Brothertoft
Encyclopedia
Brothertoft is a village in Lincolnshire
, England
, about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the town of Boston
. It is part of the civil parish
of Holland Fen with Brothertoft
.
people. The site of a possible building was uncovered at Cannons Farm in Punchbowl Lane between 1957 and 1959. A denarius
of Septimus Severus was found along with pottery, potsherds, animal bones, ditches and hollows. A roman vase was dug up about 1970 at a separate site in Brothertoft by Mr Epton.
The hamlet is first recorded some time after 1350 and before 1540. Brothertoft hamlet is mentioned in the Diocesan Return of 1563 (Deanery of Holland, parish of Kirton,) as having ten households. William Marrat, a local historian writing in 1814, noted that the traditional belief for the origins of the village name lay in a grant being awarded to two brothers in order that they could "inclose" (that is, separate and cultivate) the area from the surrounding fenland
. The word toft is thought to come from the Danish
occupiers of Lincolnshire in ancient times and has the meaning of homestead or enclosure. Hence the place name of Brother-Toft. In an addendum Marrat wrote that the place had been a vaccaria (or vaccary - literally, a cow shed) of the abbey at Swineshead
and had once been called Toft because of it relatively raised position above the fens. There are records of receipts which were probably from the area in the Swineshead entries of the Valor Ecclesiasticus
. These are not definitive as another historian of the period, Pishey Thompson, pointed out that Toft was used as a name both for Brothertoft and Fishtoft
in the late fourteenth century. The raised position did not exclude the area from flooding and, for example, in 1763 the villagers were forced to live in the upper stories of buildings due to the amount of water ingress.
. The Order of Sempringham originated in 1131. About that time Gilbert of Sempringham became the rector of the church of Sempringam. He then instituted the rule of St. Augustine and many statutes from the customs of Augustinian and Premonstratensian canons. On 18 Sep 1538 Brothertoft was surrendered by Robert Holgate, chaplain to Cromell, with Roger the Prior (Prior of 1538) and 16 canons as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.
owned Brothertoft, which was left to his cousin Robert Carre. Robert Carre, cousin to Robert Carre, lived at the old Carre House at Sleaford. He died in 1590.
Sir Edward Carre, 1st Baronet of Sleaford, was the owner in 1614 at which time his Brothertoft tenants were charged with the diking of part of South Ea as commoners in Holland fen. Edward was married twice and had three issue from his second marriage to Anne Dyer: Rochester, Sir Robert and Lucy. He resided at old Hall at Dunsby and died in 1618. Sir Robert Carr, son of Edward and 2nd Baronet of Sleaford, and Lady Ann Carr were owners of Brothertoft in 1619. Lady Ann was likely Robert's mother, Ann Dyer Carre.
Lucy Carre, daughter of Sir Robert Carre (died in 1667) and "the Lady Mary Carre, daughter of Sir Richard Gargrave, married Sir Francis Holles (1627–89), later 2nd Lord of Holles (also spelled Hollis) in Westminster Abbey. Following Robert Carre's death, Francis Holles successfully secured for Lucy a good portion of Robert Carre's estates, although Brothertoft is not specifically named.
, was initially the heir of Francis but died within two years of his father, and the land passed to his cousin John Holles, first Duke of Newcastle. Upon his death in 1711, much of his estate passed to his nephew, Thomas Pelham-Holles, who also became Duke of Newcastle.
owned the land after the Duke of Newcastle. His name became Sampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley when he obtained his baronetcy in 1789.
What is unclear is whether Sampson Eardley obtained the land directing from the first Duke of Newcastle, John Holles or through his nephew, Thomas Pelham-Holles. Marrat, author of the History of Lincolnshire seems to indicate that there was just one "Duke of Newcastle" owner.
. Frederick disposed of it or sold it to John Cartwright, Esquire. The timing of the sale of land from Frederick to Cartwright is unclear. Charles Frederick died in 1785. According to the New Monthly Magazine, Cartwright did not purchase the land until 1788.
, the political reformer. He sold his estate at Marnham, Nottinghamshire
soon after and by the time he leased the estate and moved to Enfield
, Middlesex
in 1803 or 1805 had developed the rich loam
soil into a profitable site for the cultivation of woad, assisted by new machinery of his own invention. He began addressing his letters as being from Brothertoft Farm.
At this time there was a building called Brothertoft Hall or Brothertoft house, to which the farm was an ancillary. Cartwright had extended Brothertoft house with octagonal additions to both ends and had also applied a stucco
finish to the walls. Marrat described it as "an elegant mansion". He claims that it was originally built by Thomas Saul, founder of the Baptist
chapel in Boston. Pishey Thompson believed the founder of the Boston chapel to be John Saul.
Brothertoft Farm was extended in the early 19th century by Thomas Gee, a son of Henry Gee, a banker of Boston.
Marrat recounted in 1814 that Cartwright had sold off much of the land as separate farms, that the holding had consisted of around 880 acres (356.1 ha) and that the principal owners then had been Gee, T C Gerordot, C Dashwood, G Beedham and John Burrell. Cartwright had married the eldest daughter of Samuel Dashwood in 1780. The lands had a rateable value of £790 4s. 0d. in 1831-1832, with the "extra-parochial Pelham's Lands
" being valued at £518 7s. 7d. (Pelham's Lands was near Fosdyke
and by the 1870s comprised seven houses and a population of 54). At this time the area was a part of the Kirton Hundred or Wapentake, which itself had a total rateable value of £51,469 15s. 8d. By the mid-1850s there were 123 inhabitants and the lands consisted of 900 acres (364.2 ha), with the principal owners being Gee, Herbert Ingram, Henry Rogers, George Cartwright and Mrs Barnsdale. A Mary Beedham, only child of George Beedham, had married a Mr Barnsdale of Brothertoft at Boston around June 1811.
Thomas Gee died in 1871, leaving his wife, Ann Leman Gee, as occupant of the Hall until her death in 1878. They are both buried at Brothertoft. Thomas : Gee of Brothertoft
Born : March : 26 : 1788
Died : Sept : 6 : 1871
Anne : Gee: his : wife
1797 the : daughter : of : the
R.e.v : Naunton : Thomas : Orgill : Leman
of : Brampton : Hall : Suffolk
died : May; 27 : 1878 : aged : 81 : years
The Hall was subsequently occupied in turn by Frederick Curtois, Charles James Small, Henry Peart, and Ebenezer Larrington, It is still occupied today. Brothertoft Hall, built around 1780 and substantially extended about 1850, is now a Grade II listed building.
, was a part of the chapelry
of Kirton
around 1837 and was owned by the lord of the manor
, it being at that time a chapel of ease
.
History
The Lincoln Diocesan Record Office holds registers baptisms, marriage and burials for the church going back to 1682.
Marrat was of the opinion that the building was not particularly old, being built of brick and roofed with flat tiles, and that the Saxon window arches were the exception and perhaps indicated an earlier use for the building. He noted that the oldest register was from 1757. However, he subsequently amended his writings on the basis of new information which indicated a construction date around 1600 using materials from a chapel at Coningsby
. Lewin also noted that he had seen registers, or perhaps copies of them, for as far back as 1682.
A former monk of Bardney
, Otto Buttolle, was curate
of Brothertoft in 1554, long before the surviving church records and when the living had an annual stipend of £3 6s. 8d. (He also had an annual pension of £5 under the terms agreed following the dissolution of the monasteries). William Scoffin
was curate from around 1683 until his ejection as a consequence of the Bartholomew Act in August 1686. He went on to minister a presbyterian congregation in Sleaford
. A later holder of the living
was William Tyler, rector
and stepfather to Ann Chappell. Chappell married the navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders
in April 1801.
The church was dedicated as a parish church in 1922. Five years later, in 1927 parts of the parishes of Holland Fen, Boston, Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, Swineshead, Wigtoft, and extra-parochial land were transferred to the benefice
of Brothertoft.
Buildings
Stephen Lewin described the church in 1843 as
Rebuilt between 1847 and 1854 to a design by Lewin, the church is a Grade II listed building and has a small bell tower
.
In 1922, when St. Gilberts was dedicated as a parish church, the building of the rectory house was completed.
School opened on the North Forty Foot Bank
, and children were schooled there until it closed in December 1969.
The Misses Gee, sisters of Thomas Gee, opened the Boston Middle Girls School in Boston, which became the Conway School and is now the Excell International School
.
The above table contents are based on official census data and are not comparable to the figures referred to earlier in the text. The Civil Parish gained a part of Fosdyke in 1880, parts of Frampton
, Kirton and Wyberton
in 1906, and parts of Boston and Langriville
in 1932.
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
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, about 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of the town of Boston
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
. It is part of the civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
of Holland Fen with Brothertoft
Holland Fen with Brothertoft
Holland Fen with Brothertoft is a civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, consisting, as the name indicates, of Holland Fen and Brothertoft, but also includes the areas known as Pelhams Land and Harts Ground....
.
History
Evidence has been found that the area now known as Brothertoft was known to 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...
people. The site of a possible building was uncovered at Cannons Farm in Punchbowl Lane between 1957 and 1959. A denarius
Denarius
In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...
of Septimus Severus was found along with pottery, potsherds, animal bones, ditches and hollows. A roman vase was dug up about 1970 at a separate site in Brothertoft by Mr Epton.
The hamlet is first recorded some time after 1350 and before 1540. Brothertoft hamlet is mentioned in the Diocesan Return of 1563 (Deanery of Holland, parish of Kirton,) as having ten households. William Marrat, a local historian writing in 1814, noted that the traditional belief for the origins of the village name lay in a grant being awarded to two brothers in order that they could "inclose" (that is, separate and cultivate) the area from the surrounding fenland
Fenland
Fenland is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England. Its council is based in March, and covers the neighbouring market towns of Chatteris, Whittlesey, and Wisbech, often called the "capital of the fens"...
. The word toft is thought to come from the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
occupiers of Lincolnshire in ancient times and has the meaning of homestead or enclosure. Hence the place name of Brother-Toft. In an addendum Marrat wrote that the place had been a vaccaria (or vaccary - literally, a cow shed) of the abbey at Swineshead
Swineshead, Lincolnshire
Not to be confused with Swineshead, BedfordshireSwineshead is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, around miles west of the town of Boston...
and had once been called Toft because of it relatively raised position above the fens. There are records of receipts which were probably from the area in the Swineshead entries of the Valor Ecclesiasticus
Valor Ecclesiasticus
The Valor Ecclesiasticus was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII....
. These are not definitive as another historian of the period, Pishey Thompson, pointed out that Toft was used as a name both for Brothertoft and Fishtoft
Fishtoft
Fishtoft is one of eighteen parishes which, together with Boston, form the Borough of Boston in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Local government has been arranged in this way since the reorganization of 1 April 1974, which resulted from the Local Government Act 1972...
in the late fourteenth century. The raised position did not exclude the area from flooding and, for example, in 1763 the villagers were forced to live in the upper stories of buildings due to the amount of water ingress.
Sempringham Priory
In medieval times the land in and around Brothertoft was worked by the Sempringham PriorySempringham Priory
Sempringham Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, located in the medieval hamlet of Sempringham, to the northwest of Pointon. Today, all that remains of the priory is a marking on the ground where the walls stood and a square, which are identifiable only in aerial photos of the vicinity...
. The Order of Sempringham originated in 1131. About that time Gilbert of Sempringham became the rector of the church of Sempringam. He then instituted the rule of St. Augustine and many statutes from the customs of Augustinian and Premonstratensian canons. On 18 Sep 1538 Brothertoft was surrendered by Robert Holgate, chaplain to Cromell, with Roger the Prior (Prior of 1538) and 16 canons as part of the dissolution of the monasteries.
Carre family of Sleaford
By 1553 Robert Carre (sometimes spelled Carr) of 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...
owned Brothertoft, which was left to his cousin Robert Carre. Robert Carre, cousin to Robert Carre, lived at the old Carre House at Sleaford. He died in 1590.
Sir Edward Carre, 1st Baronet of Sleaford, was the owner in 1614 at which time his Brothertoft tenants were charged with the diking of part of South Ea as commoners in Holland fen. Edward was married twice and had three issue from his second marriage to Anne Dyer: Rochester, Sir Robert and Lucy. He resided at old Hall at Dunsby and died in 1618. Sir Robert Carr, son of Edward and 2nd Baronet of Sleaford, and Lady Ann Carr were owners of Brothertoft in 1619. Lady Ann was likely Robert's mother, Ann Dyer Carre.
Lucy Carre, daughter of Sir Robert Carre (died in 1667) and "the Lady Mary Carre, daughter of Sir Richard Gargrave, married Sir Francis Holles (1627–89), later 2nd Lord of Holles (also spelled Hollis) in Westminster Abbey. Following Robert Carre's death, Francis Holles successfully secured for Lucy a good portion of Robert Carre's estates, although Brothertoft is not specifically named.
Holles family
The son of Francis Holles, DenzilDenzil Holles, 3rd Baron Holles
Denzil Holles, 3rd Baron Holles was an English statesman, son of Francis Holles, 2nd Baron Holles, and grandson of Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles .Denzil was the final Baron Holles, the estates devolving on John Holles , 4th Earl of Clare and...
, was initially the heir of Francis but died within two years of his father, and the land passed to his cousin John Holles, first Duke of Newcastle. Upon his death in 1711, much of his estate passed to his nephew, Thomas Pelham-Holles, who also became Duke of Newcastle.
Sampson Eardley
Sampson GideonSampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley
Sampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley , known as Sampson Gideon until 1789, was the son of another Sampson Gideon , a Jewish banker in the City of London who advised the British government in the 1740s and 1750s.He served as Member of Parliament for Cambridgeshire from 1770 to 1780, Midhurst from 1780...
owned the land after the Duke of Newcastle. His name became Sampson Eardley, 1st Baron Eardley when he obtained his baronetcy in 1789.
What is unclear is whether Sampson Eardley obtained the land directing from the first Duke of Newcastle, John Holles or through his nephew, Thomas Pelham-Holles. Marrat, author of the History of Lincolnshire seems to indicate that there was just one "Duke of Newcastle" owner.
Charles Frederick
Brothertoft was next owned by Sir Charles FrederickCharles Frederick
Sir Charles Frederick KB was a British Member of Parliament.He was a younger son of Sir Thomas Frederick, sometime Governor of Fort St David, and a younger brother of Sir John Frederick, 4th Baronet....
. Frederick disposed of it or sold it to John Cartwright, Esquire. The timing of the sale of land from Frederick to Cartwright is unclear. Charles Frederick died in 1785. According to the New Monthly Magazine, Cartwright did not purchase the land until 1788.
Holland Fen riot
Prior to Frederick, the fenland often flooded to the point where boats had to be used for transport, and it was during his time at Brothertoft that drainage, and then enclosure began. Around 1768 the inhabitants of Brothertoft, who occupied 52 houses in the hamlet, were "most active" in rioting as a protest against the enclosure of Holland Fen. They regarded this land as being for their pleasure and sustenance, and in particular as a location for fishing and fowling. Aside from general rioting and the removal of recently erected fencing, up to 200 people also played football on the land in an attempt to assert their historic rights, forcing Frederick to send men to guard the area. The situation led to serious injury and deaths, including the loss of an eye by a Captain Wilks who had been employed by Frederick to command the guard and who was shot. This common land had also traditionally been the scene of an annual fair, called the Toft drift, lasting a week from 8 July and attracting visitors from nearby villages and from Boston.The Hall
In 1788 the land was bought by Major John CartwrightJohn Cartwright (political reformer)
John Cartwright was an English naval officer, Nottinghamshire militia major and prominent campaigner for parliamentary reform. He subsequently became known as the Father of Reform...
, the political reformer. He sold his estate at Marnham, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
soon after and by the time he leased the estate and moved to Enfield
Enfield Town
Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
in 1803 or 1805 had developed the rich loam
Loam
Loam is soil composed of sand, silt, and clay in relatively even concentration . Loam soils generally contain more nutrients and humus than sandy soils, have better infiltration and drainage than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils...
soil into a profitable site for the cultivation of woad, assisted by new machinery of his own invention. He began addressing his letters as being from Brothertoft Farm.
At this time there was a building called Brothertoft Hall or Brothertoft house, to which the farm was an ancillary. Cartwright had extended Brothertoft house with octagonal additions to both ends and had also applied a stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
finish to the walls. Marrat described it as "an elegant mansion". He claims that it was originally built by Thomas Saul, founder of the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
chapel in Boston. Pishey Thompson believed the founder of the Boston chapel to be John Saul.
Brothertoft Farm was extended in the early 19th century by Thomas Gee, a son of Henry Gee, a banker of Boston.
Marrat recounted in 1814 that Cartwright had sold off much of the land as separate farms, that the holding had consisted of around 880 acres (356.1 ha) and that the principal owners then had been Gee, T C Gerordot, C Dashwood, G Beedham and John Burrell. Cartwright had married the eldest daughter of Samuel Dashwood in 1780. The lands had a rateable value of £790 4s. 0d. in 1831-1832, with the "extra-parochial Pelham's Lands
Pelhams Land
Pelhams Lands or Pelhams Land today forms part of the parish of Holland Fen with Brothertoft and is located about north west of the town of Boston, Lincolnshire....
" being valued at £518 7s. 7d. (Pelham's Lands was near Fosdyke
Fosdyke
Fosdyke is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England. It lies about south of Boston just off the A17, and east from the junction of the A17 with the A16. The village is near the mouth of the River Welland, and the parish extends across the river to include both ends of the hamlet of...
and by the 1870s comprised seven houses and a population of 54). At this time the area was a part of the Kirton Hundred or Wapentake, which itself had a total rateable value of £51,469 15s. 8d. By the mid-1850s there were 123 inhabitants and the lands consisted of 900 acres (364.2 ha), with the principal owners being Gee, Herbert Ingram, Henry Rogers, George Cartwright and Mrs Barnsdale. A Mary Beedham, only child of George Beedham, had married a Mr Barnsdale of Brothertoft at Boston around June 1811.
Thomas Gee died in 1871, leaving his wife, Ann Leman Gee, as occupant of the Hall until her death in 1878. They are both buried at Brothertoft. Thomas : Gee of Brothertoft
Born : March : 26 : 1788
Died : Sept : 6 : 1871
Anne : Gee: his : wife
1797 the : daughter : of : the
R.e.v : Naunton : Thomas : Orgill : Leman
of : Brampton : Hall : Suffolk
died : May; 27 : 1878 : aged : 81 : years
The Hall was subsequently occupied in turn by Frederick Curtois, Charles James Small, Henry Peart, and Ebenezer Larrington, It is still occupied today. Brothertoft Hall, built around 1780 and substantially extended about 1850, is now a Grade II listed building.
The church
The church, which is dedicated to St. Gilbert of SempringhamGilbert of Sempringham
Saint Gilbert of Sempringham became the only Englishman to found a conventual order, mainly because the abbot of Cîteaux declined his request to assist him in helping a group of women living with lay brothers and sisters, in 1148...
, was a part of the chapelry
Chapelry
A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England, and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel which acted as a subsidiary place of worship to the main parish church...
of Kirton
Kirton, Lincolnshire
Kirton, or Kirton in Holland is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Boston, in Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Kirton is on the A16, B1397 and B1192 south of Boston, near Frampton and Sutterton. Several satellite villages and hamlets take their name from Kirton, including Kirton...
around 1837 and was owned by the lord of the manor
Lord of the Manor
The Lordship of a Manor is recognised today in England and Wales as a form of property and one of three elements of a manor that may exist separately or be combined and may be held in moieties...
, it being at that time a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
.
History
The Lincoln Diocesan Record Office holds registers baptisms, marriage and burials for the church going back to 1682.
Marrat was of the opinion that the building was not particularly old, being built of brick and roofed with flat tiles, and that the Saxon window arches were the exception and perhaps indicated an earlier use for the building. He noted that the oldest register was from 1757. However, he subsequently amended his writings on the basis of new information which indicated a construction date around 1600 using materials from a chapel at Coningsby
Coningsby
Coningsby is a village in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-Geography:Taking its name from the Old Norse 'konungr' meaning 'King' with an Old Norse suffix 'by' meaning 'the settlement of' which gives Coningsby the meaning 'The Settlement of the King'...
. Lewin also noted that he had seen registers, or perhaps copies of them, for as far back as 1682.
A former monk of Bardney
Bardney
Bardney is a village and Civil Parish east of Lincoln, sitting on the north side of the River Witham in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.-The village:...
, Otto Buttolle, was curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
of Brothertoft in 1554, long before the surviving church records and when the living had an annual stipend of £3 6s. 8d. (He also had an annual pension of £5 under the terms agreed following the dissolution of the monasteries). William Scoffin
William Scoffin
William Scoffin was an English Presbyterian minister. He was ejected by the Bartholomew Act from Brothertoft. He later became pastor of a congregation of Dissenters at Sleaford, where he continued to preach for more than forty years...
was curate from around 1683 until his ejection as a consequence of the Bartholomew Act in August 1686. He went on to minister a presbyterian congregation in Sleaford
Sleaford
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...
. A later holder of the living
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
was William Tyler, rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
and stepfather to Ann Chappell. Chappell married the navigator and cartographer Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
in April 1801.
The church was dedicated as a parish church in 1922. Five years later, in 1927 parts of the parishes of Holland Fen, Boston, Wyberton, Frampton, Kirton, Swineshead, Wigtoft, and extra-parochial land were transferred to the benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
of Brothertoft.
Buildings
Stephen Lewin described the church in 1843 as
Rebuilt between 1847 and 1854 to a design by Lewin, the church is a Grade II listed building and has a small bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
.
In 1922, when St. Gilberts was dedicated as a parish church, the building of the rectory house was completed.
School
Some form of provision for education existed in the mid-1700s as this is when an "obscure poet", William Hall, was taught in Brothertoft for a period of six months. Thomas Gee erected a school at Brothertoft in 1856. In 1879 the North East Holland Fen United District School Board was formed, and on 4 April 1881 the newly-built Hedgehog BridgeNorth Forty Foot Bank
The North Forty Foot Bank is a settlement which runs about six miles alongside the North Forty Foot Drain, about five to nine miles north west of Boston Lincolnshire, England. It begins just below the parish of Chapel Hill and runs along the drain to Toft Tunnel, just north of Hubberts Bridge...
School opened on the North Forty Foot Bank
North Forty Foot Bank
The North Forty Foot Bank is a settlement which runs about six miles alongside the North Forty Foot Drain, about five to nine miles north west of Boston Lincolnshire, England. It begins just below the parish of Chapel Hill and runs along the drain to Toft Tunnel, just north of Hubberts Bridge...
, and children were schooled there until it closed in December 1969.
The Misses Gee, sisters of Thomas Gee, opened the Boston Middle Girls School in Boston, which became the Conway School and is now the Excell International School
Excell International School
Excell International School was a small independent, co-educational, day and boarding school located in Boston, Lincolnshire, England for children aged between 3 and 18. An amalgamation of two previous schools, Conway School and Maypole House School...
.
Brothertoft Group
The parish church is now part of the Church of England "Brothertoft Group" in the Diocese of Lincoln, known as the "Five in the Fen" that also includes:- All Saints at Holland FenHolland FenHolland Fen is a settlement about north-west of the town of Boston, Lincolnshire, England.-History:Holland Fen has been known as the Haute Huntre, or Eight Hundred Fen....
- Christ Church at Kirton HolmeKirton HolmeKirton Holme is a small village within the Kirton Civil Parish, located about west of the town of Boston, Lincolnshire, England.Kirton Holme church, called Christ Church, is today part of the "Brothertoft Group" also known as "Five in the Fen", which also includes:* Saint Gilbert of Sempringham,...
- St Peter at WildmoreWildmoreWildmore is a civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, located about north west of the town of Boston and about south of Horncastle....
- St Margaret of Scotland at LangrickLangrick-External links:*...
Baptist
There were prayer meetings being held by a group of Baptists in Brothertoft in 1813. These people raised a subscription for a Mission in India.Demographics
| Population of Brothertoft Civil Parish Civil parish In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties... , 1871–1961 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1871 | 1881 | 1891 | 1901 | 1911 | 1921 | 1931 | 1951 | 1961 |
| Population | 293 | 253 | 235 | 226 | 408 | 405 | 396 | 479 | 407 |
| Area (acres) | - | 1,805 | 1,835 | 1,835 | 2,194 | 2,194 | 2,194 | 3,826 | 3,826 |
| Houses | - | 54 | 51 | 49 | - | 93 | 102 | 144 | 133 |
The above table contents are based on official census data and are not comparable to the figures referred to earlier in the text. The Civil Parish gained a part of Fosdyke in 1880, parts of Frampton
Frampton, Lincolnshire
Frampton is a village in Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated just to the south of the town of Boston and to the east of the A16, which runs along the townlands...
, Kirton and Wyberton
Wyberton
Wyberton is a village in Lincolnshire, England. It is just south-west of Boston, and runs into it along the B1397 between Boston and Kirton. The A16 along the former East Lincolnshire railway bisecting the village in two....
in 1906, and parts of Boston and Langriville
Langriville
Langriville is a civil parish in Lincolnshire, England, about north west of the town of Boston on the B1192, and on the banks of the River Witham.-History:...
in 1932.