Country Homes

Nocton Hall, Lincoln - The Seat of Mr. J. Hodgson

"Those who know the charm of great over-arching skies and far-distant prospects melting at sunset into the gold and purple west, will not under-value such a characteristic land, even though when the night falls, and they draw their casement curtains, they glance, like Mariana, only 'athwart the glooming flats'." Such describes the fen-land of Lincolnshire.

During my research, I have discovered a number of images of Nocton Hall that seem to have illustrated an old Country Life magazine. I have since managed to locate the article concerned, which was originally published on 28 September 1901. It was tracked down to the archives of IPC Media Ltd. Copyright permission has kindly been granted by the Picture Library Manager, in order for me to reproduce the article for you to read. I do hope you find it of interest.

Country Homes - Gardens: Old & New

Lords of the Manor

'The Lords of the Manor of Nocton and their Times'

Happy New Year to you all - may I wish you a healthy and fruitful year.

I thought I would open 2013 with a flourish. As many of you will know, I have been cataloguing all of Mrs Sheila Redshaw's historical material appertaining to our village of Nocton. As one of the final tasks, I decided to record electronically the handwritten draft of a book that has never been published before. It has taken many months to type up the work, but the finished item can now be located here: 'The Lords of the Manor of Nocton and their Times' by John Eagle.

The handwritten draft has been in the possession of the Ireson family for many years and latterly was donated to Mrs Redshaw (in order for this to be added to her collection).

All of Sheila’s archive material has since been donated to the Parish Council for the benefit of the residents of Nocton in perpetuity. The manuscript book is now catalogued under Ref. No.66 should you wish to view the original.

Somewhat appropriately, the following text was discovered in what appear to be the author's working papers – and I feel this is a super introduction, should you choose to read the book:

“Except upon a very limited, and, I think, unsatisfactory scale, there is not enough authenticated material available to make a complete survey of the biographies of the Lords of the Manor of Nocton possible. Therefore, in order to gain the end I desire, I have employed duly accredited documentary evidence principally as a guide, and adapted to suit the plan upon which I based this story, so that it has become partly factual and partly fictitious.

I have tried to limit the influence of my imagination so that it remains within the strict confines of what is possible and what is probable. Thus I have endeavoured to be scrupulous in first observing the facts, and then studying the implications arising from the facts, and from those resources I have drawn my own interpretation of events. In doing so I have continuously recognised the unmistakeable fact that I could be wrong”

Finally, I believe the author would have liked to see his draft being made available for others to read, rather than being left stored in a box, never to see the light of day. Enjoy, I hope you find it interesting, I did.

Introduction to Nocton

Nocton in Lincolnshire

This blog is an attempt to create an online social record of information relating to the village of Nocton, Lincolnshire, UK.

Sign at entrance to village

Village History

This is a short extract from the weekly letter to the publication ‘London Calling’ from 16 March 1950, which is still pretty accurate today.

'Lincolnshire Village of Nocton' by Muriel Burton

"It is easy to miss the village of Nocton. The first time I went there, on the Lincoln-Sleaford road, I was through it before I realised the existence of any village. A scatter of houses, a gracious farm or two, a church, a tiny post-office-cum-shop: that is all.

True, it is set in rich farming land, its local stone glows a warm yellow, and, if the sun were shining, you might be tempted to stop and look around. But even then you might be tempted to dismiss it quickly as just another charming village with no real history. The hall, you would find, goes back only to 1841, and the church to 1862. So you would get back again into your car and drive away.

But that impression of Nocton could be hopelessly wrong. There are the remains of the Car Dyke, presumed to be a Roman drainage channel constructed by the demobbed veterans who were settled around Lincoln. There is Abbey Field, a few hillocks that are remnants of a twelfth-century priory, and a few pieces of stonework from it. The young church is the third on a site that goes back to Norman times, and the hall is successor to two others that from Norman days have belonged to great families whose names are part of England’s history."

The information in these blog pages has been collated from various sources and brought together to try and provide a 'one-stop shop' for people who are interested in this locality. I have endeavoured to give credit for those sources wherever possible, if however you find any possible copyright infringes, please advise and I will remove the offending item forthwith.

I hope you enjoy reading the extracts and browsing the various photographs of our area.