Ancaster

Description and Travel

This village and parish lies just over 7 miles northeast of Grantham and 6 miles west of Sleaford. The parish covers about 3,000 acres and includes the hamlets of Sudbrook and West Willoughby (both west of the village of Ancaster). Wilsford parish is just to the east, with Honington parish to the west and Barkston parish to the southwest.

The village of Ancaster is east of the A607 trunk road at Honington. It has a train station, once a part of the Grantham, Sleaford and Boston branch of the Great Northern Railway. The houses on the east side of Ancaster village are in Wilsford parish. If you are planning a visit:

• Ancaster is at the intersection of the A153 west out of Sleaford and the B6403, the old Ermine Street, north out of Grantham.
  
  
• The Ancaster Valley grasslands at SK 9843 are a preserve of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.
  
  
• Visit our touring page for more sources.
  
  

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Census

• The parish was in the Grantham sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• At the Domesday survey (1068), Ancaster is not listed, but at West Willoughby there were two churches and a small hermit chapel.
  
  
• The present Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Martin.
  
  
• The church is built from local Ancaster Stone, apparently during the Norman period. It stands on the site of a Roman temple, but the current building dates back to early Norman times.
  
  
• The tower was restored in 1912.
  
  
• The church contains memorial windows donated by the PEMBERTON and LLOYD families, and monuments to the ALLIX family.
  
  
• The church seats about 220.
  
  
• Here is a photograph of St. Martin's Church supplied by Ron Cole (who retains the copyright):
  
  
  

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Church Records

• The churchyard was closed for burials in May 1909.
  
  
• The Anglican parish register dates from 1722, but Bishop's transcripts go back to 1562.
  
  
• St. Martin's Church holds a list of clergy which goes back to 1236. (Thank you, Henny Shotter, Churchwarden)
  
  
• The Lincolnshire FHS has a Loan Library service which has the parish registers on microfiche for Baptisms from 1722 to 1812 and Marriages from 1723 to 1812.
  
  
• The LFHS has published several indexes for the Loveden Deanery to make your search easier.
  
  
• The Primitive Methodists had a small chapel here, and at Sudbrook a United Methodist chapel, built in 1837. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
  
  
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
  
  

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Civil Registration

• The parish was in the Grantham sub-district of the Grantham Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
  
  

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History

• Ancaster can trace it's history through the Iron Age.
  
  
• At Ancaster, the Romans built a fort on the site of an existing settlement. This later developed into a small town which was provided with a town wall. In the field opposite the church, grass covered banks now mark the line of the Roman town wall and associated ditch. It is believed by many that the Romans called the place Causennae, but more recent research by Rivet disputes this. Many Roman coins have been found in the area, along with some skeletons dated to that era.
  
  
• The Romans also were great road-builders. Ermine Street linked London to the north and runs through the heart of the village. An old Roman milestone from the time of Constantine (306 - 324) for many years was kept at the vicarage, but now resides in the Grantham Museum. That museum also houses a carved Roman sculpture of the Deae Matres (three seated pregnant women), a Goddess of fertility. There were several carvings of Roman Gods and Godesses found in Ancaster. The last was an inscription, found by Time Team in 1999, to the elsewhere unknown God Viridius. (Thank you, Henny Shotter, Churchwarden)
  
  
• In the 1580s/1590s, The Plague strikes Lincolnshire and checks population growth.
  
  
• In the 17th century, smaller market towns like Ancaster grew.
  
  
• Ancaster stone, oolite with a light reddish cast that hardens with exposure to the air, was quarried here. It was used in the construction of many Lincolnshire buildings. In 1913, the quarries were worked by LINDLEY and Son.
  
  

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Manors

• West Willoughby Hall was built of local Ancaster Stone. David Flinn reports: "On a visit to Willoughby Hall in the 1950s as a child, I remember the place being partially ruined. Sadly, it has been completely demolished since then."
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is SK 8540.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer #247 map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Military Records

John Emerson, who retains the copyright, provides these photographs of the war memorial at West Willoughby:

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Names - Geographical

• The name Ancaster is Old English Anna+caester, or "Roman fort of a man called Anna". The caester portion of the name derives from the Roman occupation of England. It is unclear as to the derivation of the name Anna. The parish is listed in the 12th century as Anecastre.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]
  
  

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Nobility

• Ancaster gave the title of Duke to the BERTIE family, but that line died out in 1809. The title of Earl of Ancaster was conferred in 1892 on Gilbert Henry, 22nd Baron Willoughby de ERESBY.
  
  

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Politics and Government

• The parish was in the ancient Loveden Wapentake in the South Kesteven district in the parts of Kesteven.
  
  
• Kelly's 1900 Directory of Lincolnshire reports, perhaps erroneously, that the parish is in the North Kesteven division of the county.
  
  
• For today's local governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• In 1773 the fields were enclosed here. At that time, they were described as a wild and barren heath.
  
  
• PENNELL's charity provided £9 and 12 shillings yearly for fuel for the poor.
  
  
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the parish became part of the Grantham Poor Law Union.
  
  

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Population

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Schools

• A Public Elementary School was built here in 1862. It was enlarged to seat 145 children in 1883.
  
  
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
  
  

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