Wilsthorpe is a village in the district of South Kesteven

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:...

 in the county 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, about 6 miles (9.7 km) north-east of the town of Stamford

Stamford, Lincolnshire

Stamford is a town and civil parish within the South Kesteven district of the county of Lincolnshire, England. It is approximately to the north of London, on the east side of the A1 road to York and Edinburgh and on the River Welland...

 and about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the town of Bourne

Bourne, Lincolnshire

Bourne is a market town and civil parish on the western edge of the Fens, in the District of South Kesteven in southern Lincolnshire, England.-The town:...

.

Originally a 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...

 in Greatford

Greatford

Greatford is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies west of the A15, north-east of Stamford, and south of Bourne...

 parish, Wilsthorpe was created a 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...

 in 1866 and lasted until 1931 when it was abolished to create the civil parish of Braceborough and Wilsthorpe

Braceborough and Wilsthorpe

Braceborough and Wilsthorpe is a civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 268. The parish covers Braceborough and Wilsthorpe....

.

Wilsthorpe is mentioned in Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086 when it was listed as having 20 households, 40 acres of meadow, 12 acres of woodland, and two mills.

A possible Roman villa

Roman villa

A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...

 has been located as cropmarks to the south-east of the village, and King Street is a 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...

.

The church is a grade II* listed building dedicated to Saint Faith. Built in 1715, it was restored and altered by James Fowler

James Fowler (architect)

James Fowler JP, FRIBA, known as “Fowler of Louth”, was an English ecclesiastical architect of the Victorian Age chiefly associated with the restoration and renovation of churches....

 of Louth in 1869. In the sanctuary is a late 13th century effigy of a knight in chain mail; it
has been suggested that it could belong to the Wake family. Hereward the Wake

Hereward the Wake

Hereward the Wake , known in his own times as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile, was an 11th-century leader of local resistance to the Norman conquest of England....

 was an Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 who led resistance to the Norman Conquest, and was born in or near Bourne.

To the west of the village is the former railway station of Braceborough Spa Halt which was on the Essendine and Bourne Railway line. It opened in 1860 and closed in 1951. The old station house is now a private house.

Nearby is the pumping station house from the old Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

 Waterworks with its 52 ft deep artesian well drilled during the late 19th century when it provided a million gallons of water each day to supply the cathedral city 14 miles (22.5 km) away.