Pointon

The Domesday Book of 1086 refers to Pointon as Pochinton or "the farmstead associated with or called after Pohhr", from the Old English. The village is seven miles north of Bourne on the B1177 and although overshadowed in historical interest by its illustrious neighbour, Sempringham, there is much to attract the curious. Some of the old thick-walled houses hereabouts are reputed to have been built with stone from the priory at Sempringham and there must have been some grand houses in past times because water from the Car Dyke, the Roman waterway that runs past the village to the east, was once used to fill a mediaeval moat around one of them.

The population in 1881 was 438, although it is much less today, and the village was noted for its sheep, particularly the Lincolnshire long-wool variety that had been bred here for the past 100 years and which fetched high prices at the annual sales. One of the biggest breeders of these sheep during the late 19th century was local farmer Mr Thomas Russell Casswell. 

Methodism arrived at Pointon in 1802 through friends at Aslackby and a chapel was built in 1842 down an alley off West Road on as piece of land purchased from John Lacey for £20 while the building was erected at a cost of £215 3s. 0d. Membership of the church was only nine in 1820 but an ecclesiastic census of 1851 recorded that 67 adults attended the afternoon service together with 30 children from the Sunday School. The chapel was improved in the 1960s and although a devoted team of members tried to keep it going, the task was impossible and the last service was held there on Sunday 14th March 1995 before the building was closed.

The Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ of Letter-Day Saints, also had a preaching house in the village and on Religious Census Sunday in 1851, 78 people attended the chapel and 35 the preaching house but others from the village walked across the fields to attend services at St Andrew's Church at Sempringham.

Christ Church, pictured above, is a recent addition to the village, having been erected in 1893, and is one of England's few remaining tin tabernacles, tucked away in a side lane yet still serving the community as a place for worship after more than a century although its construction was an early form of prefabrication, made elsewhere from corrugated iron and erected on site for less than £400. 

The church was still going strong in the spring of 2014 with a full programme of worship and it was also open for community activities every Tuesday morning, regularly attracting twenty villagers and there were also evening drop-ins and school assemblies.

The congregation was also actively seeking ways of raising money for extensive work to improve the building. "It boasts comfortable seats, is always warm in winter and thanks to a tremendous fund-raising effort in 2012 has a modern loo for the disabled", said Keith King, the churchwarden. But more money was needed to rebuild the north aisle and provide a kitchen to enable children's activities be extended. "Without a sink, clearing up after craft work or offering a drink and a biscuit can be quite a challenge", he explained.

One of the biggest but most unprepossessing buildings is the village hall which stands on land donated by a local haulage contractor, Thomas Bates. Documents found under the stage in the summer of 2002 included the original deeds of the property giving a picture of its history. The land on which the hall stands was purchased by Mr Bates in 1934 for £60 and he subsequently bequeathed it to the village with the proviso dated 13th May 1936: "No buildings shall be erected on the property other than a village hall and such a village hall shall be erected in accordance with plans, elevations and specifications previously submitted to and approved by the commissioners and their surveyors". 

The hall had not been built when the Second World War (1939-1945) broke out and the land was used for an air raid shelter and later as a garden and poultry run as a source of food for the villagers. But nine years after the war ended, the hall did become a reality and a plaque over the door records the event: "The hall was built by voluntary labour upon the site given by Mr. Thomas Bates of Pointon. Erected 1954." The hall cost £1,300 to build, money that was donated by villagers in sums of £20, £10 and £5, but modernisation work has been carried out in recent years at a cost of £17,000. There have been difficulties with running the hall, particularly in 1999 when there was a shortage of volunteers, but these problems have been resolved and so the hall continues to function as a valuable amenity and the focal point for village life with dances, wedding receptions and parties being held there.

Pointon also enjoys a reputation for holding the biggest car boot sales in the area and on these occasions it is impossible to park unless you are an early riser but if you do manage to find a space, you will never be disappointed by the bargains on offer.

The only public house in Pointon is the Old Ship, although from 1998 until 2000, it was called the Olde Tavern, a white-washed building with twin dormer windows and a red pantiled roof. The Old Ship is the original name and was restored when new owners took over and gave the building a major facelift that included removing the whitewash and revealing a façade of mellowed brick. Immediately opposite was another inn called the New Ship but this has been closed for several years and is now converted for use as a private house. The age of the Old Ship is not known and although the deeds only go back as far as 1921, it is certainly much older, perhaps even 18th century. It is listed as the Old Ship in White's Lincolnshire for 1856 when the victualler is named as William Hackett while the New Ship across the road is also mentioned with butcher and victualler William Shilcock as the landlord and he may well have been related to the Shilcock family of Bourne who owned the Star Brewery in the town that supplied many public houses in the vicinity with their ale. 

Farming has always been the main business in this village but during the 19th century, it also supported a wide variety of trades including a grocer and draper, a carpenter and wheelwright, a butcher, baker, cobbler, an agricultural engineer and a post office. 

The village school was built in 1863 at a cost of £500 that was raised by public subscription and had room for 150 children although the average attendance was only 84. It was known as the National School and was maintained with an annual donation of £25 from the Crown, a government grant, a voluntary rate and fees that were paid in certain cases. The school was particularly important to village life because it also contained a parochial library of 180 books. The headmaster at this time was Mr William Hornby and his wife Emma was the mistress. It is now known as St. Gilbert of Sempringham Church of England Primary School and has a stone plaque on the end gable bearing that date. At the front of the building is the village pump, installed in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria A D 1897.

The school was improved and extended with the addition of a new block in the spring of 2003 at a cost of £140,00, funded jointly by the Church of England and the Department for Education and Science, and the Bishop of Grantham, the Rt Rev David Rossdale, dedicated the building at the opening ceremony. The work included the addition of a new computer suite.

THE SOUTH FORTY FOOT DRAIN

Neslam Bridge carries the road over the South Forty Foot Drain at Pointon and this view shows the waterway to the north. The drain is the main channel for land drainage in the South Lincolnshire fens and dates back to the early 17th century when the first scheme to make the Bourne North Fen available for agriculture was carried out by the Earl of Lindsey.

POINTON LODE

Heavy and continual rain during November 2012 raised the levels in many fenland waterways and people living nearby feared that flooding would ensure. This picture of Pointon Lode in flood was taken by a resident of Aslackby Fen with Sempringham church in the distance and indicating the abnormal flow and high level of the water.

REVISED APRIL 2014

See also

Tin Tabernacles     Draining Bourne North Fen

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