Donington
- A Cemetery was set aside by the parish council in 1900.
- The parish was in the Donington sub-district of the Spalding Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1841 |
H.O. 107 / 606 |
| 1851 |
H.O. 107 / 2096 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2321 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3319 |
| 1881 |
R.G. 11 / 3201 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2560 |
- The Anglican church is dedicated to St. Mary and the Holy Rood.
- The church is from the 13th century.
- The churchyard was enlarged in 1865.
- The church seats 743.
- There is a photograph of St. Mary and the Holy Rood Church on the Wendy Parkinson Church Photos web site.
- Here are two photographs of Saint Mary's Church, taken by Ron Cole (who retains the copyright):
- There are more photographs in and around the church at the Sheila W-Bruce web site.
- The Anglican church parish registers exist from 1642.
- The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Holland West Deanery.
- The parish boasted chapels for Particular Baptists and for Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Donington sub-district of the Spalding Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
Donington (sometimes "Donnington") is both a village, a market town and a parish. It lies 110 miles north of London, 10 miles north of Spalding and 10 miles to the southwest of Boston. The parish is bounded on the north by Bicker parish and on the south by Quadring parish. The parish covers over 5,800 acres and includes the hamlet of Northorpe. The area is flat fenland, drained by many small canals.
The nearby "Forty Foot Drain" used to be an important route for barge trade to Boston.
The village lies just off the A52 trunk road. If you are planning a visit:
- Market Day used to be held on Saturday and there were agricultural fairs held on May 25th and October 17th.
- Wikes Farm used to be the only Heronry in this part of England. The Herons would arrive in February and depart in September.
- The most famous son of Donington was Capt. Matthew Flinders (1775 - 1814). Born in Donington, he died in London. He was the driving force behind getting the name Australia adopted for what was then known as New Holland.
- A police station was erected here in 1859. In 1911, inspector John William MOORE ran the station along with one other officer.
- Park House, the seat of Richard GLEAD in 1911, is the stone manor house of Donington.
- The national grid reference is TF 2035.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer 249 map, which has a scale of 2.5 inches to the mile.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- The name Donington is from the Old English duning+tun, or "Estate of Dunna". In the 1086 Domesday book, the village is given as Duninctune.
[A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]
- Locals refer to the village as "Donny".
Chris Wilshaw provides this list of surnames from christenings found in the 1730 parish register:
- HALL
- WRIGHT
- BROUGHTON
- ATKINSON
- BATES
- BROWN
- POUNDER?
- The parish was funded for an almshouse, founded by Thomas COWLEY in 1701, but it was never built. The trustees of the money provided weekly stipends to each of sixteen old men and women.
- Six boys were put out to apprentice at age 14 each year. At the expiration of their servitude, each was presented with a gratuity of £8.
- As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Spalding Poor Law Union.
- In 1911, a fund set up by Enoch MILLSON produced an income of £350 per year. This money was distributed to the poor in the form of coal, food and pensions.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
1,321 |
| 1831 |
1,759 |
| 1851 |
1,867 |
| 1871 |
1,753 |
| 1891 |
1,547 |
| 1911 |
1,564 |
- The parish contained a Charity School, founded by Thomas COWLEY in 1701.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
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[Last updated: 14-August-2012 - Louis R. Mills]
