We invite you to take a stroll round Scopwick and hope this guide will entertain you as you walk through our streets and lanes. The trail takes you round Scopwick village in less than 1 mile and can be done in about an hour. For those with a couple of hours to spare, there is an extra loop of 1.5-2 miles across the fields on paths, returning via Trundle Lane on part of the Stepping-Out Circuit. We suggest you park in Vicarage Lane, next to the churchyard extension. If travelling on the B1188 turn off eastwards at its junction with B1191 from Ashby-de-la-Launde and RAF Digby.
The name 'Scopwick' comes from the Old English 'scaep-wic', meaning 'sheep farm', and the village may have originated as a sheep farm belonging to Kirkby, 'the village with a church. The E boundary of the Lincolnshire Limestone outcrop runs N-S through the village close to the car park, with land that was once heath to the west.
. The churchyard extension contains war graves associated with RAF Digby. Among the British and Commonwealth personnel lie 5 Germans, 4 from an aircraft shot down at Coleby after bombing Lincoln, and a fighter-bomber pilot who made a solo attack on Wellingore airfield. Some RAF personnel in the inter-war period were keen to develop their own aircraft, one such being Edward Villiers, who crashed in his machine and was killed on 19 June 1933. This aircraft was taken over by Charles Davidson, who suffered the same fate on 21 May 1936. Opposite the churchyard extension is a paddock to which reference is made at point 5. (If you decide to take the next two points on your way out by car from Vicarage Lane, move now to point 4).
2. The Vicarage was extended in 1832, when the Revd Dr George Oliver was vicar. Mr Thomas Sewell and Richard Pears acted as guarantors for the mortgage, being the churchwardens. The older part of the house is 18th century and stands nearest to the lane. In the garden there are two 11th century columns surmounted by an arch all brought in 1848 from the medieval church at Kirkby Green, when the latter was replaced.
3. The main road here follows the line of a prehistoric track from Old Sleaford to the crossing of the Witham at Washingborough. Dr Oliver recorded that there had once been a 20ft high conical mound called Wilmore Hill at the junction of the B1188 and Vicarage Lane. The hill may have been a tumulus (prehistoric burial place). Notice further evidence of quarrying in the field by the main road. Up the hill on the other side of the main road there are the remains of a deeper quarry, used for the winning of building stone, hidden among trees in the grounds of Scopwick House, a farmstead built by Henry Chaplin in 1868-70 to replace an old farmstead near the church. (Retrace your steps to the car park).
4. Pass S Through a small estate of bungalows. Take the path separating the E side of the churchyard from an interesting row of cottages. The first of these (no. 4 Church Row) is the farmhouse replaced in 1968-70. The sturdier farm buildings S of the farmhouse were converted into nos 3 Church Row.
The Church of Holy Cross is mostly in the Early English style of the 13th century and the Decorated style of the 14th. The top of the tower was added in either 1665 or 1668 according to how you read the date on the west side. In 1838 the choir comprised farm labourers and their wives led by a 'clarionet and violincello' - this was before the organ was installed. The porch was erected in 1884, a new chancel built in 1910 and the clock was added in 1923. The church is beautifully kept and is often open.
5. On the W side of the church is no 33 Main Street, the last of the Scopwick cottages with a paddock. In the back garden is a former cow stable and pig-sty, the paddock behind stretching back to Vicarage Lane. Continue walking westwards, noticing nos 25-27, which used to be Betsy Pacey's shop. Nos 17-23, the T-shaped building, were Harrison's maltkiln that went out of business in 1860. The front portion was taken over by a wheelwright as his workshop.
6. Corner Farm is basically c1700, the W wing having been raised to 3 storeys c1800 to accommodate male farm servants. Look for the line of the old roof and for the 'kneelers', curved stones placed to stop other stones slipping down the gable-end. There was also a slaughter house and butcher's shop within the farm buildings. (Cross the road and bridge with extreme care).
7. The Royal Oak (c1700) has a very steep pantile roof suggesting former thatch. The entrance is opposite the central chimney stack, a common feature of sizeable houses of this period. The pub goes back under its present name at least to 1838, but the name may go back to the restoration of Charles II in 1660. In the days before railways this pub was used by drovers taking stock to Sleaford and London. In 1856 the Royal Oak was the place at which the mail cart collected and delivered Scopwick letters.
8. Sewell's Farm is one of the few Scopwick farms not belonging to the Chaplins when they were owners of the Blankney estate. The Sewells were owned from the 17th century; in 1799 the owner was John Sewell, and in 1832 it was Thomas Sewell. The Sewell family had already left the village when their Scopwick property was bought in 1903 by the Earl of Londesborough, who had replaced Henry Chaplin as estate owner in 1896. The farm extended to 60 acres and the tenancy came into the hands of the present owner's father and uncle in 1922.
9. No 24 (High House) is listed as late 18th century and contains an original stick-baluster staircase. Brook House (no 30) was the White Horse pub, which until 1914 incorporated a blacksmith's business. The house on the near former of Bridge Lane (no 32) contained a shop run by Mrs Brown, whose husband was engineer at the pumping station on Heath Road. The shop business was continued by the Jarvis family who built no 28 as a new house-cum-shop after the second world war. No 36 (Grasmere, the house with a large wisteria) was the home of Mr Mackinder, the saddler, and hooks in the wall where saddles hung outside can still be seen.
10. Use the footbridge to cross the beck, which by now you will realise is the most prominent feature of the village scene. It is fed by springs, said by Oliver to have boiled and bubbled at various points. He recorded that there had been stocks and a ducking stool, and that ploughboys had once played rough games with plough ropes, the object being to put each other into the beck. Also discontinued were bonfires and dancing round the maypole. A photo of the 1950s reminds us that a lot of tree-planting had been done since then, and the daffodils make a splash along the banks in Spring.
11. Turn R on to Main Street. The first house (no 45) was a grocer's shop for many years kept by the Babbaley, Domoney and Whittaker families. Opposite there used to be one of the standpipes erected in 1913, now all gone. No 47, listed as late 18th century used to have a modern shop extension to the R. The Church of England school was built in 1866 as an all-age elementary school, becoming a primary school (5-11) in the 1950s, but closing in the 70s. After passing the school notice the water tank across the grass field on the L; this is situated in Trundle Lane, part of the route of the longer version of the trail.
12. No 71 Main Street, gable end to the road, was also once the post office, as well as a smallholding. Just beyond is the Methodist Church built in 1905 on the site of the Wesleyan chapel of 1840. It was only 15 weeks from the opening of tenders to the opening of the new chapel, which cost £640 10s 0d, and has only needed two modest renovations since 1905.
13. The stone buildings beyond the bungalows on the north side of Main Street, now three dwellings (nos 97-103), were once a farmhouse and attached cottage, with the barn to the E now converted into a residence (no 107).
This is the end of the village part of the trail. To regain the car park walk back along Main Street until reaching the lane between 49 Main Street and the former school. This leads round into the main part of Vicarage Lane. For those with a little more time we offer an extension on well-marked paths and lanes extending about 1.5-2.0 miles.
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