Crowland | |
---|---|
Location within Lincolnshire | |
Population | 4,849 (2011.Parish) [1] |
OS grid reference | TF2410 |
• London | 80 mi (130 km) S |
Civil parish |
|
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | PETERBOROUGH |
Postcode district | PE6 |
Dialling code | 01733 |
Police | Lincolnshire |
Fire | Lincolnshire |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. Latin : Croilandia) is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland contains two sites of historical interest, Crowland Abbey and Trinity Bridge.
The town's two historical points of interest are the ruined medieval Crowland Abbey and the 14th-century three-sided bridge, Trinity Bridge, which stands at its central point and used to be the confluence of three streams. [2]
In about 701, a monk named Guthlac came to what was then an island in the Fens to live the life of a hermit. Following in Guthlac's footsteps, a monastic community came into being here, which was dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin, Saint Bartholomew and Saint Guthlac in the eighth century. [3]
The place-name 'Crowland' is first attested circa 745 AD in the Vita S. Guthlaci auctore Felice, reprinted in the Memorials of Saint Guthlac published in Wisbech in 1881. Here the name appears as Cruglond, Crugland, Cruuulond and Cruwland. It appears as Croiland in the Domesday Book of 1086. The word "cruw" is thought to mean a bend, and to refer to the bend in the River Welland at Crowland, which was more pronounced before the draining of the fens. [4]
The town of Crowland grew up round the abbey. By a charter dated 716, Æthelbald of Mercia granted the isle of Crowland, free from all secular services, to the abbey with a gift of money, and leave to build and enclose the town. The charter's privileges were confirmed by numerous other royal charters extending over a period of nearly 800 years. Under Abbot Ægelric the fens were tilled, the monastery grew rich, and the town increased in size, enormous tracts of land being held by the abbey at the Domesday Survey. [3]
The Croyland Chronicle (1144–1486), an important source for medieval historians, is believed to be the work of some of the monastery's inhabitants. [5]
The town was nearly destroyed by fire (1469–1476), but the abbey tenants were given money to rebuild it. By virtue of his office the abbot had a seat in parliament, but the town was never a parliamentary borough. Abbot Ralph Mershe in 1257 obtained a grant of a market every Wednesday, confirmed by Henry IV in 1421, but it was afterwards moved to Thorney. The annual fair of St Bartholomew, which originally lasted twelve days, was first mentioned in Henry III's confirmatory charter of 1227. The dissolution of the monastery in 1539 was fatal to the progress of the town, and it rapidly sank into the position of an unimportant village. The abbey lands were granted by Edward VI to Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, from whose family they passed in 1671 to the Orby family. [3]
In 1642, near the start of the English Civil War, the remains of the abbey were fortified and garrisoned by Royalists under Governor Thomas Stiles. After a short siege it was taken by Parliamentarian forces under the command of Oliver Cromwell in May 1643. [6] [7] [8]
The surrounding agricultural area suffered from extensive flooding in 1947 as the River Welland and the surrounding drain network was overwhelmed with meltwater. [9] A flood defence bank, West Bank, still exists, forming the north-west perimeter of the village and eastern flank of the River Welland's flood plain.
The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway crossed the north-east part of the parish until the 1980s. [10] It passed near De Key's Farm to the east and Martin's Farm to the north. Postland railway station was near Postland House.[ citation needed ]
An electoral ward in the name of Crowland and Deeping St Nicholas exists. This ward has a total population taken at the 2011 census of 6,172. [11]
Crowland is nearer to the outskirts of Peterborough than Spalding, and (similar to other settlements of the Welland) is less than 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the boundary with the City of Peterborough. The main road is the A16, which provides connections with Spalding to the north and Peterborough to the south (via the A47). The east-west B1166 connects with Deeping St. James, the north side of the Welland to the west and Holbeach Drove to the east, and Thorney is accessed via the B1040 to the south-east.
From 1894 the parish, being the only part of the Peterborough Rural Sanitary District in Lincolnshire, formed its own Crowland Rural District. This was merged into Spalding Rural District under a County Review Order in the 1930s. It has formed part of the South Holland district since April 1974.
Crowland falls within the drainage area of the Welland and Deepings Internal Drainage Board. [12]
The Crowland Ponds Nature Reserve is north of the town, next to the west side of the Welland.
The town currently has one school, South View Primary, which has moved from its former home on Reform Street to the much larger former St Guthlac School site on Postland Road in September 2014. [13]
Crowland's former secondary school was named The St Guthlac School after the abbey's founder. It was situated at the junction of the B1166 and B1040. Lincolnshire Country Council made the decision at the begin of July 2011 that The St Guthlac School would close as part of the creation of the University Academy Holbeach, to be situated on the site of the former George Farmer Technology and Language College in Holbeach. [14]
Crowland receives its television signals from various transmitters: Sandy Heath (BBC East/ITV Anglia), [15] Waltham (BBC East Midlands/ITV Central), [16] and Belmont (BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire/ITV Yorkshire). [17]
The town is served by both BBC Radio Lincolnshire and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Other radio stations including Smooth East Midlands (formerly Connect FM) and Kiss. The area is also one of the few in Lincolnshire to be covered by a local DAB multiplex, NOW Peterborough. [18]
Local newspaper is the Peterborough Telegraph (formerly Peterborough Citizen). [19]
The River Welland is a lowland river in the east of England, some 65 miles (105 km) long. It drains part of the Midlands eastwards to The Wash. The river rises in the Hothorpe Hills, at Sibbertoft in Northamptonshire, then flows generally northeast to Market Harborough, Stamford and Spalding, to reach The Wash near Fosdyke. It is a major waterway across the part of the Fens called South Holland, and is one of the Fenland rivers that were laid out with washlands. There are two channels between widely spaced embankments with the intention that flood waters would have space in which to spread while the tide in the estuary prevented free egress. However, after the floods of 1947, new works such as the Coronation Channel were constructed to control flooding in Spalding, and the washlands are no longer used solely as pasture, but may be used for arable farming.
The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system of drainage channels and man-made rivers and automated pumping stations. There have been unintended consequences to this reclamation, as the land level has continued to sink and the dykes have been built higher to protect it from flooding.
Spalding is a market town on the River Welland in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. The main town had a population of 30,556 at the 2021 census. The town is the administrative centre of the South Holland District. The town is located between the cities of Peterborough and Lincoln.
Bourne is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the eastern slopes of the limestone Kesteven Uplands and the western edge of the Fens, 11 miles (18 km) north-east of Stamford, 12 miles (19 km) west of Spalding and 17 miles (27 km) north of Peterborough. The population at the 2011 census was 14,456. A 2019 estimate put it at 16,780.
South Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. Its council is based in Grantham. The district also includes the towns of Bourne, Market Deeping and Stamford, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas.
South Holland is a local government district of Lincolnshire, England. The council is based in Spalding. Other notable towns and villages include Crowland, Sutton Bridge, Donington, Holbeach and Long Sutton. The district is named after the historical division of Lincolnshire known as the Parts of Holland.
Market Deeping is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, on the north bank of the River Welland and the A15 road. The population of the town at the 2011 census was 6,008.
Holbeach is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland District in Lincolnshire, England. The town lies 8 miles (13 km) from Spalding; 17 miles (27 km) from Boston; 20 miles (32 km) from King's Lynn; 23 miles (37 km) from Peterborough; and 43 miles (69 km) by road from Lincoln. It is on the junction of the A151 and A17.
Pega is a Christian saint who was an anchoress in the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and the sister of St Guthlac.
Saint Guthlac of Crowland was a Christian hermit and saint from Lincolnshire in England. He is particularly venerated in the Fens of eastern England.
The Deepings are a series of settlements close to the River Welland near the borders of southern Lincolnshire and north western Cambridgeshire in eastern England. Peterborough is about 8 miles to the south, Spalding about 10 miles to the north east and Stamford about 8 miles to the west.
Long Sutton is a market town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in The Fens, close to the Wash, 13 miles (21 km) east of Spalding. In 2011 the parish had a population of 4,821.
Crowland Abbey is a Church of England parish church, formerly part of a Benedictine abbey church, in Crowland in the English county of Lincolnshire. It is a Grade I listed building.
Medeshamstede was the name of Peterborough in the Anglo-Saxon period. It was the site of a monastery founded around the middle of the 7th century, which was an important feature in the kingdom of Mercia from the outset. Little is known of its founder and first abbot, Sexwulf, though he was himself an important figure, and later became bishop of Mercia. Medeshamstede soon acquired a string of daughter churches, and was a centre for an Anglo-Saxon sculptural style.
Saint Guthlac's Church, Market Deeping is a parish church of the Church of England in Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, England.
Cowbit is a village and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,220. It is situated 3 miles (5 km) south from Spalding and 5 miles (8 km) north from Crowland.
Postland railway station was a station on the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway in Crowland, Lincolnshire, which is now closed. It took its name from the Postland estate, owned by the Marquess of Exeter. It originally opened in 1867, and remained open to passengers until 1961. Services to Cambridge and Doncaster ran from here.
The A1175 road is a road in south-west Lincolnshire, England. It runs between Stamford and Spalding, along the old A16 route.
University Academy Holbeach is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form located in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, England.
The New River is a drainage system in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. Rising just east of Sisson's Farm near Crowland it flows very roughly eastwards, following the general line of the River Welland but a little to the south. It skirts the settlements of Crowland and Cowbit before flowing into the Welland at Cradge Bank near Little London.