| Heydour | |
St Michael's church, Heydour |
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Heydour
Heydour shown within Lincolnshire |
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| Population | 286 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | TF009395 |
| District | South Kesteven |
| Shire county | Lincolnshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Grantham |
| Postcode district | NG32 3 |
| Police | Lincolnshire |
| Fire | Lincolnshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Grantham and Stamford |
| List of places: UK • England • Lincolnshire | |
Heydour is a hamlet and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west from Sleaford and 6 miles (9.7 km) north-east from Grantham. It is one in a close group of parish hamlets, the others being Kelby, Culverthorpe, Oasby and Aisby.
The hamlet of Oasby has been classified as a conservation area and dwellings in Heydour parish have been listed by the local authority as "of interest". Parish hamlets cooperate in events and functions. There is an annual art exhibition, fete and scarecrow competition, and a group of Mummers, musicians and Morris dancers. An annual pantomime is held in the village hall in Aisby, and the parish church holds a carol concert on the Sunday before Christmas. The Houblon Arms at Oasby is the local public house and restaurant. The nearest post office with shop is in Wilsford, 2 miles (3.2 km) north.
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Heydour is mentioned in the Domesday account as "Haidure" and "Heidure", with 80 acres (0.32 km2) of meadow and 16 acres (0.065 km2) of woodland within the manor of Osbournby.[1] Before the Norman Conquest it was under the lordship of Aelfric, son of Godram,[2] and after 1086 by Vitalis.[3]
Around the village, particularly to the south, are earthwork indications of houses, crofts, quarries and ridge and furrow field systems from an earlier Medieval village.[4]
In 1885 the area of the township was 3,140 acres (12.7 km2) with a population in 1881 of 363, and the parish, including Kelby and Culverthorpe, 5,140 acres (20.8 km2) with a population of 447. There existed in Heydour, since the 14th century, freestone quarries that provided the first stones for Belton House.[5][6][7]
Kelly’s stated: "In a field west of the church are traces of a large mansion or castle, supposed to have been built in reign of Stephen by one of the Bussey family, who were seated here until about 1609".[5] The Busseys were major landowners of the area and a branch of the same family at Hougham. When the son of John Bussey (ab.1533-1593), Sir Edmund Bussey (1562-1616), came in possession of what was then a manor house it was in a dilapidated state requiring rebuilding, and its land reorganising.[8]The castle or manor house was tightly socially and physically integrated with the manor and settlement of Heydour and its parish, unlike other areas of Lincolnshire.[9] The existence of the castle is indicated by remnants of masonry, foundations and ditch,[10] and is a listed monument.[11]
The village had its own school which was closed in 1983.[12]
Heydour Grade I listed Anglican parish church, is dedicated to St Michael. The church originates from the 12th century with later additions up to the 19th.[13] It consists of an Early English chancel with lancet windows and a 17th century north funerary chapel, nave with Perpendicular clerestory including six tracery paneled windows. It has Decorated north and south aisles with evidence at the roof line of earlier aisles, four arcades, south porch and a Decorated west tower with pinnacles, crenellations, and a Perpendicular recessed spire. The church was probably the gift of Geoffrey de Saxe, prebendary of Heydour from 1325 to 1380. The chancel holds a tomb to the founder, and a sedilia.[10][14] The post-1342 roof above the north aisle was built by donations from Lord Scrope of Masham (1312-1391).[15]
A chief feature of St Michael’s is ca. 1380 stained glass in the north aisle. One window shows the figures of Edward the Confessor, St George and St Edmund, erected through donations from deacon Geoffrey Scrope and Beatrice Luttrell,[16] another St Vincent, St Laurence and St Stephen. A third window is 19th century and by William Wailes. Pevsner notes windows from 1899 by Kempe in the east, north and south chancel.[5][10][14] Further features are a priest’s doorway with cinque-cusped head, octagonal font, a chest from 1530 to 1550, an ornamental painting in the chancel, and chalice and flagon by George Wickes from 1727.[10]
There are internal church monuments to the Newton family of Culverthorpe Hall, including Abigail Newton, died 1686. Others are to Sir John Newton, died 1734, and Margaret, Countess of Coningsby (Sir Michaels daughter-in-law), died 1761, both attributed to Rysbrack, and Lady Newton, died 1737, and Sir Michael Newton, died 1746, both by Scheemakers.[10] There is also a marble slab to the last male Newton heir, died 14 Jan 1723, the infant son of Sir Michael Newton and Margaret, Countess of Coningsby, who was stolen from his cradle in the absence of his nurse by a pet monkey that was pursued to roof of Culverthorpe Hall where it dropped the child over a parapet; he was killed by the fall.[5][17] The church bells commemorate with signatures Sir Edmund Bussey and his son Miles Bussey (born 1590 or 1592) and the arms of Sir Edmund and his wife Francis.[18]