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West Allington

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Archives & Libraries

The Library at Newark will prove useful in your research.

The Library at Grantham would be second on my list for libraries.

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Bibliography

  • PASK, Brenda, "Allington: the story of a Linconshire village,", 1990, Ingelow Press Ltd., Boston, Lincolnshire, 48 pages, ISBN 09516-8880-4. A copy is at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
     
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Census

  • The parish was in the Bennington sub-district of the Newark Registration District.
     
  • Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1841H.O. 107 / 614
1861R.G. 9 / 2481
1871R.G. 10 / 3544
1881R.G. 11 / 3378
1891R.G. 12 / 2715
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Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and stands near Allington Hall. It is of Norman origin.
     
  • Holy Trinity Church is a Grade II listed building with British Heritage.
     
  • The Anglican parish church in East Allington is dedicated to Saint James and was built before 1550. It was fully restored in 1855. For at least a century it operated as a chapel of ease under Sedgebrook parish. This church was demolished shortly after the two villages were united. The graveyard still exists and a cross marks the site of the old church altar.
     
  • Here is a photograph of the Old St. James site and the old churchyard burial yard supplied by Yvonne PARKER (who retains the copyright):
     
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  • There is a photograph of Holy Trinity Church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
     
  • Here is a photograph of Holy Trinity Church supplied by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
     
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Church Records

  • Parish registers for both churches exist from 1559, but many East Allington baptisms and marriages appear in the Sedgebrook parish register.
     
  • The LFHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Grantham Deanery to make your search easier.
     
  • Both parishes have their marriages recorded in Boyd's Marriage Index covering 1651 - 1812 and Pallot's marriage Index for 1790 - 1812.
     
  • The NE Lincolnshire Library has "Phillimore Lincolnshire Parish Registers, Marriages", Volume 2, containing West Allington, 1559 - 1812.
     
  • Parish registers are on file at the Society of Genealogists, covering 1559 - 1812 for both parishes.
     
  • We have a partial parish register extract. Your additions to this are welcome.
     
  • Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
     
  • The Primitive Methodists had a small chapel here in East Allington, built in 1858. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
     
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Civil Registration

  • The parish was in the Bennington sub-district of the Newark Registration District.
     
  • Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.
     
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Description & Travel

Allington is one of those odd birds in the parish tree. The civil parish of Allington includes the two eclessiastical parishes of East Allington and West Allington. In ancient times, West Allington was an eclessiastical parish and East Allington was a chapelry (chapel of ease) of nearby Sedgebrook parish. There were two separate villages. East Allington was separated from the parish of Sedgebrook on 18 October 1872 and united with West Allington.

To further confuse things, East Allington is south and slightly west of West Allington. East Allington is north of Sedgebrook parish and West Allington is south of Long Bennington and Foston parishes. West of East Allington is Bottesford in Leicestershire. The two eclessiastical parishes cover about 2,100 acres of land.

The united village of Allington lies mostly in West Allington and partly in East Allington parish. It sits 4.5 miles north-west of Grantham and ten miles south-east from Newark. A little to the south of the village is an ancient Chalybeate spring called Saltwell. If you plan to visit:

  • The village has a web site with photographs and local information.
     
  • Take either the A52 trunk road west out of Grantham and turn north at Sedgebrook or take the A1 trunk road north as it passes Grantham and turn south at Foston.
     
  • Visit our touring page for more sources.
     
You can see pictures of West Allington which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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History

  • The two parishes held a joint feast on Old Michaelmas Day.
     
  • Sewstern Lane is an old drove road (cattle or sheep driving) from ancient times. It is now Longmoor Lane through the villages of Sedgebrook and Allington and meets the A1 at Foston. It is likely that the drove road originally took a more westerly route.
     
  • And check the Loveden Org website for local history.
     
  • In 1842, there are two public houses mentioned: the Plough and the Spread Eagle. They are not listed in 1868 or 1872. The Spread Eagle became the Welby Arms.
     
  • The Welby Arms Public House in East Allington first appears in 1868 and was the unofficial "community centre" of the parish. Here are the names of the operators extracted from various directories:
     
Year Person
1868 William NEALE
1872 William NEALE, farmer
1882 James TAYLOR, vict.
1913 Fdk. Wm. MUXLOW
1930 Fdk. Wm. MUXLOW
  • Timothy HEATON has a photograph of The Welby Arms on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2019.
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Land & Property

  • In 1871, the principal landowner was John Earle WELBY, owner of two-thirds of the land. The remainder was in the hands of the HOYES and other families.
     
  • In 1913, the principal landowner was Mrs. WELBY.
     
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Manors

  • Allington Hall  was a handsome stone mansion, residence of John Earle WELBY in 1871. The Hall had been built in 1660. There is a farm house in the village that is said to be the original ancient manor house.
     
  • Allington Hall  is now a hotel.
     
  • J. THOMAS has a photo of the Hall on Geo-graph taken in May, 2012.
     
  • Alan REID also has a photograph of Allington Manor on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2018.
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Maps

  • See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK857404 (Lat/Lon: 52.953757, -0.72587), West Allington which are provided by:

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Military History

  • There is what appears to be a War Memorial on the small village green. Tony and Maureen KEMP have a photograph of the Village Green on geo-graph, taken in May, 2005. This is actually a Village Cross, but is sometimes decorated to celebrate military veterans' events.
     
  • The residents of Allington consider themselves a "Doubly Thankful Village". During the two world wars, 32 Allington residents served in the armed forces. Remarkably all returned home.
     
  • During World War II Welby Hall was used as a military hospital.
     
  • World War II also saw Allington Hall used as a POW camp, first for captured Germans and later for Italian prisoners.
     
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Names, Geographical

  • Allington is a common name across England. The name derives from the Old English aetheling+tun, meaning "farmstead of the princes". It was rendered as Adelinctune in the 1086 Domesday Book.
    [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]
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Names, Personal

  • These surnames were taken from the 1872 White's Directory: AUCKLAND, BROUGHTON, BUTTERS, BUTTRESS, CAUNT, CLAY, EMINSON, FRENCH, HANDLEY, HARRISON, HOYES, MUXLOW, LOVITT, NEALE, SCRIMSHAW, SCRIMSHIRE, STOWKES, WELBY and WINTER.
     
  • These surnames were taken from the 1913 Kelly's Directory: AUCKLAND, BRIGGS, BURTON, BUTTERS, CRAGG, DOUBLEDAY, GOLDSMITH, HANDLEY, HARDY, IRWIN, KENWORTH, MUXLOW, NAYLOR, NOBES, PARTRIDGE, PIDD, SELBY, VOCE, WELBY, WILKINSON and WING.
     
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Politics & Government

  • East Allington was an ancient Chapelry in Lincoln county.
     
  • West Allington was an ancient parish in Lincoln county.
     
  • For governance, the parishes were normally in the ancient Loveden Wapentake in the South Kesteven division of the county, parts of Kesteven. They have also been in the Winnibriggs and Threo wapentake.
     
  • You may contact the Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to help you with family history questions.
     
  • Alex McGREGOR has a photograph of the Allington Village Hall on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2018.
     
  • For today's district governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.
     
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Grantham petty session hearings every other Saturday.
     
  • The two parishes traditionally tended their poor as one township. Two charities provided a small annual gift for the poor, 40 shillings left by the Reverend BRADSHAW and 10 shillings left by the Reverend John CANN.
     
  • After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Newark Poor Law Union.
     
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Population

YearEast AllingtonWest Allington
1801243 
1831357 
1841276120
1871267141
1881331 
1891291 
1911214 
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Schools

  • A National School was built here in 1848 by the lord of the manor, John Earle WELBY.
     
  • A new Public Elementary School was built in 1906 by the estate of John Earle WELBY, who died in 1905. The school was designed to hold 80 children.
     
  • For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.