Heckington
- In 1880, a Cemetery of 1.5 acres was formed and two mortuary chapels built.
- In 1913, the chairman of the Cemetery Board was Alfred James OLLERHEAD.
- Richard CROFT has a photograph of the Mortuary Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in April, 2010.
- The Society of Genealogists have Heckington monument inscriptions at their library.
- The parish was in the Heckington sub-district (until 1891) of the Sleaford Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1841 |
H.O. 107 / 619 |
| 1851 |
H.O. 107 / 2101 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2345 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3352 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2579 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew and dates back to 1345 to 1380.
- The church was partially restored in 1867 and again in 1877.
- The church chancel was restored in 1888.
- The church has a spire 185 feet tall.
- The church seats 700.
- Tours of St. Andrew are available on weekends.
- This church is featured in the book, "England's Thousand Best Churches," by Simon JENKINS, Penquin Publ.
- A photograph of St. Andrew's church is at the Wendy PARKINSON English Church Photographs site.
- Richard CROFT has captured an interesting detail in St. Andrew's Church on Geo-graph, taken in 2007.
- Here is a photo of St. Andrew's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
- Saint John the Baptist (Fen) chapel in East Heckington was a chapel of ease for St. Andrew's.
- St. John's was consecrated in 1890.
- St. John's was declared redundant by the Diocese of Lincoln in July of 1977. In July of 1981 it was sold for residential use.
- Anglican parish registers exist from 1559.
- Parish registers are on file at the Society of Genealogists, covering 1561 - 1837.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has a Loan Library service which has the parish registers on microfiche for Baptisms from 1559 to 1812 and Marriages from 1559 to 1812.
- Parish marriages from 1651-1837 are covered in Boyd's Marriage Index, and from 1790-1837 in Pallot's Marriage Index.
- There are a handful of entries in our Parish Register Extract. Please submit your additions to expand it.
- Register transcriptions are also online at Heckington transcriptions, thanks to Gordon WARRINGTON.
- We also have Parish Burials, 1561 to 1649, contributed by Anne COLE of Lincolnshire. This is a Portable Document File (PDF) which requires Acrobat Reader and the file is approximately 590KB in size.
- The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Lafford Deanery to make your search easier.
- The Wesleyan Methodists had a chapel built here in 1904, as did the Primitive Methodists and Baptists.
- In East Heckington, near the Fens, there stood a United Methodist chapel and a Primitive Methodist chapel. Check our Non-Conformist Church Records page for additional resources.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Heckington sub-district (until 1891) of the Sleaford Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.
Heckington is both a village and a parish. The parish is about 117 miles north of London, 5 miles east of Sleaford and 11 miles west of Boston on the Swineshead road (now the A17 and A1121) that runs between Sleaford and Boston. The parish itself is bounded on the north by Asgarby and South Kyme parishes, to the west by Burton Pedwardine and on the south by Great Hale parish. The parish is from one to two miles broad and 6 miles long, extending five miles east of the village out to the South Forty Foot Drain. It covers about 5,300 acres anc includes the hamlets of Garwick and Oatsheaf.
The village of Heckington is now a small town, situated on a slight hill overlooking the Fens to the east. The Car Dyke passes just east of town. The hamlet of East Heckington lies a mile further east of the village and the hamlet of Garwick (Garrick) lies on the Boston road two miles east of the village.
If you are planning a visit:
- It is probably easiest to take the A17 and take the B1394 turnoff (either one) and follow that road into town.
- Watch for the sign! John LUCAS has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2011.
- Visit our touring page for more sources.
- Henry BROOKE, the ninth Lord Cobham of Heckington and his brother George were attainted for high treason. George was beheaded and Henry stripped of property. He died in poverty in 1619.
- The parish used to hold a sheep and cattle fair on the 2nd Thursday of each September (formerly on 10 October) since 1795. It was known as the Heckington Foal Show.
- The parish held a flower show on the last Tuesday of each July.
- The parish holds Britain's last eight-sail windmill, built in 1830.
- Heckington had a Railway Station on the Sleaford and Boston branch of the Great Northern railway. The station still stands on the south side of the town.
- The village Temperance Hall was built around 1900 by Moses FRANKS. It was often used for parish meetings.
- In the 1086 Domesday Book, the parish is shown as held by Gilbert de GAUNT.
- In 1841, the principal land owners were the SCOTT, GODSON, LEESON, CHRISTOPHER, LEIVESLEY, KELHAM, GLEED and FOSTER families.
- In 1900, the principal land owners were Mrs. William LITTLE, Mrs. Charles Henry LITTLE, George GODSON, Hussey PACKE of Leicestershire, the trustees of Charles SHARPE, The Rev. Joseph Mason AUSTEN of London, Mr. Martin CHRISTOPHER, Mr. Edwin REDSHAW, and Mrs. Joseph GODSON.
- In 1913, the principal land owners were Mrs. William LITTLE, Mrs. Charles Henry LITTLE, Edward Hussey PACKE of Leicestershire, the trustees of Charles SHARPE, Edward Lewis Tennant AUSTEN, Ernest Henry GODSON, Mr. Martin CHRISTOPHER, Mr. Edwin REDSHAW, John Henry BUNTING of Spalding, and Frederick WARD.
- The COBHAM family were long seated at Heckington Hall, which stood a little south of the village. The old hall was taken down in the early 1800's.
- Heckington Hall was the residence of Mrs. William LITTLE from 1900 through 1913.
- Winkhill Hall was a small moated manor a mile northeast of the village, owned by the CHRISTOPHER family. It was torn down and a smaller house built on the same spot.
- Holmes House was a very ancient manor near the Car Dyke, owned by John LEIVESLEY in 1841. It was taken down in 1810 or so and a farmhouse built on the same spot.
- The national grid reference is TF 1444.
- An Ordnance Survey "Explorer 248" map will show detail of 2.5 inches to 1 mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of a WWII War Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in 2004.
To see the outside War Memorial and a list of names of those who served, see the Roll of Honour website.
- The name derives from the Old English Heca+ing+tun, meaning "estate associated with Heca". It appears as Hechintune (some sources show Eschintune) in the 1086 Domesday Book.
A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
- The locals pronounce the village name as "Eckington", dropping the "H" in true British fasion.
Here's a newspaper clipping mentioning the village. Unfortunately, the newspaper´s name is lost, but the date is 27 Oct. 1917. Right-hand columns are incomplete but I think it is possible to work out most of the context. I´ve used * to indicate gaps of lengths I could only guess at: Diane Maltby
HECKINGTON
WOUNDED, BUT MA *PROGRESS.- On Monday last, * Corporal S. Beck, of the Li*
an official intimation from * that their son was lying * at a Casualty Clearing Sta* from severe wounds. Corpl. * in France two years, and hi* will be glad to learn that a * ed in several places by shrap* ing satisfactory progress.
WAR SAVINGS ASSOC* Meeting of the Committee w* parish room, on the 18th * Godson presiding. At the * Rev. Twentyman, a vote* on the sudden bereavement * member, Mr. T. Curt, w* passed. Mr. W. Key, the * presented a statement, sh* members now number 243, * and 98 males, and amount* September, 1916, £5,583 17s. * purchased 7.205 at 15s 6d * resolved that in future o* completing his card, he sh* earliest dated certificate h* sociation. The auditor's * half-year ended 30th Septe* read. The committee c* members on what has been * trust that more will join * work. It is a splendid inv[?] * spare cash, and it is helping* war. The hon. Secretary at * room on Saturdays, from 7 * he, or his co-worker, Mr. * pleased to call on any like [?] * Try our Crown Mixtur* Higgs, Sleaford - Advt.
- This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the ancient Aswardhurn Wapentake in the North Kesteven district and in the parts of Kesteven.
- For today's parish governance, see the Heckington Parish Council. Be aware that they are NOT staffed to answer family history questions.
- For today's district governance, see the North Kesteven District Council.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Sleaford petty session hearings every Monday.
- In 1720, William TAYLOR left a yearly charity of £24 for poor people not on parish relief. He included four cottages in the village, a house and 12 acres of land. Two of the cottages were burned down about 1835, and the other two were occupied rent-free by poor widows.
- At the enclosure of the common lands in 1764, 44 acres were set aside for the poor. The revenue from this land was used to buy fuel for the poor.
- After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Sleaford Poor Law Union.
- In 1836, Rebecca PACKE endowed a charity with just over £251 and 13 shillings and directed that a third of the interest be distributed to the sick and poor of the parish according to their needs.
- In 1888, Henry GODSON bequeathed four almshouses on the border of the village green. These were still in use in 1912.
- Richard CROFT has a photograph of the Godson almshouses on Geo-graph, taken in October, 2010.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
1,042 |
| 1811 |
1,261 |
| 1841 |
1,558 |
| 1851 |
1,581 |
| 1871 |
1,865 |
| 1881 |
1,766 |
| 1891 |
1,686 |
| 1901 |
1,604 |
| 1911 |
1,666 |
- In 1846, Robert George BANKES left £100 in trust, the interest to go to the National School which was built that same year.
- The Public Elementary School (former National School) in Heckington was rebuilt in 1873 to accomodate 270 children.
- The East Heckington school was first built here in 1860 to hold 100 children. This school closed in 2009.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
Last updated on 17-October-2015
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