Folkingham (also "Falkingham")
Folkingham, "a small but ancient and well-built market town, is pleasantly situated on the Lincoln and London road, on the southern acclivity of a picturesque valley, 3 miles W. of Billingborough Railway station, on the Bourn and Sleaford branch of the Great Northern system, 9 miles N. of Bourn and S. of Sleaford, and 12 miles E. by S. of Grantham."
White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire, 1872
- The parish was in the Aslackby sub-district of the Bourne Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2316 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3313 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Andrew.
- Portions of the church building are of the Norman era.
- The church underwent alterations and repairs in 1857.
- The church is currently part of The Barkwith Group of the West Wold Deanery.
- Here is a photo of St. Andrew's Church, taken by Ron Cole (who retains the copyright):
- Anglican parish registers exist from 1583.
- Check our Parish Register Extract text file. Your additions will be welcome.
- Gordon Warrington has captured Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from 1709 - 1837 at Rootsweb.
- The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Lafford Deanery to make your search easier.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has a Loan Library service which has the parish registers on microfiche for Baptisms from 1584 to 1812 and Marriages from 1584 to 1812.
- The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel in Folkingham in the 19th Century. 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 Aslackby sub-district of the Bourne Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
- The House of Correction (Gaol) was originally built in 1808 for all of the Kesteven district. It was redesigned and rebuilt on the site of Folkingham Castle (see History) in 1825 and extended in 1849 and 1858. The surviving part is the former gate and governor's house. The Gaol could accommodate 70 prisoners in solitary cells until closure in 1877. Now the property is in the Landmark Trust who maintain it for holiday lets.
- In 1841, census records tell us that the Gaol held 49 prisoners. Mr. Matthew Edis MAILE was the gaoler then.
This village and parish is bisected by the A15 trunk road as it travels north from Bourne to Sleaford. The parish lies just about midway between the two, some 26 miles southeast of Lincoln. Laughton parish lies to the south and Wolcot parish to the north. A small stream runs past the northeast side of the village, enventually joining the South Forty Foot Drain on the other side of Billingborough. The parish covers slightly more than 1,861 acres.
Folkingham is a large village with an attractive square, dominated by the Greyhound Inn, a tall three-storey building from the 17th century. It offered hotel accommodations, meals and liquid refreshments, but closed several years ago and is falling into decline (JB). The town was a popular stop for coaches in the 19th Century.
If you are planning a visit:
- Folkingham was probably already a small hamlet when the Romans came and built the Roman Road that runs a few miles west of the village. It is part of the old Kingdom of Lindsey that existed in King Arthur's time, although considered part of Kesteven now. The village is best known after the battle of Hastings in 1066 when William the Conqueror gave vast estates in the counties of Lincoln and York to (Baron) Gilbert de Gant (or Gaunt), his nephew and a General in the Norman army, in return for service rendered. Folkingham was the seat of his estate. Gilbert's son Walter married Maud, daughter of Stephen, Earl of Richmond.
- Henry de Beaumont built a castle at Folkingham, but little remains of this medieval moated castle, although the earthworks can still be traced. Beaumont was created a Baron in 1309. The earthen banks to either side are part of the old castle bailey which occupied the site until the mid 16th century. The castle prison is now known as the House of Correction.
- A Savings Bank was established in 1818.
- The Falkingham Gas Light Company was erected in 1863.
- Folkingham Manor House is architecturally interesting and was built for Lord Clinton in the 17th century. It was constructed of stone taken from the castle.
- The national grid reference is TF 0733.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has a scale of 2.5 inches to the mile.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- Locals usually pronounce the name as "Fockingham" or "Fokkinham".
- The parish name is often spelled "Falkingham" in old records.
- In the 1086 Domesday Book, the village name is rendered as Folchingeham, from the Old English Folca+inga+ham meaning "Homestead of a man called Folc(a)".
[A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
531 |
| 1831 |
744 |
| 1841 |
781 |
| 1871 |
696 |
| 1891 |
502 |
| 1911 |
479 |
- A Free School was established in the town prior to 1710.
- A National School was built here in 1875 to hold up to 130 children.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
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[Last updated: 17-June-2009 - Louis R. Mills]
