| Skendleby | |
St Peter and St Paul's church, Skendleby |
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Skendleby
Skendleby shown within Lincolnshire |
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| Population | 160 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | TF433696 |
| District | East Lindsey |
| Shire county | Lincolnshire |
| Region | East Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | PE23 |
| Police | Lincolnshire |
| Fire | Lincolnshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Louth and Horncastle |
| List of places: UK • England • Lincolnshire | |
Skendleby is a small village and civil parish, located near to the A158 and lies about four miles (6.5 kilometres) north east of the town of Spilsby in Lincolnshire and 34.8 miles (56 kilometres) due east of the county town Lincoln.
The village stands near the south eastern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.[1] The village has a public house called the Blacksmith's Arms. Skendleby is served by a Translinc bus service which runs through the village daily.
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A chalk long barrow was built here for seven adults and a child, whose bodies were found on chalk slabs at the south eastern end. It is known as Giants Hill.[2][3]
Skendleby was mentioned in Domesday Book and had a church and thirty six households. The Lord of the Manor in 1086 was Gilbert de Gant (or Ghent).[4] In the reign of Elizabeth I, Skendleby was recorded as having twenty seven households.[5]
The believed remains of St James Chapel, Skendleby Priory, were uncovered during archaeological investigations and excavations in 2005. It was a small cell to Bardney Abbey built by Walter de Gant, and recorded by Bede in the seventh century.[6] Bardney Abbey was founded no later than 697, but destroyed by a Danish raid in 869.[7]
Skendleby Hall dates from the mid 18th century with some later alterations and additions. It is Grade II listed.[8]
One mile north east of Skendleby was the location of RAF Skendleby Chain Home Low radar station, with a 200-foot (61 m) wooden mast on the top of a nearby manmade hillock, that operated during World War II between 1941 and 1945. In 1950 the site was developed further by the RAF with the addition of a two storey underground facility excavated to house a ROTOR ground control intercept station that operated during the Cold War.
The RAF handed the site over during the late 1960s and it became a civil defence regional headquarters that controlled Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Redesignated as Regional Government HQ 3.1 in the 1980s and with an additional two underground floors added, the only above ground structures are four ventilators on the mound together with a radio mast. A small building, disguised as a bungalow, conceals the heavy blast doors and stairs down to the nuclear proof bunker. The site was sold in 2000 and the whole facility is now in private ownership and believed to be used for secure storage.[9]
Bardney Abbey was refounded by Gilbert de Gant who dedicated it (as it was before) to Saint Peter and Saint Paul.[7] A church at Skendleby called St Peter's was given to the monks of Bardney sometime prior to 1094, by the same Gilbert De Gant.[5] The present church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which dates from the 13th and 14th centuries, is a Grade II listed building, and was restored in 1875 by Sir G. G. Scott.[10]
Skendleby National School opened in 1844, and later became known as Skendleby CE School, which closed on 18 July 1969. Most of the children then went to school in the neighbouring village of Partney.[11]
The village has never had a large population, peaking in the mid 19th century and falling to around 160 residents by 2001.
| Population of Skendleby Civil Parish | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1801 | 1811 | 1821 | 1831 | 1841 | 1851 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 |
| Population[12] | 174 | 234 | 210 | 253 | 289 | 326 | 270 | 258 | 232 | 204 | 211 | 208 | 173 | 164 |