 1996 and converted into a private dwelling house.  We will trace the history of the school back to its beginnings in later chapters.   

The Methodist Chapel has recently been re-carpeted (a glorious red!) but otherwise had few changes to its appearance during this period.   St James's church on the other hand has had some restorational work done over the years, which, considering its antiquity, going back at least a thousand years, is only to be expected.  The church building, of exceptional age, will be examined in more detail later but Mr Neville Sharpe points out that the belfry roof still has the holes in it through which bell ropes once passed, probably in the time of the Rev Hudson.

The non-residential buildings and structures which are ' listed ' are …. The church itself; the barn standing behind the two Church Street listed dwellings, at right-angles to Church Street (photograph page 10); a barn near to the Abbey; the dovecote near to this (photograph on page 10); barns/stables which are part of Tyler's Farm; the stump of the cross on the top green (photograph page 7); and, intriguingly, a gravestone near to the porch of the church (photograph page 111).   There is a map showing these in the booklet available at the church.   

Already mentioned is the village shop (photograph page 69) and this, now called The Old Posthouse, functioned as a shop long before this period.  Mr Tyler names J. Dooley and W.Goodacre as other former proprietors.  Although it looks little changed now from some early photographs, Mr Bill Meads recalls it having two petrol pumps.  

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Roads, etc:   The recent large housing project, described previously, incorporated a reminder of the village's past - a new street named Fish Well Close and the associated monument to the old Fish Well, erected by the builders, which stands near its entrance. Unfortunately, the monument bears no resemblance to the original well (see photographs on page 26).  We shall see how important to the village's past was the Fish Well.  This ancient feature stood at the edge of the field now covered by houses and the same field also had a trackway leading to the rear of Jackson's Farm (the bed and breakfast accommodation on Middle Street now renamed Jackson's House).  Another road whose name was approved by the council in recognition of the past digging for stone, which took place at a number of sites around the village, was that of Stonepit Lane.   There are some earthworks just inside a field on the right down Buckminster Lane.   Perhaps these were originally stone pits also?   The enclosure and field names maps, shown later, seem to bear this out.  In a later chapter, a look at the enclosures of 1797 will show clearly where the six pits existing at that time stood.

The road which crosses the Colsterworth/Stainby Road, linking the A1 directly with Buckminster and forming much of the southern boundary of the parish, is the quaintly named Crabtree Road.  One could easily imagine that it had earned its name from the growth of crab apple trees along its hedges – along the water tower stretch, I would estimate in excess of fifty trees still exist.   But Mr Dennis Meads says these were not planted until after the ironstone mining had ceased.  It would appear that we must look to a Mr Crabtree, in whose honour this road's name was given.  We may get a clue as to who this gentleman was later.   It is at present the Skillington villagers' main route to Buckminster but this was not always so.  Also, it was not always quite as straight as it is now.  A distinct loop into the neighbouring field, just after one turns right towards Buckminster, was ' ironed out ' in the post war years.  The full proposal for road alterations in this area at that time (the 1960s and 70s), due to forthcoming quarrying, included the permanent closure of a road from Woolsthorpe to Buckminster crossing the Stainby Road and having a junction with the Crabtree Road.  Its junctions were approximately at the two quarry (now landfill site) access gates.  The only remaining sign of that road is the still-visible start at Woolsthorpe where it ends abruptly at a gated field.  In addition, and of more concern to Skillington, was the proposed re-routing of the Colsterworth Road (previously called Mill Lane) and the road to Stainby.  This would have re-positioned the crossroads several hundred metres towards the A1.  This latter modification was never carried out, however.  See map overleaf.

Finally, on road names during this period.  On maps of the early 1900s (see page 53)  Church Street and Colsterworth Road were jointly referred to as Far Street.   Maybe this was their original name, and yet, strangely if this was the case, the 1901 census lists properties on Colsterworth Road yet gives no mention of Far Street – the census does not refer to Church Street either, it has to be said.   But all this occasioned the Parish Council to caustically note in its minutes for November 1976 that it did not recognise this title as it had always been and should remain Church Street (but, this does not seem to be so).

The house built on the corner of Church Street and Grantham Road still bears witness to this aberration (if such it was), however …. it is called Far House.   As to Poke Row: I assumed that this was the name of the line of terraced cottages at the bottom end of Church Street (although this seemed to conflict with the 1901 census, which includes the Reading Room in Poke Row).  My local historians say that Poke Row was in fact all the buildings between Far House and up to and including the old Reading Room which lie along Church Street!   I have not been able to find out from where or when the curious name Poke came although one tale claims that it dates to when women in the houses along Church Street washed their clothes in an open stream there and "poked the clothing into the water"???.  The later map of field names, however, shows the paddock named as Poke Close so, perhaps this was the origin?  Was there ever a Mr Poke?

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Before the recent extensive building work took place, paddock land, allotments and barns stood on the central paddock site and the aerial photograph facing page, taken sometime just before work commenced, shows the scene that villagers knew pre-1990 along Middle Street.  There were also some allotments and orchards.  One feature already mentioned, which stood just inside the paddock – and marked now by a modern monument – was the celebrated Fish Well.   The Archaeological Department of the University of Leicester did a ' watching brief  ' as building work in the paddock proceeded and part of this was an examination of the Fish Well.  They kindly sent me a copy of their report (which is also lodged with Lincolnshire Records Office) and, like me, seem to have been a little puzzled by the name.  Most villages had fish ponds from medieval times which gave the settlements a valuable supply of food but wells are usually built above springs to supply clear drinking water.  The Report speculates that the pond on the other side of the road may have been the original fish pond but that later generations confused the nearby well with being the home of fish, perhaps some wag transferred several fish across the road to a new home in the well. Their photographs on page 26 show the well at the time of house building (1998).  It was capped by a large slab of concrete and had a trough.  The archaeological team was unable to discover the original depth of the well as it is largely filled with debris and neither could they date it.  In addition to an examination of the well they looked at the paddock features as they were revealed by diggers.  They found signs of habitation in this core part of the village dating from fairly recent times to medieval days.  The finds included the remains of buildings and a medieval wall as well as sherds of pottery some of which were also dated back to the medieval period.  (See the plan of finds taken from the Report, page 27).  

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It is a good thing that the Parish Council obtained the paddock field between the new development and Church Street, for that act has preserved a pleasant buffer zone of green.   But the top part of the paddock, which is still privately owned, has some strange mounds or earthworks – these may well be signs of further dwellings.  Overlooking this paddock area, towards the upper end of Church Street, is another instance of conservation … three mighty chestnut trees, complete with preservation orders.

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And what of the Cringle Brook itself?   Without a handy source of fresh water the village of Skillington would, almost certainly, not have been founded.   Cringle itself means winding and is not unique to Skillington.  The brook has three sources (springs) marked on maps.   Two of these originate just over the Leicestershire border in Buckminster and these two merged streams cross Buckminster Lane just before the power sub-station.   Out of curiosity I followed the Cringle Brook to its third source, the one that actually lies within our parish.   The photograph overleaf shows what, I like to consider, is its present source, gurgling out from a large clump of rush-like grass.   But, if one looks up the field, away from Skillington, it is evident that the original source lay further along – and it carved out a fairly deep valley along the years.   So, I followed this old stream bed, along a field, where sheep were grazing placidly in the sunshine, to its very disappointing end …  a tip containing the remnants of some vehicle and other recent rubbish.   Amongst this detritus of our modern age, the spring briefly sees the light of day - and all that is sad about the second millennium's rubbish problem.   No wonder it dives underground again for a further field's length!   What was doubly sad for me was that, over the rim of this tip was a wide path, claiming to be an environmental country walk-

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way, leading from Buckminster Lane.  Near to this source is the base of a small building.  This is said to be that of a pumping house which once fed water up to a tank near to the church.  

One object, a relic typical of many villages, is the remains of the cross standing on the green near to the church.   We shall discover that it is very old indeed …. yet, it still managed "to get itself moved" across the village from near to the central green to its present home!   This is deduced from looking at O/S maps but it is an arguable fact subject to confirmation … some people believe the "site of cross" on these maps is in error and that the cross has always been on the upper green. I have more faith in the Ordnance Survey cartographers and this view seems to be confirmed in Lincolnshire Notes and Queries, vol 12, p 146 (Grantham Library).  About the cross it states … "formerly it stood on the village square."  The old photograph I obtained from Bill Whittle, picturing children resting at this stump of a cross (page 68), shows the base as a jumbled pile of stones, so obviously this was taken before a neatly cemented base was built and, perhaps, not long after its move.  What was the purpose of the cross, some readers may wonder.   We shall look into this, at around the time the cross was erected, in chapter 6 - but that is an extremely long time ago and we have a long way to travel before that event.

Another ' relic ', this time of the war years, is still to be found in the hedgerow by the cemetery and it looks down onto the fields between Skillington and Sproxton (or Buckminster) but no longer with its original menace: it is a pill box. (See photograph below).

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Farming:   The hideous outbreak of foot-and-mouth, which struck hard at the livelihood of farmers across the country, did not, fortunately, occur in Skillington itself, although a case was reported in the nearby Leicestershire village of Stonesby.  Of course, it restricted animal sales and movements, but the overhanging fear born by farmers can barely be imagined by those outside farming.  However, national outbreaks of diseases among livestock are not recent phenomena, as we shall see.   A routine measure to protect sheep from certain diseases, the sheep dip, is also to be found in most villages where these animals are reared and Skillington is certainly one such.  They are frequently shown on O/S maps and for Skillington, one is shown up Park Lane, between the church and The Elms; another was down by the brook and yet another was to be found at the (former) farm at the corner of The Square and Church Street.

The post war years have seen big strides in intensive farm methods.  One such boon must have been the coming of the combine harvester, which goes through the whole range of processes involved in gathering cereal crops, short of boxing up a finished product and inserting a plastic toy.  Mechanisation in many forms has taken over farm work in this period – as has paper work!   The spraying of crops with insecticides is now established too but is probably of more concern to the general public than to those engaged in farming.   Sometimes the reforms dealt with in the following chapters brought severe hardship to the poorer classes that once worked the land - as well as big profits to the wealthier - as we shall see.

The main cereal crops grown in the parish of Skillington are barley and wheat and the predominant livestock is sheep.  An estimate of the number of the latter, given by one farm worker, is that there were at least a thousand breeding ewes on Skillington land when the Newtons were still farming here in the '60s.

A further consequence of the foot-and-mouth epidemic was a complete closure to the general public of Lincolnshire footpaths. This affected Buckminster Lane (pathway) leading out of the village as well as other footpaths.  It also affected tourism and associated businesses and one interesting outcome was the decision of the present proprietors at the aforementioned Jackson's House to cease to use Farm in this bed and breakfast house's title because the tourists from America still associate British farms with the disease.  

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Pastimes and leisure:  One link with the distant past, which is still carried on in Skillington and many other villages, is the traditional feast week celebrations which take place in the summer (Mr George Tyler says July 19^th or thereabouts).  Last year saw a marquee erected at Tyler's Farm and events there included music from an Irish folk group and a meal in the evening with traditional games such as skittles during the day.  In earlier years fairground attractions were imported onto The Square's green and to Snow'sYard, Kitty's Paddock and Rush Close. 

The pull of television has not prevented some of the older pub games from attracting a clientele dedicated to certain games.  Just before I commenced this History I noted that the Blue Horse's team of crib players was topping the league table.  Also, of course, a village pub's darts team is a must.   For how long have these games (plus dominoes) been played in Skillington, you may wonder?   Well, the latter originated in China and was not brought to England until the 1700s; Cribbage was invented by the English poet Sir John Suckling c 1630 - 40; darts is even earlier and is thought to have started from when archery practice at the butts was compulsory, the men using broken arrows and throwing them at the target.   The board numbering came in Victorian times, however.

The most vibrant part of the village's sporting life in recent years, though, may be said to be Skillington Football Club.  Playing attractive football (when I watched them play), the Club's team has just switched from the Grantham and District Sunday League to the Melton and District League.  (Sunday football: another innovation of this period!)  Although the strip shown on page 11 is blue and white, it varies in the present years according to the wishes of differing sponsors but originally it was Arsenal-style red and white.  See also team photographs on pages 32 and 33.

The football team had its cynics in the past, however, and one of these – I believe not long after the war – penned a neat little verse to the landlord of the Blue Horse, where the team quenched its thirst on occasion.  Bill Meads still has this fading viewpoint on the back of another framed verse and, written by Jack Goodliffe, it reads …

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                        Play up Skillington, be content

                        The cup for you was never meant

                        The only cup that you will win

                        Is the buttercup, that blooms in Spring.

Whatever the truth of this at the time it was written, Skillington football and cricket has had its fair share of success and many trophies have come to rest in the village.  None so fantastic, however, as the day the FA Cup came to Skillington!  No, it wasn't won at Wembley however, it was "borrowed" for a gala event in 1998 – see photograph overleaf.  Strong man Geof Capes also attended this gala!

It is quite an achievement to run successful teams given the small population of the village.  But in earlier times, Skillington's cricket team (hopefully, about to be revived) was a force to be reckoned with.  Once it was comprised of all men from this parish but the war itself dealt a blow to its continuation.  Although I have not obtained any photographs of cricketers, the team was still flourishing in 1997 with Tally Hand as President and Club Captain Peter Selby.  An astonishing result in the 60s was to dismiss Barkston for only 4 runs, with Graham Whittle taking seven for one!

I wonder how many Skillington villagers travelled into Grantham for their leisure-time amusements (a ride in on the bus in 1968 would have cost 1s-11d).  One attraction there during the war years, which must have excited the attention of anyone interested in prize-fighting, was a visit from the seemingly invincible ' Brown Bomber ', American world-heavyweight champion Joe Louis!  The sports editor for the Grantham Journal recalls that this all-time great, being stationed with American Forces near to Grantham, fought an exhibition three-rounder in the town in June 1944.

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The cinema in Grantham would certainly have been an attraction, especially in pre-television years.  The older readers, remembering back to 1940, may recall such films as

Old Mother Riley MP and, during the war, George Formby in It's in the Air and other films, these providing some welcome comic relief.  Errol Flynn was one of the main heart-throbs and, towards the end of the war, the suave James Mason provided some

British glamour before going on in later years to become the definitive Rommel.   But, another film star of the same era as Mason had rather special connections with Skillington ….  In an article about the village, written for Lincolnshire Life magazine in 1994, village historian Margaret Hallam (for whose help Mr Cryer also gave acknowledgement but who is now, sadly, deceased) stated that this very popular filmstar would stay for weekends at The Abbey.  In both printed editions of this book I wrongly attributed this to his and the Newton family's connection with the film industry.  Mrs Freda Louth, who was at one time in service at The Abbey, has corrected me on this point.  David Niven in fact visited relatives at The Abbey, the Abel-Smiths.  That he mixed with the Newtons in social events (shooting and horse-riding I believe) is coincidental.

Lance Newton married Lord J Arthur Rank's daughter, Ursula.  They lived at The Abbey for a period.  Both Lance and his son Joseph are noted for their association with horse racing over fences.  In his obituary in the December 1969 of the Grantham Journal, Lance Newton's positions as Secretary of the Melton Hunt Club and Chairman of the Belvoir Point-to-Point were stated.     

But, if you were not into films around that time and stayed at home, then you surely listened to the radio (or wireless as it was usually called).  Entertainment over the airwaves might have included the radio soap Mrs Dale's Diary, or something more exciting like Dick Barton, Special Agent with its fine introductory music The Devil's Gallop!   If listeners wanted a real scare, how about An Appointment with Fear, introduced by the sepulchral tones of ' the man in black ', Valentine Dyall, at a suitably late hour.

Religion:  The village continues to be split into two main religious factions …. the Church of England worshippers, who attend the ancient church of St James, and the larger Methodist congregation which meets at the Chapel.  This History will consider how and when this schism took place.  It is a sad fact that, given the extreme antiquity of the church building with all the past that it must embrace, the village's Church of England congregation has, at this moment in time, declined - but spiritual beliefs transcend buildings and history, of course.  The church building itself still attracts visitors from outside the village, however, and, following, are some of their places of origin taken from the Visitors' Book commencing in 1966.  It can be seen that people have travelled from the far side of the world to admire this place of worship…..

As well as most of the villages and towns in the locality, visitors came from many of the major cities in England.  Not only from England, however, but also from Australia (several from that country), Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States (from Atlanta in Georgia, from Salt Lake City in Utah and from Fort Worth, Texas).  And what was their opinion of this splendid church? ….

"What a beautiful, homely church."  "God bless all who worship in this well-kept, lovely old building."  "Nice to come into an unlocked church." adding, as it was the Christmas period, "Lovely decorations."   Those were some of their comments.  Quite a few expressed an interest in the Reverend Charles Hudson who, mentioned earlier, was the vicar who died in the tragic climbing accident.  (We shall take a more detailed look at his death later).  Interestingly, two gentlemen from Manchester wrote that they themselves "had just returned from Zermatt after Matterhorn ascent."   One visitor, though, had a special connection with Skillington ….

Jean Robinson (at the time of the entry living in Shrewsbury) writes in 1994, "Played organ when serving with the Land Army at next door farm during the 2^nd World War.  Here for 5 years."   I am sure she was made welcome.

Thirty-one people are presently listed on the ecclesiastical roll in the church porch.

The vicar today is John Cook, with us since 1992.  Previous incumbents back to the second world war were … 1984 David Frank Fosbuary; 1976 Herbert Briggs (priest in charge); 1968 Vincent Paul Davies; 1955 Roy Ellis; 1949 John W H Sowerbutts and 1942 Leonard Sydney Officer.  These and preceding ones back to 1250 are listed inside the church on a wooden plaque inscribed "In memory of Herbert Duffin, Churchwarden 1919 – 1969".

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Inside the church are many old items worth viewing but there is also the modern addition of kneelers referred to in the previous chapter.  When the Parochial Church Council pondered in 1998 just how the Millennium should be marked the suggestion that was approved was for "a kneeler to be produced which would record life in the village as far back as possible".  The design was for three separate cushions comprising thirteen individual panels, with the motif to be used that of octagons, reflecting the octagonal shape of the pillars in the North Aisle.  A group of ladies was assembled, not all from the congregation of St James.  The 'Head of Design' was a lady with some expertise in embroidery, Jean Wood, and her team was; Pam Black, Beverley Townsley, Gillian Burgoin, Jenny Vickers, Freda Louth, Rona Allinson, Judith Gault, Lois Bell from Woolsthorpe, Hannah Meads, Freda Clark, Juliet Fiennes from Colsterworth and Sandra Stoneman.  (I am indebted to Jean and Sandra for all this information).  Not everyone did embroidery, some were mainly researchers.  The latter job was not easy but what special difficulties did the needle-workers face?  One was to ensure that adjacent panels matched.  Another was the difficulty in using a finer-than-usual stitch.  Thirdly, straight lines – as on the drag-line digger and the church representations.  Those who were novices must have found this a difficult task and I was told that a certain amount of unpicking took place.  But the final splendid result is there to see. [As a sort of cross-reference, it should be noted that an excellent book exists about this imaginative project.  It was kindly loaned to me by Jean Wood but the intention is to lodge this at the church when its safe custody can be assured.]

The churchyard ceased to be used for burials in 1950.  The cemetery site is a short walk down Sproxton Road and this place of final rest again reflects the religious split in the village.  Graves to the left of the central pathway are in ground consecrated by the Church and therefore are of those of Church of England persuasion; those to the right are non-conformist and predominantly from the Methodist sector.    

In contrast to the brand new wooden gates at the entrance to the churchyard, with a brass plaque inscribed "In memory of Mr and Mrs F.A.Newton", is the listed gravestone, encrusted with lichens, standing near to the porch.  The excellent booklet obtainable inside the church informs us that this was erected in memory of Rob Sewton who died in 1769 aged 76.   The kneelers give us the additional information that the design – now barely discernible, as can be seen from see the photograph on page 111 – was a "Belvoir Angel".   The Newton family, as already stated, contributed much to the village, and their name will crop up frequently as we travel through this historical record.  But, are they related to Sir Isaac Newton?  This will be revealed later.

Although, like several other village institutions, the church choir is now defunct, Mr Neville Sharpe (who himself sang in the St James choir during this present period) says that at one time – under the Rev Ellis - a "full" choir of six men, six women and six boys, all from the village, existed.

The Methodist worshippers gather in the attractive though rather square chapel overlooking the central green.  They run a soup and sweet lunch cum chatty social hour on Tuesdays, which is open to allcomers.  Additionally, they have regular rambles, outings and flower-arranging events to maintain a friendly, welcoming contact between their devotional meetings.

The interior of the chapel is extremely pleasant and the beautiful flower arrangements are much commented upon in the chapel's Visitors' Book.  Although the overseas visitors do not seem to have come from quite the spread of countries that the church visitors have, there are several from America …  from Provo, Utah; Elk Ridge, MD; and Akron, Ohio.

The Reverend Tony Pick of Grantham is the current Minister.

Both religious groups circulate news and events bulletins around the village community.

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Other events.  I feel that the connection between Saltby Airbase and Skillington village during the war years was so much more than the fact that the main runway crossed the Viking Way onto our parish land.  More than airmen merely using Skillington's pubs.  The two were interlocked in the same struggle against a Nazi future and, therefore, the men who were stationed there share our village's history.   In recognition of this I have included the aerial photograph of the base (see appendix 1), taken by the USAAF in 1944, and list in Appendix 2 the units stationed at Saltby.  There is a recently formed Saltby Airfield History Group and this information was supplied by one of its members, Don Stewart.

One decree which came in for the duration of the Second World War and which affected Skillington, was that church bells should be silent.  How pleasant now to hear them again during the fortnightly Friday evening practice sessions. Some of the history of the bells of St James church comes later but, for this period, information about bell ringing was given to me by former villager (born in Skillington) Mr Neville Sharpe, now living at Barrowby.  Mr Sharpe is not only an enthusiast but a living encyclopaedia of bell ringing at St James.  These bells, he asserts, have a very fine tone and have probably had more 'special' peals rung on them than any others in the land.

The usual standard maximum number of changes is 5,040 (42 x the maximum for five bells, 120) and 58 of these had been rung by the year 2000.  The approximate time for this feat is 3 hours!  Mr Sharpe is the only born and bred Skillington villager to have taken part in such a rendering although former landlord of The Cross Swords, Cyril Wright, also did this.  One of these occasions, in 1965, interestingly saw the visit to Skillington of the Rev Charles Hudson's great-granddaughter for the ringing, that year being the 100^th anniversary of his death. Both of these Skillington ringers later taught other villagers the skills of campanology but, as with the cricket team, a home-bred band is now defunct and St James imports its ringers from Colsterworth.  Plaques exist in the belfry in recognition of three of these performances.  The most recent of these was on Friday 27^th March 1981 when the effort took 2 hours 47 minutes.   The ringers were – Treble: Muriel Pinchbeck; 2^nd, Frederick William Pinchbeck; 3^rd, Anne Cooke; 4^th, Paul Needham and Tenor, Neville Sharpe.   Neville was the first local ringer to conduct a peal (the first). For readers with a special interest in bell ringing, the weights of the St James bells are …

  1.      4cwt  0qtr  4lbs,  2.  4cwt  1qtr  0lbs,  3.  4cwt   3qtr  24lbs, 4.      5cwt   3qtr 0lbs and 5.  6cwt   3qtr   25lbs

Thus, the total weight born by the beams of the belfry is 1.3tons

Although on the page 48 photograph these bells seem enormous, their combined weight is only approximately one-tenth that of the famous Big Ben in London.

Interestingly, Mr Sharpe tells us that often a peal has a sound special to the bells used and thus bears the name of its origin.  There was, hence, a "Skillington" doubles peal in 1986 in memoriam to Mabel Meads.  This took 2hrs 40mins.

An amusing anecdote from Mr Sharpe relates to when Fred Meads was Captain of Bells.  He wished to ring the old year out and the new in but some members of his band (who shall remain unnamed) were too busy imbibing to turn out so, the disgusted Fred retired for the night.  Imagine his fury when he learned the next day that his recalcitrant ringers had rung in the New Year at one o'clock in the morning. 

Another wartime measure saw iron railings taken away for the ' war effort '.  One old photograph (not reproduced here) shows what they looked like when still in place in front of The Cross Swords inn.  The blackout and rationing were other measures to hit the village.   The war also brought in a large number of "outsiders" …. it brought in the Land Army girls (some of these were billeted at Home Farmhouse); it brought soldiers in anti-aircraft units (Mr John Selby says these were billeted off Buckminster Lane and that they operated guns and a search-light battery); and, later in the war, came some of the losers – German POWs – who were encamped by the Manor House.  One of this number, according to Mr John Selby, left behind some mementoes of his skill with wood … items of furniture which he made.   I wonder if any villager still has an example?

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By the 1960s an enterprise, originally outside the parish but eventually at the heart of village life, drew to a close and its colossal impact on the village was soon all but lost to the newcomers of the Second Millennium.  This was the end of ironstone quarrying in the village.  The origins of Skillington, and the many centuries that have elapsed since that obscure time, show that the sustaining force behind the survival of the village was cultivation of the land, farming in short.  However, a new dimension came to the parish during the period beginning around the First World War and this lasted almost to the present day.  This was a different and violent use of the land.  This was the extraction of valuable iron-bearing stone.

The book The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands, Part VIII – South Lincolnshire by Eric Tonks includes a detailed account of the mining in the Skillington area.  The following is extracted from this book.

The Holwell Iron Co, later Stanton Ironworks, negotiated the lease of a vast acreage of the Buckminster Estate from the Earl of Dysart as a result of which quarrying for ironstone began in the area at Stainby, with the first shipments of ore being despatched in 1917.  Frodingham Iron and Steel Co. sank a trial shaft in an old limestone quarry one mile south-east of Skillington.  They then negotiated the lease of land from Mr C.H.Turnor's estate and a quarry at Colsterworth despatched ore circa 1921.  Gradually, new or extensions to existing quarries developed in an anti-clockwise direction moving from Woolsthorpe and across the fields south of Crabtree Road.  This quarrying took place from 1943 to 1972.  A railway system was laid down by the Great North Railway to take the ore to Scunthorpe.  These tracks, now disused, all lie to the south of the parish and, apart from one landfill site, the fields have been replaced and bear crops.

To begin with on the edge of the parish, this activity suddenly stepped well and truly into the village area when, in 1936, a cone-shaped quarry was excavated in the fields above Cringle Brook on land leased from the estates of Mr C.H.Turnor and Sir H.F.J.S.Cholmeley.  The top of the cone abutted the Colsterworth Road (Mill Lane) and the bottom ended at the locomotive shed, between Crabtree Road and Buckminster Lane.  This was worked up until 1957.  An extension was worked from 1943 to 1952 across the Colsterworth Road, (see photographs facing page).  These joint workings were known as the Cringle Mine.  Final closure was completed in 1962.

A loco track ran through the middle of these workings, crossing the Colsterworth Road just above the brook, but it is hard to find any trace of this now although the concrete base of a loco shed apparently lies beneath bushes there.  The long row of trees in the field on the right (leaving the village) marks the line of the disused quarry. 

The cutting running under the bridge on the Grantham Road, shortly before the Stoke turn, which I took to be a disused rail track, was, in fact, a lorry road (known to miners as the M1) which was never used.  It ran from the Woolsthorpe tip and sidings to a proposed site at Pasture Farm.

That this industry provided much-needed alternative employment for the men of Skillington is a fact but for how many?  Mr Bill Meads estimates about 35.  It also provided work for Italian and German POWs during WWII.

Mr Tyler, in his reminiscences, says that the village men working for Frodingham walked or biked to work and that they were given cabins which ' they had to keep clean '.

Margaret Winn, in her book Grandma's Gleanings from Newton's Woolsthorpe, says that, along with the prosperity which the mining brought, it brought also "a wonderful lunar-type landscape of spoil tips known as The Alps "!

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