Swineshead in 1839
Swineshead, is in the wapentake of Kirton, in the parts of Holland, 113 miles from London, and 7 from Boston. There was formerly a Cistercian abbey here, founded A.D. 1134, by Robert de Greslei ; the yearly revenues at the dissolution were £175, 19 shillings and 10 pence gross, or £167, 15 shillings and 3 pence clear. Leland reduces them to £80. In this monastery King John appears to have rested after his escape with his life in crossing the Wash, where he lost his baggage. His death, which occurred at Newark shortly after, was by some ascribed to poison administered by a monk of Swineshead. The parish comprehends 6,100 acres, and had in 1831 a population of 1,994, about half agricultural. Swineshead was formerly a port, and the sea flowed up to the market-place, where there was a harbour. The market is on Thursday, but it is almost disused. The church is a handsome spacious building with a lofty spire. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Lincoln, of the clear yearly value of £240. There were in the parish in 1833 an endowed day-school with 90 scholars ; six other day-schools with 154 scholars ; and one Sunday-school with 75 children. There is in the town a circular Danish encampment, sixty yards in diameter, surrounded by a double fosse. |