Witham-on-the-Hill, Lincolnshire

AN ANCIENT FORM of punishment has become a tourist attraction at Witham-on-the-Hill, a village mentioned in the Domesday Book, the great land survey ordered by William the Conqueror in 1086 to assess land tax and other dues in his domain.

The village is, as the name suggests, on a hill and a steep incline leads to the village green and by the side of this large expanse of grass are the mediaeval stocks, a relic of the village's ancient past. The stocks were a device for the punishment of certain criminal offenders, often for trivial infringements of the law, and were usually the fate of vagabonds and other petty offenders. A tiled canopy protects the wooden baulks of timber that were padlocked together to imprison the feet of miscreants for a set period and this suggests that justice at Witham was tempered with mercy for those incarcerated were protected from the elements. Stocks were last used in England in the middle of the 19th century.

The blue plaques on the wall commemorate awards to the parish council in the Best Kept Village Competition which is held in the countryside every year to stimulate pride in the community and this is a very pretty village indeed.

The spacious church of St Andrew was built largely during the 15th century and contains several examples of Norman architecture including the south aisle and the arch and doorway of the south porch. The church tower and spire were rebuilt in 1738 after the earlier ones had collapsed. Distinctive ornamental urns decorate the base of the spire.

Photographed in 1999

The largest and most famous building at Witham-on-the-Hill is Witham Hall which dates back to the 18th century. The core of the house, just five bays to the east and west, was built between 1752 and 1756 but nothing Georgian remains inside and much has been added to the exterior by A N Prentice between 1903 and 1905. He gave the house an H-plan and added a range to the east side. Along the west side of the house to the entrance, i.e. along the drive, there is a vista of pseudo-Jacobean arches dated in order 1876, 1830 and 1906. The house was long occupied by the Johnson family, descendants of Archdeacon Johnson, founder of Oakham and Uppingham Schools, but today is hidden by stone walls and high hedges and is used as an exclusive preparatory school for boys and girls.

The parish hall is one the community's curiosities. It was built in 1857 as the village school and the tower housing the bell that summoned generations of village children to their lessons remains while the schoolmaster's house stands nearby. The hall was refurbished during 2000 with the aid of a £50,000 grant from the national lottery fund and during the work, old oak beams and a wealth of 19th century woodwork were discovered when the roof was opened up for the first time since the building was closed as a school fifty years before and have been retained as a feature. An inscription on the front wall below the roof has also been preserved as a reminder of the building's past endeavours.

"Train up a child in the way he should go
When he is old, he will not depart from it."

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