North Witham
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North Witham is a small village in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire. The population is 157 although this is set to increase due to the creation of new houses in the village. The village lies on the western slope of the River Witham's valley. There is a ford through the river on the road towards the A1. There is no shop or pub, the pub having closed down and become a lumber yard in the past. The closest amenities are either in Colsterworth or South Witham although many residents travel to nearby Grantham on a regular basis. A village shop was in existence in the 1980s however due to poor sales and the small population of the village this closed down less than a year after it opened. Directly across from the A1 is the former RAF North Witham, used for American parachutists in D-Day. This is now overgrown by Twyford Forest which is run by the Forestry Commission.
The parish church is St Mary which has been standing since 1088 with several new additions being made since such as the construction of the spire. Recent debate regarding the state of repair of the church bells has resulted in communications being made by villagers to the Bishop of Lincoln and the MP for Grantham and Stamford, Quentin Davies. The newest of the bells was cast in Leicester in 1560 with the others having been cast in 1500, however the wheels of the bells have "completely disintegrated" which has ended their use and provoke conern amongst many locals. Despite requests for assistance being made to the diocesan authorities no funding to rectify the situation has been received and so further enquiries to the Church of England are being made. Hannah Ayscough, the twenty-two-year-old mother of Isaac Newton, married the local vicar in January 1645 and moved to the vicarage, staying there until August 1653 when her seventy-one-year-old husband Barnabas Smith died (of old age). Had she not married the vicar, she may not have had enough money to send Isaac to school in Grantham. Isaac's two half-sisters and half-brother were born in the vicarage.
The village school was destroyed during World War II when German bombers mistook the village for one of the nearby industrial towns. A pill-box still exists from the war and it stands on the road leading to South Witham. The village's only remaining public building other than the church is the village hall which has existed in its current state for over 50 years, however it is currently under-going repairs due to general neglect in the past. The village hall had previously been the cricket pavilion of the nearby village of Great Ponton before being moved and reconstructed on its current site in the early 1960's.
North Witham was claimed by the micronation New Brittania who previously aimed for independence from the United Kingdom through declaring the village of North Witham and several others around it as an independent state. However the movement was little known and was met with opposition prior to its abandonment in November 2007.
In 2007, parish council reforms meant that in place of the village having its own council, it became part of Colsterworth parish council following similar moves by the nearby villages of Gunby and Stainby
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