Places: February 2008 Archives

The Metheringham Area is a largely agricultural area. Using the various national census reports from 1801 onwards, it is possible to see how the population has varied over the past 200 years.

The graphs are adapted from information obtained from A Vision of Britain Through Time website, a lottery funded project run by the University of Portsmouth.

Calling all library users

There are serious suggestions that village libraries, including Metheringham Library, are going to see drastically changes. It is a know fact that there are ongoing issues being discussed about opening hours for this service.

Already there have been articles in the Sleaford Standard and in the Lincolnshire Echo on this subject and there has also been phone-in on Radio Lincoln on Tuesday 12th Feb about the fact that library opening hours are to be changed by the Lincolnshire County Council following their new financial year (1st April) should the new proposals be accepted. Most of our rural libraries (again including Metheringham) are to have their hours cut drastically, with the idea being that if your local library has its hours reduced you can always travel to another one within reasonable travelling distance. Some people have already written to the Lincolnshire County Council expressing their horror at these changes.

If you don’t want to see Metheringham lose its library or see this excellent facility vanish like so many other rural facilities (including Post Offices) put pen to paper and vent your feelings. The more letters sent the stronger our fight will be respected and considered – we hope!!!

Excerpts from the 1947 Ordnance Survey 1 inch to the mile map sheet have been added to the Metheringham Area Map Archive. The map sheet forms part of the Sixth (New Popular) Edition of the OS series. Whilst the publication date is 1947, there doesn't appear to be any updates to the sheet after 1939 as there is no evidence of any WW2 building activity. The absence of any of the many military airfields in our area demonstrates this.

The Map Archive already contains maps from the Ordnance Survey First Edition of 1890/1891 and from a much earlier survey by A Bryant of 1840.

Whites Directories are a valuable source of information about locations in England during the 19th century. They give a comprehensive description of cities, towns and village throughout England. Unlike the national census returns, they are not comprehensive, tending to give only a list of landowners and tradespeople. They are nevertheless indispensable as a research tool.

Thanks to some sterling research work by local amateur historian, Pete Ford, the coverage of Whites Directories for the Metheringham area has now been extended to include relevant entries from 1872, 1882 and 1892. This is in addition to the 1842 and 1856 entries which this site has hosted for some time.

All the Whites entries can be accessed from this page, or from individual village pages.

Please provide feedback on the Metheringham Area Family History forum if you find this feature useful.