North Witham

The Library at Grantham will prove useful in your research.

Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the 14th century cross shaft and plinth in the churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2020. The Medieval cross shaft is a Grade II structure with English Heritage and also a scheduled monument.

• The parish was in the Colsterworth sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• In an 1890 reorganisation, the parish was allocated to the Grantham South sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin.
   
• There is some evidence that an Anglo-Saxon church existed on this site.
   
• The church is believed to have been built around 1086.
   
• The church tower and spire were built between 1380 and 1410.
   
• The church was partially restored in 1852, then more completely restored in 1887.
   
• The church seats 110.
   
• Here is a photo of the church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
   

• Anglican parish registers exist from 1591.
   
• Boyd's marriage index covers the period from 1562 - 1837.
   
• The LFHS has published several indexes (marriage and burial) for the Beltisloe Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.

• The parish was in the Colsterworth sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• In 1891, the district was reorganized and the parish was in the Grantham South sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.

North Witham is both a village and parish on the River Witham 9 miles south of Grantham and 11 miles north-west of Stamford. The river flows north at this point, toward neighboring Colsterworth parish. Gunby parish lies to the west. The parish covers just over 2,430 acres and includes the hamlet of Lobthorpe. The parish includes a portion of Twyford Wood, a dense forested area that extends into Colsterworth parish.

The village lies about 1 mile west of the A1 Ermine Street (the old Great North Road). If you are planning a visit:

• Tim HEATON has a photograph of North Witham on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2005.
   
• J. HANNAN-BRIGGS has a photograph of the Village Sign as you enter North Witham on Geo-graph, taken in January, 2015.
   
• Visit our touring page for more sources.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from North Witham to another place.

• The village had the Plough Inn as a popular place for good conversation. The Inn reportedly closed in the 20th century. Here are the names associated with the Inn in various directories:

• Lobthorpe Hall was taken down around 1800. It had been the seat of Sir Brownlow SKERARD
   
• Timothy HEATON has a phtograph of the Hall Farm, Lobthorpe on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2006.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of The Manor House on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2020. The building is Grade II rated by English Heritage.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK927218 (Lat/Lon: 52.785946, -0.626736), North Witham which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

On the north wall of the nave of St. Mary's Church: "1939 1945/ IN FOND REMEMBRANCE OF FLT/SGT/ CYRIL WILLIAM GEESON / DEARLY BELOVED SON OF GEORGE &/ ELIZABETH GEESON KILLED ON ACTIVE / SERVICE 26TH JULY 1945 AGED 23/ YEARS WHEN TWO LIBERATOR BOMBERS/ COLLIDED HE WAS BURIED NEAR CONTAI / ORISSA INDIA LEST WE FORGET"

• There is a marble and alabaster tablet on the north wall of the Nave of the parish church to those who served in World War I. 25 names are listed, 21 survived, 4 died.
   
• In 1942 the dense woodland of Twyford Wood was surveyed for possible airfield use. The Air Ministry requisitioned the site from the Forestry Commission.
   
• The airfield was laid out in the normal A pattern and sites for parking 50 bombers were laid out. Because of the growth of US involvement in the air war, the airfield was destined to have a long career with the USAAF. It became a USAAF active station in December 1943.
   
• RAF North Witham became a Pathfinder School in March 1944 and stayed under that role until September 1944.
   
• In June 1945 North Witham airfield was returned to the RAF, but the airfield was already in a "care and maintenance" status. It started a new life as an equipment spares depot in July.
   
• RAF North Witham was finally closed in 1956 and then was sold off by February 1960. The forestry Commision regained the site and replanted it with trees. At last report the control tower and one hangar remained, as well as the old runways.
   
• Tim HEATON has a photograph of a Pillbox from WW II on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2005..
   
• See "Memorial Inscriptions" for a WW II memorial to Cyril William GEESON who died in India.
   

There is a World War One Roll of Honour on the north wall of the nave of St. Mary's Church with the following names on it:

1. Lt. A. L. TURNER, kia May 1915
2. prvt. F. M. COX, kia July 1916
3. prvt. H. STEELE, kia July 1916
4. prvt. Frederick MEES, kia Feb. 1917, 6th bn. Royal Berks.
5. Lt. W. C. WAKEFIELD, M.C.
6. T. GIBSON
7. E. S. HALFORD
8. H. RAWDEN
9. G. BARTRAM
10. R. TINDALE, M.M.
11. T. W. DUNMORE
12. C. J. FEATHERSTONE
13. C. E. BRIGGS
14. J. C. DEXTER
15. G. E. GEESON
16. A. E. COLLIER
17. W. GIBSON
18. C. ROBINSON
19. J. HARVEY
20. M. MEES
21. W. MEES
22. H. J. SYER
23. T. RUDKIN
24. H. W. DEXTER

There is a World War II Roll of Honour on the north wall of St. Mary's nave, with the following names on it:

1. Arbon, Dorothy
2. Arbon, Peter Richard
3. Burrows, Iris
4. Burrows, Leonard
5. Burrows, Leslie
6. Clapton, Ernest
7. Crompton, Alfred, Sgt., Lincs Regt.
8. Crompton, George Leslie
9. Dickens, Edward John
10. Featherby, Josiah Maxey
11. Goode, Walter
12. Grand, Gladys
13. Hall, George Henry Clapton
14. Hyde, Henry
15. Jones, Charles

• Witham is from the Celtic or pre-Celtic river name of uncertain origin, and the name appeared as Widme in the 1086 Domesday Book.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincoln county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Betisloe Wapentake in the South Kesteven district and parts of Kesteven.
   
• For today's local governance, the Parish Council was merged with that of nearby Colsterworth in 2007.
   
• For today's district local governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.

• The poor of the parish had a yearly rent-charge of £1 out of land at Ufford left by Ruth EDGE in 1717.
   
• The poor of the parish also had the dividends from £122 and 2 shillings out of bequests by Sir. B. SHERARD and four other donors.
   
• As a result of the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Grantham Poor Law Union.
   
• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Spitalgate (Grantham) petty session hearings.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	168
1831	273
1841	300
1851	309
1861	278
1871	236
1891	199
1911	126

• A public elementary school was built here in 1872 to hold 41 children.
   
• In 1941, at 3AM on Good Friday, a German bomb destroyed the old National School building, which was empty at the time. It is believed that the German pilot thought he was over Grantham when he released his bombs. No one was killed. The school was never rebuilt.
   
• See our Schools page for more information on researching school records.