Bytham Castle

Castle Bytham is a village and civil parish of around 300 houses in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It is located 9 miles (14 km) north of Stamford and 9 miles (14 km) west of Bourne.The population was measured at 768 in 317 households at the 2011 census.At one time the village was an important commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural communities, but it is now largely a dormitory, although a number of farming families remain with a much reduced workforce.

Castle Bytham railway station was a station in Castle Bytham. It was Midland Railway property but train services were operated by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GN). The station and line closed in 1959 along with most of the M&GN.

Castle Bytham quarry is a disused quarry located close to the centre of the village of Castle Bytham, Lincolnshire, England. It is famous for the exposure of Laeviuscula Zone ammonite fauna has allowed the dating of the Upper Lincolnshire limestone formation to the Bajocian era, and thereby dating other deposits around Europe. When the quarry was opened in the 1850s a Bronze Age arrowhead and a Saxon burial were found in the overburden.Although Ironstone quarrying was common to the west and north, this quarry was worked for Limestone. A kiln adjacent to the railway line was used to produce slaked lime for the agricultural trade and a small amount of cement. The quarry was worked by the Castle Lime company'. The quarry has been left to return to nature since its closure and is now a recognised Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI. It has most recently been used as a temporary car park for the annual Castle Bytham Mid-Summer Fair but is otherwise unused. The present owner of the quarry made efforts in 2004 to turn the quarry into an industrial complex of offices and small industrial units. Thunderbolt Pit, The small quarry to the North of the Little Bytham road, just past the former railway bridge, is in another small outcrop of the same stratification, on the other side of the river. It was not operated by Castle Lime.

Holywell Hall is a building of historical significance in Lincolnshire and is listed on the English Heritage Register. The house is in the civil parish of Careby Aunby and Holywell in the district of South Kesteven, south-west Lincolnshire, in England. It is a 17th-century country house which was built by the Goodhall family and then purchased by the Reynardson family who owned it for the next two hundred years. It is a Grade II* listed building and now a venue for special events particularly weddings.

Counthorpe and Creeton is a civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 97 across 45 homes.

Holywell is a tiny settlement in the civil parish of Careby Aunby and Holywell, in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies 5.5 miles (9 km) north from Stamford and 6 miles (10 km) south-west from Bourne. It is a collection of houses around a country house and park. The park includes a small private church dedicated to St Wilfrid. Ornamental lakes have been restored over the last 20 years, and new gardens laid out. In 2009 the gardens were open to the public through the National Garden Scheme. Two venerated springs are reported in the village, Holy Well and St Winifred's. Only the location of the first is known. There are no other place names associated with venerated springs in Lincolnshire, although other Holy Wells exist such as those near the site of Sempringham Priory and nearby Ryhall.

Creeton is a hamlet in the civil parish of Counthorpe and Creeton in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 3 miles (5 km) south west from Bourne and 3 miles (4.8 km) south from Corby Glen, on the River Glen. Creeton Grade I listed Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Peter. It is of late Decorated style. During restoration in 1851 the piers and arches of a former Norman aisle were discovered. The church holds a chained 1611 bible. In the churchyard are two examples of Saxon grave crosses, and 20 stone coffins considered to mark the interment of Cistercian monks of Vallis Dei abbey in the neighbouring Edenham parish.There are no amenities in Creeton; the nearest school is in Little Bytham, with shops in Corby Glen, Little Bytham and Castle Bytham, and a public house in Swinstead. The hamlet consists of approximately 20 households.

Little Bytham 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 384. It lies on the B1176 road, 4 miles (6 km) south from Corby Glen and 6 miles (10 km) north from Stamford . The East Coast Main Line railway cuts through the eastern side of the village over viaducts. On the edge of Little Bytham to the east is the West Glen River. Further east lie Witham on the Hill and Grimsthorpe Castle estate. To the west is Castle Bytham and, over the Rutland county boundary, is Clipsham. Careby is just to the south. The name 'Bytham' is first recorded in 1067 (as a monastery that rapidly translated to Vaudey Abbey), and comes from the Old English word bythme meaning Valley bottom, broad valley.

The church of St Medardus and St Gildardus in Little Bytham, Lincolnshire, England, is a Grade I listed building. It is dedicated to two 6th-century French saints, St Medard and St Gildard (or Medardus and Gildardus); the dedication is unique in the UK. Virtually unknown in Britain, St Medard is still well known in France, with at least 25 towns or villages named after him (as St Médard or St Méard). Gildard, thought to be his brother, is less well known. The village fête is held annually on or near St Medard's feast day, 8 June. The earliest parts of the building are some Anglo-Saxon "long-and-short" stonework, visible externally at the southeast and southwest corners (quoins) of the nave. The church also has several Romanesque details dating from the Norman era, including a Priest's Door ("uncommonly ornate", according to Nikolaus Pevsner) with a finely carved tympanum; the empty circular niche in the tympanum is said to have held a relic; the birds in roundels to either side are probably eagles, as one is legendarily supposed to have sheltered Medard from the rain. Also Norman are the plain, undecorated arch into the tower, and the north door (late 12th century). The south aisle and the upper parts of the tower and spire are 13th century work; the intersecting tracery of the east window of the south aisle shows that it is slightly later, dating from around 1300, as does the nearby piscina. The chancel arch is probably also from the late 13th century, and the double piscina in the chancel may be of a similar age. The Easter Sepulchre in the chancel is in the slightly later (Decorated) style, but is a fairly crude example. A finely sculpted capital depicting a Green Man surrounded by oak leaves, similar to examples at nearby Kirkby Underwood and Greatford, also dates from c.1300. It is no longer in position, having been built into a wall, face inwards, and rediscovered during later restoration work.The stone base of the pulpit is dated 1590, and has a Latin inscription Orate et parate ("Pray and prepare"). Pevsner mistakenly gives this as Orate et Arate. The Listed Building entry is taken from Pevsner, with the same error.The churchyard contains the war grave of a Royal Engineers soldier of the First World War.

Counthorpe is a hamlet in the civil parish of Counthorpe and Creeton in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It adjoins the hamlet of Creeton and lies 5 miles (8 km) south-west from Bourne and 3 miles (5 km) south from Corby Glen, and on the River Glen. In the Domesday account Counthorpe is written as "Cudetorp". Before the Conquest lordship was held by Earl Morcar; after, Drogo de la Beuvrière became Tenant-in-chief.Counthorpe shares the Grade I listed Anglican parish church at Creeton, dedicated to St Peter. The church is of late Decorated style. A restoration of 1851 discovered the arches and piers of a former Norman aisle. The church holds a chained bible from 1611. Two examples of Saxon crosses stand in the churchyard, with 20 stone coffins considered to mark the interment of Cistercian monks of Vallis Dei abbey in the neighbouring parish of Edenham.Counthorpe was formerly a hamlet of Castle Bytham and had, up to the 16th century, its own parochial chapel, but was annexed to Creeton in 1860.Counthorpe is recorded in the 1872 White's Directory as a small village in the parish of Castle Bytham, but which, for ecclesiastical purposes, became on 30 June 1860 united with Creeton. The village was 2 miles (3 km) from Little Bytham railway station. At this time Counthope was a township of 78 people in about 130 acres (0.5 km2) of land divided between three farms; a farmer of one of these, at Counthorpe Lodge, was also a grazier.

Gayton Hall is a country house in the parish of Gayton near King's Lynn in Norfolk.

Lincolnshire Gate is the name given to a corner in the road between Holywell, Lincolnshire and Pickworth, Rutland to the south-west of Castle Bytham, in Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately 5 miles (8 km) north from Stamford. It describes a point where this small country road crosses the county border between Lincolnshire and Rutland, to pass between Newell Wood and Howitts Gorse. On either side are the remains of small quarries, worked from the Middle Ages till the early 20th century for building and road stone for nearby use. Robert's Field, a 10 acres (0.04 km2) calcareous grassland nature reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), is 250 yards (229 m) to the north.There are no human settlements at Lincolnshire Gate.