Barkston railway station

Syston is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 162 at the 2011 census. It is situated 3 miles (5 km) north from Grantham, and on the A607 road which runs to the county town of Lincoln. Syston lies between the larger village of Barkston to its north, and Belton to its south.

Belton and Manthorpe is a civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, consisting of Belton and Manthorpe, just north of Grantham. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 517 in 192 households. By 2011 the authorities recorded 528 people in 216 homes.The parish lies on either side of the River Witham, flowing northwards from Grantham to Lincoln, and is similarly bisected by the A607 road which follows the River closely through the parish. In 1852 the Great Northern Railway constructed its line between Grantham and Newark, which passes through the extreme west of the parish. This now forms part of the main East Coast Main Line from London to Edinburgh. The Eastern part of the parish encloses the village of Belton, the park of Belton House, and that part of Barkston Heath not taken up by RAF Barkston Heath. The extreme eastern boundary is the former Roman road known as High Dyke, part of Ermine Street. On the West of the river Welland is the large Golf Course known as Belton Woods. In the extreme south is the village of Manthorpe, not to be confused with Grantham's Manthorpe Estate, adjacent to the southern boundary. Both the villages were essentially agricultural estate villages constructed and maintained by the Brownlow family, until the 1950s.

Barkston is an English village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. The parish population was 497 at the 2001 census and 493 at the 2011 census. The village lies about 4 miles (6 km) north of the market town of Grantham, on the A607, just south of the junction with the A153 to Ancaster.

Hougham railway station is a former railway station in Hougham, Lincolnshire. The station was about a mile east of the village of Hougham itself and was part of the Great Northern Railway. The station was opened on 15 July 1852.The closure of the station was announced on 17 August 1957 by the British Transport Commission, who confirmed that the station would be declared 'uneconomic' and passenger train services were withdrawn on 16 September 1957 as well as Claypole.

Gelston is a village in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is 2 miles (3 km) west from the A607 road, 5 miles (8 km) north from Grantham, and in the civil parish of Hough-on-the-Hill, a village 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north-east. The village is included in the ecclesiastical parish of Hough-on-the Hill, part of the Loveden Deanery of the Diocese of Lincoln.

The Church of St Peter and St Paul, Belton, South Kesteven, Lincolnshire is a functioning parish church and a Grade I listed building. Since the 17th century, the church has served as the estate church for Belton House and it holds a notable collection of funerary monuments commemorating members of the Brownlow family.

Belton is a village in the civil parish of Belton and Manthorpe, in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A607 road, and 3 miles (5 km) north from the market town of Grantham. In 1921 the parish had a population of 145.

Belton House is a Grade I listed country house in the parish of Belton near Grantham in Lincolnshire, England, built between 1685 and 1687 by Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet. It is surrounded by formal gardens and a series of avenues leading to follies within a larger wooded park. Belton has been described as a compilation of all that is finest of Carolean architecture, said to be the only truly vernacular style of architecture that England had produced since the Tudor period. It is considered to be a complete example of a typical English country house; the claim has even been made that Belton's principal façade was the inspiration for the modern British motorway signs which give directions to stately homes. For about three centuries until 1984, Belton House was the seat of the Brownlow family, which had first acquired land in the area in the late 16th century. Their heirs, the Cust family, were created Baron Brownlow in 1776. Despite his great wealth Sir John Brownlow, 3rd Baronet, chose to build a comparatively modest house rather than one of the grand Baroque palaces being built by others at the time. The contemporary, if provincial, Carolean style was the selected choice of design. Nevertheless, the new house was fitted with the latest innovations, such as sash windows for the principal rooms, and followed the latest thinking on house-planning, in seeking to separate those parts of the building that were for the use of the family from the areas where servants carried out their domestic duties. Successive generations made changes to the interior of the house which reflected their changing social position and tastes, yet the fabric and design of the house changed little. In August 1914, Belton House and its park were used as the assembly point for the newly-formed 11th (Northern) Division before its deployment in World War I, and in October 1915 it was used as the home depot and training ground of the Machine Gun Corps. During World War II, RAF Belton Park was established in the grounds of the house, as were two RAF Regiment squadrons, by November 1944 1,850 personnel were based at Belton. The Custs, like many previously wealthy English families, were faced with mounting financial problems. The seventh Baron opened the estate to the public. An adventure playground was built in the nearby woods to attract families to the house as a tourist attraction. However, the financial difficulties were too great and in 1984 they donated the house, with most of its contents, to the National Trust. The trust introduced new features and attractions to fund repairs and conservation. Further revenue is raised from the use of the property as a filming location, and from licensing the Marble Hall for civil weddings. It was visited by 340,290 people during 2021.

Oak Bank School is a co-educational special school with academy status located in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England. The school accepts pupils from all over the Central Bedfordshire area. Oak Bank was established in 1976 as school for 'mal-adjusted children', and originally had capacity for 40 boarding pupils and 20 day pupils. The school had been commissioned by Luton County Borough, specifically for children from Luton, however Bedfordshire County Council took over responsibility for completing the school after the Local Government Act 1972, and the school accepted children from all over the county of Bedfordshire from its opening. Central Bedfordshire Council took over responsibility for the school after the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. In November 2013 the school converted to academy status. Today, Oak Bank is a day school for pupils who have statements of special educational need associated with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. When pupils join the school they have frequently had fractured experiences of education, and so their attainment on entry is well below average.

Marston is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 360. It lies 5 miles (8 km) north from Grantham, 8 miles (13 km) south-east from Newark, and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north from the A1 near Long Bennington Marston Grade I listed Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Mary, and is of 12th-century origin, with an 1881-82 chancel by C. Kirk. Pevsner gives the date of the chancel as 1878, restored and partly rebuilt in Early English style. St Mary's holds monuments to members of the Thorold family.Marston Hall is a Grade II* late 16th-century country house, with further alterations up to the 18th century. Pevsner records a 1962 "gothick" style garden gazebo, designed by John Partridge, with pinnacles by Christopher Blackie and murals by Barbara Jones. Marston Thorold Primary School dates from 1861. It is still somewhat supported by the Dame Margaret Thorold Educational Foundation, is now Church of England voluntary aided.The village also has a church hall, the Thorold Arms public house and a fishery. The Ramada Resort hotel, formerly the Old Barn, is located on Toll Bar Road.

The murder of Julie Pacey (1955/1956 – 26 September 1994) was a mysterious, and still unsolved, murder of a mother in her own home in Grantham, England on Monday 26 September 1994. 38-year-old 'vivacious mum' Pacey was found strangled to death with a cord in her first-floor bathroom by her 14-year-old daughter on her return home from school. A mysterious figure who became known as the 'Overalls Man', and who remains the prime suspect, was seen by numerous witnesses in the vicinity of Pacey's home in the days around the murder, and this red-faced man had suspiciously turned up at Pacey's home when she was alone three days previously, supposedly asking for directions. Although she had been sexually assaulted, investigators still do not know why she was apparently targeted in what appeared to be a pre-planned attack. The case has twice featured on Crimewatch, on which Pacey's murder was described as a "truly dreadful case". As well as the mystery surrounding 'Overalls Man', the case is notable for a number of 'bizarre' matters associated with it. Even though Pacey's family car was an Audi, she was witnessed by multiple people in an unknown BMW in the days leading up to the murder, despite her family being adamant she would not have had access to one. A BMW was also reported to have been seen parked on her driveway on occasions, including on the day of the murder, and a BMW was also seen speeding away from the scene after the killing. These sightings of cars have never been explained. In another 'bizarre twist' that was reported on nationally, the (innocent) actor who played the role of the killer in the Crimewatch reconstruction was sensationally investigated as a suspect in September 2015 after the 1994 appeal was re-shown, with some viewers who had watched the appeal mistakenly calling in to state that they recognised him as the killer. Publicity on the case had returned in 2015 after it was revealed that a full DNA profile of the killer had been identified in what was described as a "landmark forensic breakthrough", although with the killer's DNA not matching any on the UK National DNA Database, police continue to appeal to the public to come forward to provide a name that can be investigated to be eliminated. Pacey's murder has been described as one of the region's "most mysterious crimes".

Manthorpe is a village in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is on the northern edge of the town of Grantham and on the Grantham to Lincoln A607 road, between the East Coast Main Line and the River Witham. The village is part of the civil parish of Belton and Manthorpe.The infamous unsolved murder of Julie Pacey occurred in the area in 1994. It is believed the unidentified killer may have also been local to the area.