Billingborough

There are a dozen places in England that remember the name of Billings, a famous tribe of northern invaders, and one of them is Billingborough, lying on the edge of the fens nine miles north of Bourne with the Roman built Car Dyke close by. It was here that the Saxon tribe of the Billings pitched their camp on the first rise of the lush green land after the reedy wastes of the fens. The village was also the site of an Iron Age settlement and evidence of Roman occupation has also been found in the locality together with at least nine salterns, making the parish an important place in one of Lincolnshire's early industries, salt making.

The natural artesian springs at Billingborough have been used to great effect to provide a water feature of peace and tranquillity in the very heart of the village. This spot is known as Spring Wells and probably attracted the first settlers here because the water was reputed to be chalybeate, or rich with iron salts, and to have healing qualities and other benefits for good health. Only once in recent years have the springs been known to fail. On 1st January 1967, after several dry seasons, they dried up and remained dry for six weeks before re-appearing. Summer and winter alike, the temperature of the springs is a degree or two above freezing. 

The Spring Wells have been enhanced as a community facility in recent years although the water is likely to be quite insalubrious and it is therefore appropriate that the village's medical practice is located in new buildings in the immediate vicinity while this has become a place to sit and dream and watch the world go by and for swans and waterfowl to congregate for the duck house placed here by villagers sends a message to our feathered friends that they are always welcome visitors.

Today, Billingborough has the atmosphere of a small county town with a wide main street bounded by shops, garages, pubs and large houses. It could also have been a busy inland port laid out some 150 years ago but the scheme never materialised. It was announced on 3rd September 1813 that Parliament was being asked to approve a bill for making a navigable cut or canal from the Forty Foot Drain running between Bourne and Boston with locks, staunches and hauling paths, and a meeting was held at the Fortescue Arms later that year to consider the cost of the project and other implications but the enterprise foundered either through lack of money or interest.

St Andrew's Church has a slender spire soaring 150 feet while the tower rises at the west end of the north aisle and has a fine vaulted roof and pinnacles linked to the spire by delicate flying buttresses. The tower and the church are mainly 14th century but there are traces of earlier work in the south aisle. The chancel was rebuilt in 1891 and the most impressive part of the building is the nave with four great arches on each side and the light streaming through the twelve windows of the 15th century clerestory. 

There were once seven public houses here but the Vine, the Five Bells,  the Dove, the Grapes and the New Inn have gone and only the Fortescue Arms and the George and Dragon survive. The Fortescue Arms is an imposing whitewashed building in the High Street, named after the wealthy family that once owned 6,000 acres of land in this part of Lincolnshire. Earl Fortescue was formerly Lord of the Manor here but the Crown purchased the estates and the manorial rights in 1855 although the family still has farming interests in other parts of the county. The original property is 300 years old but started life as a private residence and has been much added to over the years. Some of the stone used in its construction is reputed to have come from Sempringham Priory after its decline at the Dissolution and later when it was sacked by Cromwell's troops during the Civil War of 1642-51. There is certainly evidence that these materials were used for the building of several fine houses in the vicinity, notably that of Lord Clinton, later Earl of Lincoln, who pulled everything down and built himself a mansion 200 feet long although he died before it was finished. The property became a coaching inn for at least 150 years and the remains of old arches through which the stagecoaches once entered can be seen where there are now doorways while the stables that housed the horses for their overnight rest still stand at the rear of the premises.

Among the oldest buildings in the village is the Old Hall, a Tudor mansion with 18th and 19th century additions. It had been the home of the Tollers, a distinguished Lincolnshire family that flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries and reputedly descended from another prominent county line, the Custs. Henry Toller was born at Horbling and buried there in 1561. His successor William started building this dignified stone house in 1611 and the work was finished by his son Richard in 1623. Stones from the suppressed Sempringham priory two miles away were used in its construction and many have been found during subsequent repair work bearing dates and mouldings while the main doorway on the west of the house was brought intact from Sempringham. The name Toller has been associated with several village charities, including coal at Christmas for the poor, paid for with money from a property left by John Toller in 1669, and for the education of poor children in Billingborough and Horbling parishes from property at Gosberton left by Mary Toller in 1671. Several subsequent members of the family later attained distinction, mainly in the church, but by 1802, the Tollers had become extinct. The hall and its grounds were surrounded by a substantial wall with two entrances for carriages and in the 19th century, it was divided into three residences. There were moves in 1914 to schedule the property for preservation but the war broke out and nothing was done and in recent years it has been extensively converted for use as a retirement home for elderly residents.

Buckminster House is also 17th century and was built by Joseph de Burton in 1669, taking its name from the family who were lords of the manor until the 14th century. The de Burton family made it their home until 1913 when it was converted for use as a county council children's home.

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