South Willingham is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England, and partly within the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, . It is situated south of the A157 Lincoln to Louth road, west of Lincoln, where the central Lincolnshire Vale and the Lincolnshire Wolds meet. Its population was 160 at the 2011 census, down from a maximum of 341 in 1851.
Much of the village formed part of the Heneage Estate; Hainton Hall is a mile north of the village. At South Willingham is Belmont transmitting station, the second tallest structure in the UK.
The geology under the village is unusually complex with four separate bedrocks located within the parish. Sand, gravel and clay have all been quarried in the parish; the clay pit supplied a brickworks in the Victorian era.
History There are four bowl barrows at the east of the parish adjacent to the B1125 High Street; two within the parish boundary, and two just outside with one each in Gayton le Wold and Burgh on Bain (at ).Bowl Barrow at the east of South Willingham parish, South Willingham, Lincolnshire, Google Street View (image date January 2009). Retrieved 19 November 2019 The latter appears in Historic England's 2021 Heritage at Risk report."Midlands 2021 Heritage at Risk" Historic England Page 36. Retrieved 04 November 2021 These Bronze Age burial mounds date from 2400 to 1500 BC. Aerial photographs and early OS Maps show evidence of further barrows, now destroyed, north-east from Inns Farm which is north-west from the village on Hainton Road close to the neighbouring parish of Hainton. A Royal Observer Corps nuclear monitoring post was installed in the bowl barrow on the High Street, close to the junction with the Donington Road in 1959. Officially known as the Burgh on Bain Post, it was used until 1991."Burgh on Bain post" Subterranea Britannica includes photographs of the inside, Retrieved 28 November 2019
In 1964 Beaker Pottery dating from about 1150-1400BC was found close to the sand pit at the end of Moors Lane."Just Who Were The First People To Settle In South Willingham?", The Parish of South Willingham – The Life & History of South Willingham, South Willingham History Group website. Retrieved 10 November 2019
Willingham derives from the hām—Old English for homestead, village, manor or estate—of Willa's people. South Willingham is recorded in the Domesday Book as "Ulingeham", in the hundred of Wraggoe, and contained three manors owned by different lords. The first contained 11 villagers and two smallholders, with four ploughlands, 2.5 lord's and 2 men's plough teams, and a meadow of . The lord in 1066 was Almer, the lordship passing in 1086 to William of Verley, who controlled 10 manors in north-east Lincolnshire under the archbishop of St Peter's, York, Thomas of Bayeux, who became tenant-in-chief to king William I. The second contained four villagers and one smallholder, with 1.6 ploughlands, one lord's and one men's plough team, and a meadow of . The lord in 1066 was Eskil, the lordship passing in 1086 to Wadard—a nobleman depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry—under Odo of Bayeux as tenant-in-chief to the king. The third contained 13 freemen, 2.5 ploughlands, three men's plough teams and a meadow of . The lord in 1066 was Koddi, the lordship passing in 1086 to Gerard under Rainer of Brimeux as tenant-in-chief to the king. By c.1115 South Willingham is written in documentary evidence as 'Willingheham', in 1121–23 as 'Welingeham', and c.1160 as 'Wellingeham'."South Willingham", Opendomesday.org. Retrieved 19 November 2019Mills, Anthony David (2003); A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, revised edition (2011), pp.499, 522. Ekwall, Eilert (1936); The Concise Oxfordshire Dictionary of English Place-names, Oxford University Press, 4th ed. (1960), p.520
South Willingham's Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Martin, and dates from the early 13th century.
There is aerial photographic evidence that the developed area of the village extended over the field to the north of Barkwith Road and to the west of Hainton Road."Soil Marks, South Willingham", Cambridge air photos, University of Cambridge. Retrieved 18 November 2019 However the first OS map (published 1856) shows it in its current position."1856 First Edition OS Map, Lincolnshire" Vision of Britain Website, Retrieved 22 January 2020
Before the 1870s Woodbine Cottage at the centre of the village served as the Post Office; from the 1870s the post office had transferred to a village shop opposite, which was run subsequently by the same family until it closed in the 1980s. There has never been a public house in the village. A pinfold is shown on the 1888 map at the edge of the village on Barkwith Road, where the village sign is currently located. It has gone on the 1906 map.
South Willingham had both a Wesleyan and a Free Methodist chapel,Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p.708 built in 1834 and 1855 respectively. The Wesleyan chapel, on Barkwith Road and close to the centre of the village, closed in 1972."South Willingham Chapels", The Parish of South Willingham – The Life & History of South Willingham, South Willingham History Group website. Retrieved 28 November 2019 The Free Methodist Chapel, sited further along Barkwith Road, closed in 1933; both are now converted to dwellings.
A school was built on Blacksmith Lane in 1834 for 30 children (the 1885 Kelly's Directory, the first to mention the school, says 40 children, but subsequent issues say 30). Average attendance was reported as 16 children in 1885, 22 in 1889, 18 in 1909 and 13 in 1913. It closed in 1918.Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1909, p.615Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1919, p.601Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1913, p.633 The remaining children transferred to the school in Hainton, the South Willingham building since converted to a residence.
A tower windmill was sited to the north-east from Mill Cottages on the Barkwith Road. The corn mill was built around the 1850s [a miller living at Mill House first appears in the 1861 census] and fitted with six sails by Saundersons of Louth, but converted to four sails in the 1890s. The sails were removed in 1935"Tower mill, South Willingham" Dated pictures with and without sails in Mills Archive. Retrieved 22 November 2019 and the tower was demolished in 1958."South Willingham, Windmill" in Photographic Galleries, Society for Lincolnshire History & Archaeology. Retrieved 20 November 2019 When working, this mill also served a sizable area to the western side of the village as neighbouring mills on the central Lincolnshire vale were some distance away. Taken from the 1888 OS map, these mills included two at Wragby ( away from the South Willingham mill by road), Market Rasen (), two at Ludford () and at Hemingby (). However, to the east of the village there were two corn mills just outside the parish boundary. Benniworth Windmill was located from the eastern parish boundary and close to Donington on Bain. Donington on Bain water mill was only a further 350m away. Other neighbouring mills to the east included the windmill at Goulceby ( south east) and the water mill at Burgh on Bain ().
A medieval windmill stood on the southern parish boundary, to the west of the Benniworth Road. The mound for this mill was discovered using aerial photographs and is recorded on the 1978 OS Map and subsequent maps as a Mill Mound. The 1856 First edition OS Map shows a building there but later maps show an empty field."Lincs to the Past, Windmill Mound"Lincolnshire County Council Retrieved 22 January 2020
Much of the village formed part of the Heneage Estate; Hainton Hall is a mile north of the village. The woodwork of the estate buildings were painted a distinctive Post Office red. Most of the remaining land was owned by the Church, with Glebe Farm (now called Grange Farm) providing for the upkeep of the Church and the living that supported the Rector. Land to the east of the High Street forms part of the Stenigot Estate."South Willingham – Land at the Stenigot Estate". Lincolnshire County Council. Retrieved 18 November 2019
In 1957 the Heneage Estate auctioned off 34 dwellings and smallholdings [over half the village] in South Willingham and further property in surrounding villages."Selling off the Village" The Parish of South Willingham – The Life & History of South Willingham, South Willingham History Group website. Retrieved 19 November 2019"Particulars, plans and conditions of sale of outlying portions of the Hainton Estate", The Parish of South Willingham – The Life & History of South Willingham, South Willingham History Group website. Retrieved 19 November 2019 A tower windmill at the edge of the parish was demolished in 1958.
The village came second in the 1979 Lincolnshire Best Kept Village competition (Class I; population between 100 and 500)."Lincs Best Kept Village winners". Retrieved 28 November 2019 It also came third in the 1983 competition. The award plaque is close to the phone kiosk at the centre of the village but that reads Best Kept Village 1980.
Governance South Willingham parish council is the lowest tier of local government, responsible for services including allotments, cemeteries, play areas, street furniture and neighbourhood development plans. The parish is in the Binbrook Ward which covers ten local parishes and sends one councillor to the East Lindsey District Council, the next highest tier of government, which is responsible for services including economic, business and tourism support, housing benefits, collection of local taxes, refuse, planning and environmental control, licensing, and leisure facilities. Above this, the parish is represented by one councillor for the Louth Wolds Division of Lincolnshire County Council, the council provision including highway maintenance, social care, libraries, heritage sites, school admissions, trading standards, fire and rescue, emergency planning, and public health."Council Service Responsibility", Parish Portal, East Lindsey District Council. Retrieved 26 December 2019Parish councils: Binbrook, East Lindsey District Council. Retrieved 26 December 2019
For the UK parliament, South Willingham is represented through the Louth and Horncastle constituency, whose sitting Member of Parliament is Victoria Atkins of the Conservative Party. Prior to Brexit in 2020, South Willingham was represented in the European Parliament through the East Midlands constituency.
Geography The village is south-west from the A157 road, south-east from Market Rasen, north from Horncastle, 10 miles west from Louth and north-east from the city and county town of Lincoln. The civil parish is east to west and north to south, covering —expanded from in the 1880s—and is on the western edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AOB). The AOB runs north–south through the village. Part of the eastern boundary of the parish follows the course of the River Bain.
The main portion of the village was designated a conservation area in January 1994."South Willingham Conservation Area" East Lindsey District Council. Retrieved 18 December 2019 The core of the village was reported to be in poor condition, deteriorating, and of high vulnerability in Historic England's 2019 Heritage at Risk report, however it is not mentioned in the 2021 report."Midlands 2019 Heritage at Risk" Historic England Page 35. Retrieved 18 December 2019"Midlands 2021 Heritage at Risk" Historic England Page 37. Retrieved 04 November 2021
Topography Situated on the first hill on the western edge of the Wolds, there is an uninterrupted view from the village to Lincoln Cathedral, across the Central Lincolnshire Vale between the Wolds and the Lincolnshire Edge.