Folkingham ( ) is a village and civil parishFolkingham Parish Council, Lincolnshire Parish Councils. Retrieved 31 July 2011. in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the A15 road north of Bourne and south of Sleaford. The 2001 Census gave a population of 729, rising to 796 at the 2011 census, and estimated at 795 in 2016.City Population site. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
Topography and development This former town is attractively situated in a wide rolling landscape, just up from the fen edge, on the northern incline of an east–west stream valley. The settlement is centred on a large Market Place, positioned between a church on high land to the NW and a former baronial castle on low land to the SE. The modern A15 runs through the market area, rather than bypassing the settlement as at Aslackby and Osbournby, taking a dramatic right-angled turn at its NW corner.
The earliest settlement was probably on the high promontory overlooking stream valleys close to the church. It is likely this was linked to Roman roads (King Street and Mareham Lane) on either side via an east–west route running along what is now West Street and Sleaford Road. The castle site on low-lying land to the SE probably evolved from a pre-Conquest fortified enclosure which was the administrative centre of the soke of Folkingham. A market area developed in between the church and castle and this became the site for weekly markets and seven annual fairs.
The Market Place, West Street and Sleaford Road were lined with houses, farms, shops and inns/public houses and this whole area was remodelled in the late 18th century by the Heathcote Family of Normanton (Rutland) who bought the manor in 1788. The most dramatic manifestation of this work was the refaçading of The Greyhound Inn at the top of the Market Place. In recognition of its importance, this area became one of the first designated conservation areas in Lincolnshire in 1968.Folkingham Conservation Area , South Kesteven District Council. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
The town was bypassed by the railway and declined in the Victorian period as the coaching trade collapsed and services and retailing moved to larger towns. The main development since has been the erection of council housing off West Street in the 1950s, followed by the private Churchfields estate behind, built between 1987 and 1997.
The modern village retains a pub, The New Inn on West Street, and a local shop in the Market Place.
Toponymy Folkingham is an early Saxon place name and appears in the Domesday survey of 1086 as Folchingeham.National Archives: E31/2/2/7107 Its meaning can be interpreted as the 'Homestead belonging to Folc(a) or the estate of the Folcingas'.A. D. Mills, Dictionary of English Place-Names (Oxford, 2002), p. 194.E. Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names (Oxford, 1960), p. 183.V. Watts, Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-names (Cambridge, 2002), p. 235.K.Cameron, Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-names (Nottingham, 1998), p. 45.
Folc, however, as in 'people or nation' was also used in the Anglo-Saxon period as a district name (e.g. Norfolk) and may have been related to the Scandinavian fylki, meaning district. Could folc, therefore, also refer to a territorial district which became the soke of Folkingham? Folkestone probably derives its name from 'Folca's Stone', which was a meeting place of a territorial area.
In the mid-18th century an alternative spelling of 'Falkingham' was introduced, perhaps in an effort to make the place name sound more genteel – its correct pronunciation is 'Fokingham'. This variant became predominant in the 19th century, but fell out of favour in the early 20th century.
Early history It is likely that Folkingham originated as an Anglo-Saxon settlement in the sixth century, developing into a regionally important royal soke centre, or multiple estate by the eighth century. Its location was obviously attractive to these settlers, being on a promontory above stream valleys between the Kesteven forest and sea access via the fens to the Wash. It was also close to two Roman roads (Mareham Lane and King Street) which led to Lincoln, which still had regional significance. It is probable that Folkingham was the southern centre of the territory of the Billingas people, whose name is reflected in local place names, such as Billingborough.
In 679 the region was conquered by Mercia, bringing it into the sphere of Mercian royal interest. A royal nunnery at Stow Green, off Mareham Lane founded by Æthelthryth, was entrusted to St Werberg by King Æthelred of Mercia. It is likely that King Æthelred developed nearby Folkingham into a soke centre, or multiple estate, in this period with a minster church dedicated to the popular St Andrew. The Soke of Folkingham, which grew into an estate of over 23 dependent villages, was roughly analogous with that of the later Wapentake of Aveland, which must have evolved from it. The probable minster status of the church is reflected in the numerous dedications to St Andrew within the soke.
It is likely that early settlement was on the highest ground of the promontory around the minster church (current site of St Andrew's Church). This settlement lay north of an east–west route linking it to the Roman roads on each side, which is still discernible in the modern road configuration of West Street and Sleaford Road.
Danelaw The low-lying region of Lincolnshire, with its long eastern coast punctuated by river valleys, was particularly susceptible to incursion from Norse invaders. It was thus a prime target in the Danish-led Viking raids which started sporadically at the end of the eighth century, developing gradually into a more-focused settlement initiative during the following century.
The extent of Danish settlement in the Folkingham region is revealed by the survival of some twenty-seven place names ending in by. These are mainly sited on the upland areas surrounding the old soke core and it is possible that some may have had a military function, as has been suggested with similar concentrations on the coast of Norfolk. It is perhaps in this period that a burgh, or fortified settlement, was established at Billingborough, as implied by the place name - perhaps its function was to protect the soke hub from incursion from the east?
In the tenth century, Folkingham became part of the wapentake of Aveland, an area consisting of fen edge and uplands, stretching from Bourne to Osbournby. Wapentakes were the approximate equivalent in Danelaw of the Anglo-Saxon hundred, and the word, of Scandinavian origin, probably derived from a meeting place, where a presence or vote was taken by the brandishing, or ownership, of weapons. Aveland was probably established as an administrative unit some time after Edward the Elder restored English rule to Kesteven in 918. Its boundaries were defined by the earlier soke of Folkingham. The meeting place of the wapentake was clearly marked on the 1885 Ordnance Survey map, which shows it was connected to Folkingham via Greenfields Lane - a modern farm track now leads down to the site. Until recent ploughing, there were still visible the remains of a moat bordering a rectilinear asymmetric enclosure, defined by a large ditch and banks, measuring one hundred and five metres by forty metres.
The final phase of pre-conquest development at Folkingham was probably the evolution of an enclosed and perhaps later fortified residence on a new alignment at the south east corner of the earlier grid-planned settlement. The fact that Ulf of Fenisc, a major landholder at the time of Domesday, chose Folkingham as his caput, or principal residence implies there was suitable accommodation there for him and his retinue when he was in residence. The siting of a defensive enclosure on an undeveloped peripheral site, at the junction of three stream valleys where marshy ground and water meadows to south and east would have made attack more difficult, would have made sense. Water could be employed to fill defensive ditches and provide a supply for domestic needs. The site also had the advantage of commanding a prospect of the east-west axial road as it crossed the valley - indeed its orientation is towards this rather than the projected grid of the earlier settlement.
Post-Conquest The Domesday survey of 1086 records a total population of thirty-eight households consisting of twenty-four villagers, nine smallholders and five soke or free men. Sleaford had fifty households and Bourne fifty-four. Billingborough as a comparison had nineteen households. However, many dependent soke settlements were bigger, such as Walcot with fifty-one families, which is now just a hamlet. Total tax assessed was twelve geld units - this was the same tax as Sleaford and Spalding, but much more than Bourne which was assessed at five and a half. There was one mill, valued at ten shillings and eight pence, and one church. The lord in 1066 was Ulf Fenisc, while the lord in 1086 was Gilbert de Gant.
The pattern of ownership by a leading baron continued through the post-conquest and later medieval period. Although these tenants-in-chief had their seat at Folkingham, their sphere of interests was wide-ranging - it is clear they were not particularly interested in developing Folkingham as a town. So Folkingham gradually transformed from a soke centre into an aristocratic seat.
Gilbert de Gant's possession of the soke of Folkingham heralded a dynasty which lasted for over two hundred years, finally ending in 1298. Although Folkingham was probably their primary residence in England, this does not mean that the family were here on any regular basis. They were an international aristocratic family with interests across the country and on the continent. As leading aristocrats, the de Gants were involved in national affairs of state. Gilbert's eldest son, Walter (born 1087) sided with Stephen of Blois' claim, as the grandson of William the Conqueror, to the throne during the so-called Anarchy of 1135-55, fighting against the rival position of the Empress Matilda. Walter was at Stephen's Easter court in 1136 and fought at the Battle of the Standard, near Northallerton (Yorkshire), in 1138. Gilbert III was an important player in the events at the end of King John's reign, surrounding Louis' invasion attempt, which began with him arriving on English soil in May 1216, and ended at the Battle of Lincoln in May 1217.
Folkingham Castle in the post-conquest period can be classed as a higher-status baronial castle - that is one owned by one of the king's tenants-in-chief, rather than a honourial castle, which is one erected by a tenant of the baron. There were fourteen such baronial castles in Lincolnshire, with the nearest being at Bourne, Castle Bytham and Stainby - Sleaford Castle was uniquely an ecclesiastical property of the Bishops of Lincoln. Of these, nine were founded in manors which had soke status, suggesting that baronial castles were an evolution of existing aristocratic control. It is likely that Folkingham's Norman post-conquest castle was developed from the fortified residence of his predecessor, Ulf of Fenisc.