Digby, Lincolnshire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Digby is a small village in the district of North Kesteven, in the county of Lincolnshire, England. The village lies in the vale of the Digby Beck watercourse, six miles north of the town of Sleaford and twelve miles south of the city of Lincoln. The population is around 500, and there is a Parish Council.

1 Travel and transport
2 History and notable features
3 Further reading
4 External links

[edit] Travel and transport

The village is on the north-south B1188 road, and is about six miles west of the National Cycle Network's National Route 1. Three miles to the south there is a local railway station at Ruskington, on the Sleaford to Lincoln line. About sixteen miles from Digby is Grantham, which has a regular East Coast Main Line express train to London (about 70 minutes).

[edit] History and notable features

In 1956 a Neolithic polished stone axe, made about 4,000 years ago, was found in Digby Fen. It is currently at Lincoln Museum.

The church is dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, and has a porch with strong Saxon elements and carvings. Built in the Gothic style, it has a tall spire. There is also an ancient stone cross. In the 1930s the churchyard was said to be haunted (see: Rudkin, "Lincolnshire Folklore" Folklore, Vol.44, No.2, June 1933).

Near to the village is the large Royal Air Force base of RAF Digby (formerly RAF Scopwick). During the Second World War the base was home to Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons and to Douglas Bader, Guy Gibson, and poet John Gillespie Magee, among others. The base was Canadian later in the war, as RCAF Digby Fighter Station, with the Operations Room and billets at nearby Blankney Hall.

Today the village has a school, the Digby CE School, for children aged 4 to 11. There is also a Post Office. The pub is the Red Lion. There are allotments, and the village hall is Digby War Memorial Hall in Church Street.

The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust manage 'Digby Corner' as a wildlife sanctuary. At June 2007 Digby Fen was home to a breeding pair of Montagu's Harriers, the rarest breeding birds of prey in the British Isles.