Threekingham is a village in mid-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...

, on the A52 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...

 to 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...

 road, near 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...

, close to the A15 Threekingham Bar

Threekingham Bar

Threekingham Bar is the name given to interception of the A52 and A15 roads to the west of the village of Threekingham, in Lincolnshire, England...

 roundabout. Mareham Lane

Mareham Lane

Mareham Lane is an unclassified road between Graby and Sleaford in Lincolnshire, England.-The Roman Road:For most of its length Mareham Lane follows the route of a minor Roman road, and the name is also used for that Roman road from Bourne to the original ford at Sleaford and perhaps on to Lincoln...

, the Roman Road

Roman roads in Britain

Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the vast standing Roman army , constituted the three most impressive features of the Roman Empire. In Britain, as in other provinces, the Romans constructed a comprehensive network of paved trunk roads Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the...

 aligned with 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...

, crosses the A15 at Threekingham.

History

Dominated by the Church of England parish church

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 of St. Peter ad Vincula

St. Peter ad Vincula

-Biblical story:*Liberation of Saint Peter - Acts tells how the Apostle Peter was imprisoned by King Herod, but the night before his trial an angel appeared to him and led him out of prison.-Festival:...

 ("St Peter in chains"), the village of Threekingham lies seven miles south of Sleaford.

Folklore suggests that the village was originally called Laundon, but this was changed after the bloody battle fought near Threekingham, in either 869

869

Year 869 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* May 26 – An earthquake and tsunami devastate a large part of the Sanriku coast near Sendai, Japan....

 or 870

870

Year 870 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Prague Castle is founded....

, between the Saxons (led by the earls Algar, Morcar and Leofric

Leofric, Earl of Mercia

Leofric was the Earl of Mercia and founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock. Leofric is remembered as the husband of Lady Godiva.-Life and political influence:...

) and the invading Danes (during which three Danish kings and many of their followers were slain). What is more likely, however, is that the original settlement or ham was created more than 1300 years ago when the Saxon

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

 'Trincinghas' tribe came to the area near to the crossroads of the Roman road (Mareham Lane) which was built as an offshoot of the 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,...

 to help defend the Car Dyke

Car Dyke

The Car Dyke was, and to large extent still is, an eighty-five mile long ditch which runs along the western edge of the Fens in eastern England. It is generally accepted as being of Roman age and, for many centuries, to have been taken as marking the western edge of the Fens...

 (6 km to the east of the village), and the more ancient Salters Way that joined the salt pans at Droitwich in the West Midlands

West Midlands (region)

The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...

 to the Wash

The Wash

The Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom...

. The village pub is coincidentally called the Three Kings Inn

The Medieval Stow Fair

Stow Fair, Lincolnshire

Stow Fair was a medieval fair inaugurated in 1233. Permission was granted in 1268 to the Prior of Sempringham for a fair here, confirming the earlier charter. This fair is known to have been held on 23 June each year, but it seems likely that the earlier fairs were held on the same day, which is...

 was held nearby. It is possible that it was the site of the Early medieval nunnery, founded in the late 7th century by Saint Werburh and dedicated to Saint Æthelthryth

Æthelthryth

Æthelthryth is the proper name for the popular Anglo-Saxon saint often known, particularly in a religious context, as Etheldreda or by the pet form of Audrey...

, probably destroyed by the Danes circa 870.

There are ancient earthworks and a mound called Threekingham Beacon to the west of the village. The Post-medieval garden features overlie much older earthworks and tumuli. The remains of a moated manor are in Hall Lane.

There is a Whalebone Arch marking the entrance to Laundon Hall.