Shepeau Stow is a hamlet in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is at the north-east edge of Whaplode civil parish, where it adjoins Crowland civil parish, and on the B1166 Hull's Drove road. Shepeau Stow is south-east from Spalding and east from Crowland.
The hamlet's school is Shepeau Stow Primary School on Dowsdale Bank."Shepeau Stow Primary School", Directgov. Retrieved 21 March 2016 In the 2012 latest Ofsted report, the school received an overall Grade 2 (Good), quality rating."Sturton by Stow Primary School", Ofsted, Retrieved 21 March 2016
History The B1166 road from Shepeau Stow to Holbeach Drove to the east is the line of a 1241 fen drainage bank, the third of three constructed between Whaplode Drove to the north and Shepeau Stow. The resulting fen-drained common land was enclosed in 1819 under Enclosure Act."A Brief History of Whaplode Drove", Whaplode Parish Council. Retrieved 17 March 2016
In 19th-century directories the hamlet was named 'Shephaystow' and 'Shephay Stowe'. In 1855 there existed a mill with miller, and the Red Last public house. By 1872 the mill housed a corn miller who was also a baker. There was a pub called the Mill Inn run by a victualler who was also a brewer and shopkeeper at the same premises. There was a blacksmith, and a shoemaker who also ran a beerhouse. 1885 listings included a publican at the Red Last Inn, a coal dealer, a farmer, a blacksmith, and a wind miller. By 1933 listed were two farmers, a saddler, a carpenter, and the publican at the Red Last. Within the hamlet was a Methodist chapel with seating for 300, while the surrounding area produced potatoes, wheat and other cereals, and "large quantities of geese fatted for the London and other markets."Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1855, p.249White’s History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire 1872, p.786Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull 1885, p.705Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire 1933, pp.603,604 The Red Last Inn was a brewery pub, extant in 1949, but now converted to a private dwelling."The Red Last Inn Shepeau Stow", Chain Bridge Forge Museum. Retrieved 17 March 2016
At the east of the hamlet on Drove Road are the Grade II listed late 18th-century remains of the tower mill. The mill was working with four sails until the 1920s, but by the middle of the 1930s it had lost its roof and become a ruin."Shepeau Stow Mill, Whaplode", Lincolnshire County Council. Retrieved 17 March 2016
In 2015 late 19th-century 'T' plan barn buildings of hand made brick, "good examples of local rural vernacular architecture," were the subject of an historic building survey before a proposed redevelopment at Carter's Farm on Oxcroft Bank. The survey showed various stages of original building, which included a hay loft and wood partitions, with stable block and cattle shed with hayracks and feed troughs."Farm Buildings at Carter's Farm, Oxcroft Bank, Shepeau Stow", Lincs to the Past, Reference: MLI86934. Retrieved 17 March 2016
References
External links
Shepeau Stow Primary School. Retrieved 17 March 2016 "Shepeau Stow", Ordnance Survey map of extent of hamlet; South East Lincolnshire Joint Strategic Planning Committee. Retrieved 17 March 2016