Welton

History

The village does have an ancient well, later completed with a Victorian pump. Though the more famous pump is located on a small grassy triangle between Sudbeck Lane and Lincoln Road, there are other old wells with their own functioning pumps elsewhere. Before the Anglo-Saxon inhabitation, there is evidence of both Roman and Celtic settlement from about 7,500 years ago, with coins and fragments of pottery serving as evidence of a Roman farmstead. An evaluation undertaken immediately south of the parish church and near to a known Saxon cemetery, revealed Roman remains and artefacts, and recovered fragments of early-mid Saxon and medieval pottery in 2007. Another evaluation in 2007 at Heathclinic House recorded a late Saxon ditch and a series of medieval pits and ditches. Artefacts from the 12th century and later were noted to be fairly abundant, indicating probable domestic occupation of the site at that time. Roman building debris, pottery scatter, stamped pottery, stamped tiles, and Roman coins were found on numerous occasions. Air photographs also indicated Roman site around the former hamlet. An Anglo-Saxon inhumation cemetery, a Bronze Age tanged and barbed arrowhead found, and a Neolithic stone axe were all found in Ryland too. By 1086, the Domesday Book recorded as many as 52 households, and named the village "Welletone". It was at this time that the medieval fishpond complex beside the Welton Beck was in use. In 1863, a number of apparently Saxon graves were discovered on the site of an old chapel cemetery. Bastardy cases would be heard in the Lincoln petty session hearings on the first and third Fridays of each month. William Farr School was opened inside the parish as a secondary modern school in 1952, on a site purchased for £600 from RAF Dunholme Lodge…

Geography

The town covers about , almost entirely within Welton parish, save for a few residential streets and William Farr School, straddling Dunholme parish in the south. The village centre has been long appreciated for its picturesque and quintessentially English qualities, It was land bought from this RAF base that William Farr School was built on. Beside the church, there are a handful of boulders, some of which lie against the wall. They were carried to the village during the ice age. The beck has long been the site of traditional well dressing ceremonies. This was a tradition that involved decorating a local spring to act as a "thanksgiving to Almighty God for the blessing of a bountiful supply of pure water to Welton". The last known ceremony on a Lincolnshire beck was in 1924. The custom was an annual event which took place on Ascension Day. Five wells in the village were dressed, including one in the churchyard, one in the grounds of the vicarage, two in West Carr, and one in spring cottage on Sudbeck Lane. The dressing of the wells took a different format to that of neighbouring counties, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire; in Welton, each area surrounding the well was marked with an arch formed from a tree branch and decorated with lilac and laburnum. White calico cloth on which a text taken from the bible was depicted was put into each arch by the men in the village early on Ascension Day morning. The ceremony began with a service in Saint Mary's Church, followed by a parade to the decorated beck in the churchyard. Each well was then dressed in turn and a prayer said and a hymn sung. The local Sunday school children took part in the ceremony by placing wild flowers at each well. There is believed to have been an ancient belief of healing powers of the beck water.…

Most-observed species

• Common Wood-Pigeon

  Columba palumbus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,782
• European Robin

  Erithacus rubecula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,360
• Eurasian Blackbird

  Turdus merula Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,265
• Carrion Crow

  Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  3,146
• Eurasian Blue Tit

  Cyanistes caeruleus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,921
• Eurasian Wren

  Troglodytes troglodytes (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,520
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,496
• Western Jackdaw

  Coloeus monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,420

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2018-06-09
  7 km NNE of Withernsea, United Kingdom
• M 2.8 — 2015-09-22
  2 km W of Cottesmore, United Kingdom
• M 3.8 — 2015-01-28
  2 km WSW of Market Overton, United Kingdom
• M 2.6 — 2014-10-28
  2 km NNE of Hucknall, United Kingdom
• M 3.5 — 2014-04-18
  3 km WSW of Market Overton, United Kingdom
• M 2.9 — 2013-01-18
  0 km NE of Hathern, United Kingdom