Lumps and bumps – evidence of a medieval priory

Our April talk explores a historic site less than 5 miles away – Newstead by Stamford Priory. 

Uffington looking towards Newstead

Travelling along the A1175 from the Deepings towards Stamford, you pass through the village of Uffington and approach the junction for Newstead.  Look to your left, where you will see sheep or cattle grazing on rather uneven grassland, a number of ancient willows and a stream running off into the distance.

But look more closely – making sure you keep to the footpath. The lumps and bumps in the meadows at the western end of Uffington Park have, for many years, raised lots of questions among antiquarians, archaeologists and landscape historians. Satellite images, crop marks and LIDAR mapping have revealed detail not previously available – but questions still remain.

• Some researchers have been looking at the route of the Welland Navigation, also known as the Stamford Canal, which was in use between 1650 and 1865. This is where the canal was fed by water from the River Gwash before it flowed into the Welland.
• Others, however, have been looking for the location of Newstead Priory, a 13th century Augustinian establishment, about which there is archival evidence but hardly any physical remains.

Google image 2006

Crop marks after the drought in 2018 (Rex Gibson)

Local historian, Nicholas Sheehan from Uffington, became sufficiently fascinated by these earthworks  to explore their physical nature, their national importance and the ultimate demise of this little-known religious house.  In 2018, he published “Newstead by Stamford Priory”.  

Read a review in The Local Historian (British Association of Local HIstorians)  Vol 14 No 4 October 2019 p.342

• “The book is engagingly written and richly illustrated in colour.”
• “… the range of references, as recorded in the extensive bibliography, is impressive.”
• “Sheehan places the limited evidence into a much broader context.”
• “… this history of Newstead will be welcomed not only by the people of Uffington and Stamford but also by a wider audience.”
• “The author makes a significant contribution to the history of the area and more widely to the history of monasticism.”

Nick Sheehan will present his talk in the Village Hall, King Street on Tuesday 16th April at 2.30 pm. after a very brief Annual General Meeting.   Refreshements will be served from 2 pm. Admission £3 at the door.

We look forward to welcoming you for the last talk of the 2023 to 2024 season before the summer break.

The Spalding Gentlemen’s Society

We welcome Tom Grimes on Wednesday 8th February to give an illustrated talk on

300 years of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society

7 for 7.30 pm at the Village Hall, King Street, West Deeping.

Tom may or may not mention one of the archival treasures I discovered when I first visited the library and museum of the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society. West Deeping Heritage Group was involved in its Heritage Lottery-funded project on the Stamford Canal and we were looking for illustrations of vessels on the River Welland from the period when the canal was in use.  Until then, we had only seen some pictures reproduced in black and white in The Stamford Canal, the book published by Deepings Heritage in 2005.

But here were the originals!  In a bound volume is a collection of small watercolour paintings, not much bigger than postcards and two to a page. They are each numbered, captioned and dated. The 3 below –  “The Chain Bridge, Spalding” , 1828, “The River Welland in Spalding Lincolnshire”, 1827 and “View of Spalding from the Deeping road”, 1828, include vessels under sail and fenland lighters of the type which brought goods up the Welland Navigation to the Deepings and on the canal as far as Stamford.

Each picture is initialed HB – by the artist Hilkiah Burgess. Born in Bethnal Green in 1776, his family later lived in Lincolnshire. He worked as an engraver with his father William, who was also a Baptist minister at Fleet, near Holbeach.

The collection is a treasure trove for local historians. There are several more scenes of fenland and river scenes near Spalding, but keep on turning the pages and you will also find illustrations of historical buildings and churches further afield in Lincolnshire. What a treat it was to discover the illustration of our own church at West Deeping, dated 1821!

There are several other watercolours of particular local interest –
Maxey Church, Fletland Mills, Northborough Hall, Uffington House and the “Ancient Cross at Deeping St James”.

What other treasures are to be revealed? Do join us to hear Tom Grimes talk about the history of the society, how it was formed in the early 1700s, about its  famous and erudite subscribers and the collection of artefacts, archives and literary treasures that has been built up over 300 years.

Images by Maggie Ashcroft for West Deeping Heritage Group (2013) by kind permission of Spalding Gentlemen’s Society“

“Site meeting” at The Granary

A scrap of wallpaper, a grain chute, a handful of dried beans …

Recent finds at The Granary, one of West Deeping’s National Heritage listed sites, might be considered as only minor details but for the owners they have helped to bring to life the building’s history and its previous occupants.

The Granary was once part of the watermill known as Molecey’s Mill, on Stamford Road between West Deeping and Market Deeping. The history of the site is closely linked with its position alongside one of  12 locks on the former canal between Stamford and the Deepings. On the same site was West Deeping Toll Bar Cottage, where tolls were collected for the Deeping and Morcott Turnpike road.

The Granary and Water Mill from the east

Granary and water wheel from the east at Molecey’s Mill 1950

The Granary from the east 1997

Molecey’s Mill and Granary from the north c. 1930?

 

Now a separate building from the watermill, the granary has been extensively refurbished by the most recent owners. Their attention to architectural and constructional detail has ensured that every clue they found as to the granary’s history was noted and investigated.

Rather than sitting in the Village Hall to hear a talk, we’re going “on site”. West Deeping Heritage Group’s first meeting of the autumn season will be hosted by Graham Magee, who will talk about the history of Molecey’s Mill  and take us on a guided tour of the Granary.

Everyone is welcome

Come and join us on Wednesday 7th September 2016

The Granary, Stamford Rd, West Deeping, Peterborough PE6 9JD

• Refreshments will be served as usual from 7 p.m.
• The talk & tour will start at 7.30 p.m.
• Admission £2.50.
• If you wish to walk over the fields from West Deeping, allow 20 minutes. There will be a number of cars to provide lifts back to the village afterwards.
• There is plenty of parking. Turn off the A1175 (Stamford Road) at The Granary (not The Water Mill), over the bridge and through the gates, then turn left for the car parking area.

 

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Dr Barry Barton talks about the Stamford Canal

Anyone who is interested in the Stamford Canal, or the Welland Navigation and who missed Dr Barry Barton’s talk at West Deeping in July 2013 won’t want to miss the opportunity to hear him talk in more detail about the history of the canal on Saturday 1st March 2014 at 2.30 p.m. at Uffington Village Hall.  Archives, photographs and a digital record of West Deeping Heritage Group’s recent project will be on display for the afternoon.

Uffington Bridge

Dr Barton is a member of the national Panel for Historic Engineering Works, for the Institution of Chartered  Engineers.  He carried out extensive research on the Stamford Canal the 1990s, resulting in its being listed as a Historical Engineering Work, along with Uffington Bridge.

In aid of the Village Hall roof, with tea and cakes, tickets £10.      Contact Michael Crowe 01780 762490