Scottlethorpe

If you turn off the A151 road three miles west of Bourne, you will find yourself in Scottlethorpe which in past times was almost exclusively inhabited by workers from the Grimsthorpe Estate which starts at the end of the road, although today most are privately owned. 

This hamlet is referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Scachertorp, the thorpe meaning a secondary settlement (of Edenham) although the derivation of the first part of the name is uncertain. A barn with internal traces of Norman work was found here in 1967, the last remnant of four chapels set up to serve wealthy families who lived here during the 12th century. 

One of them was Mitchell Farm, or Manor Farm, a former seat of the Bertie family who lived at Grimsthorpe, and the attractive row of twelve cottages, pictured above, known as Elm Terrace, was built during the 19th century, also as homes for Grimsthorpe estate workers, and displays the family crest on the end gable, although this has been greatly eroded by wind and weather.

The date of the old and now demolished manor house is unknown but it was probably either late Elizabethan or early Jacobean. The coat of arms over the doorway was that of Robert, Earl of Lindsay, the leader of the royalist forces who was killed at the Battle of Edgehill on 23rd October 1642. He was buried in Edenham church where his war battered helmet was once on display. His coat of arms is now built into the wall of Grimsthorpe Castle, over the doorway on the Tudor side. It was said that Henry VIII visited the manor house and James I was entertained here.

Go to:     Main Index     Villages Index