Ancaster, Lincolnshire
Encyclopedia
Ancaster is a village in the South Kesteven
district of Lincolnshire
, England, on the site of the Roman town
of "Causennae
"
Ancaster Hall at The University of Nottingham
is named after the parish and the, now extinct, title of the Earl of Ancaster.
and Grantham
on the A153 road at its junction with the B6403 (Ermine Street
). North of the village, the B6403 (High Dike
) is the dividing line between South and North Kesteven. Towards Sleaford is Wilsford
and to the east is Sudbrook.
Primary School, local shop, butchers, a small railway station
on the Nottingham-Skegness line, post office, and two petrol stations. There are two pubs: the Railway Inn, and the Ermine Way, both on Ermine Street and also a Sports and Social Club, associated with the playing field. Woodland Waters holiday park is situated just outside the village.
The ecclesiastical parish is linked with Wilsford
, and is part of the Loveden
Deanery
of the Diocese of Lincoln
. The incumbent is The Revd Alan Littlewood. The civil parish boundaries are different: the civil parish also covers the settlements of Sudbrook
and West Willoughby.
West of the village on Willoughby Moor is the Woodland Waters Holiday Park on Willoughby Road. There are two nearby natures reserves, each a SSSI
, with a type of flower, the Tall Thrift
, unique to this area of the UK.
and King Street
.
The village's Grade I listed Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Martin, one of many churches on Roman sites which are dedicated to the Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and later became Bishop of Tours and saint. St Martin's church stands slightly elevated on the Roman road Ermine Street, and on the site of a Roman temple. It is first documented in 1200 when Bishop Hugh
's body rested over-night at the church while on the way to Lincoln. The church has decorated Norman
arches and an Early English font. The corbel
s are decorated with medieval figurative imagery: a drinking nun, an old woman, and a farmer with medieval head dress. There is also a Green Man 'mouth-puller' in the vestry, and the remains of a Sheila na Gig on the north side of the tower. On the wooden ceiling there are carvings of seemingly archaic figures. Two Roman relief sculptures were found in the East Wall of the church in the 1960s.
period, the Romans
built a roadside settlement on the site of a Corieltauvi settlement. It was traditionally thought to have been named Causennis, although this is now believed to be Saltersford. Ancaster lies on Ermine Street
, a major Roman road heading north from London. To the north-west of Ancaster is a Roman marching camp and some fourth century Roman earthworks are still visible. Excavations have found a cemetery containing more than 250 Roman burials, including 11 stone sarcophagi.
A Time Team
excavation in 2002 revealed a cist
bearing an inscription to the God Viridius
. The dig also uncovered Iron Age
to 3rd century pottery, a 1st century brooch and some of the Roman town wall.
South Kesteven
South Kesteven is a local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. It covers Grantham, Stamford, Bourne and Market Deeping.-History:...
district of Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, England, on the site of the Roman town
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
of "Causennae
Ancaster Roman Town
Ancaster Roman Town was a small town in the Roman province of Britannia. Its name in Latin is unknown, although it is sometimes identified with Causennis . Today it is known as Ancaster, located in the English county of Lincolnshire.-Town development:The Romans built a fort over an Iron Age...
"
Ancaster Hall at The University of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
is named after the parish and the, now extinct, title of the Earl of Ancaster.
Geography
It is situated midway between SleafordSleaford
Sleaford is a town in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is located thirteen miles northeast of Grantham, seventeen miles west of Boston, and nineteen miles south of Lincoln, and had a total resident population of around 14,500 in 6,167 households at the time...
and Grantham
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
on the A153 road at its junction with the B6403 (Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
). North of the village, the B6403 (High Dike
High Dyke, Lincolnshire
High Dyke is a minor road following a length of Roman Road in the English county of Lincolnshire, between Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth and Ancaster. It is also the name of a small settlement on that road, near to Great Ponton, near to the mouth of Stoke Tunnel on the Great Northern main line...
) is the dividing line between South and North Kesteven. Towards Sleaford is Wilsford
Wilsford, Lincolnshire
Wilsford is a hamlet and civil parish within the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:It is five miles west-southwest of Sleaford, and nine miles northeast of Grantham, and has a total resident population of 392.Located off Ermine Street, the parish of Ancaster...
and to the east is Sudbrook.
Amenities
Ancaster has a C.E.Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Primary School, local shop, butchers, a small railway station
Ancaster railway station
Ancaster railway station serves the village of Ancaster in Lincolnshire, England. The station is north of Grantham on the Nottingham to Skegness Line.-History:...
on the Nottingham-Skegness line, post office, and two petrol stations. There are two pubs: the Railway Inn, and the Ermine Way, both on Ermine Street and also a Sports and Social Club, associated with the playing field. Woodland Waters holiday park is situated just outside the village.
The ecclesiastical parish is linked with Wilsford
Wilsford, Lincolnshire
Wilsford is a hamlet and civil parish within the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:It is five miles west-southwest of Sleaford, and nine miles northeast of Grantham, and has a total resident population of 392.Located off Ermine Street, the parish of Ancaster...
, and is part of the Loveden
Loveden
Loveden is a Deanery of the Diocese of Lincoln, England, and a former Wapentake.Loveden is located broadly to the North of Grantham and includes the villages from Long Bennington in the west to Culverthorpe in the east, and from Welby in the south as far north as Welbourn...
Deanery
Deanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...
of the Diocese of Lincoln
Diocese of Lincoln
The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire.- History :...
. The incumbent is The Revd Alan Littlewood. The civil parish boundaries are different: the civil parish also covers the settlements of Sudbrook
Sudbrook, Lincolnshire
Sudbrook is a hamlet in the English county of Lincolnshire.Sudbrook lies one mile west of the village of Ancaster and forms part of that village's civil parish and the district of South Kesteven.- External links :...
and West Willoughby.
West of the village on Willoughby Moor is the Woodland Waters Holiday Park on Willoughby Road. There are two nearby natures reserves, each a SSSI
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
, with a type of flower, the Tall Thrift
Armeria
Armeria is the botanical name for a genus of flowering plants. These plants are sometimes known as "thrift" or as the "sea pinks" as they are often found on coastlines...
, unique to this area of the UK.
History
Ancaster was a Roman town at thr junction of Ermine StreetErmine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
and King Street
King Street (Roman road)
King Street is the name of a modern road on the line of a Roman road |Durobrivae]]. The whole is I.D. Margary's Roman road number 26. -The Roman road's route:Archaeological work has revealed more of its length than is in use nowadays...
.
The village's Grade I listed Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Martin, one of many churches on Roman sites which are dedicated to the Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and later became Bishop of Tours and saint. St Martin's church stands slightly elevated on the Roman road Ermine Street, and on the site of a Roman temple. It is first documented in 1200 when Bishop Hugh
Hugh of Lincoln
Hugh of Lincoln was at the time of the Reformation the best-known English saint after Thomas Becket.-Life:...
's body rested over-night at the church while on the way to Lincoln. The church has decorated Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
arches and an Early English font. The corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
s are decorated with medieval figurative imagery: a drinking nun, an old woman, and a farmer with medieval head dress. There is also a Green Man 'mouth-puller' in the vestry, and the remains of a Sheila na Gig on the north side of the tower. On the wooden ceiling there are carvings of seemingly archaic figures. Two Roman relief sculptures were found in the East Wall of the church in the 1960s.
Archaeology
During the Romano-BritishRomano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
period, the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
built a roadside settlement on the site of a Corieltauvi settlement. It was traditionally thought to have been named Causennis, although this is now believed to be Saltersford. Ancaster lies on Ermine Street
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is the name of a major Roman road in England that ran from London to Lincoln and York . The Old English name was 'Earninga Straete' , named after a tribe called the Earningas, who inhabited a district later known as Armingford Hundred, around Arrington, Cambridgeshire and Royston,...
, a major Roman road heading north from London. To the north-west of Ancaster is a Roman marching camp and some fourth century Roman earthworks are still visible. Excavations have found a cemetery containing more than 250 Roman burials, including 11 stone sarcophagi.
A Time Team
Time Team
Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on Channel 4 since 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode features a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining...
excavation in 2002 revealed a cist
Cist
A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....
bearing an inscription to the God Viridius
Viridios
Viridios, or Viridius is the supposed deified masculine spirit of verdure, in ancient Celtic polytheism.-Centres of worship:Viridios was worshipped in Roman Britain and altar-stones raised to him have been recovered in the United Kingdom, at Ancaster....
. The dig also uncovered Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
to 3rd century pottery, a 1st century brooch and some of the Roman town wall.
External links
- Time Team at Ancaster
- Ancaster historical summary (UK & Ireland Genealogy site)
- Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopaedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Ancaster (Causennae), Lincolnshire, England"
- Moor Closes Nature Reserve
- Ancaster Valley Nature Reserve
- Ancaster Karting
- Table Tennis club
- Woodland Waters