Historically Nocton fell within the
Langoe Wapentake of
Kesteven until the
wapentakes were abolished by the
Local Government Act 1888.
Neolithic The earliest archaeological evidence of settlement in Nocton Parish are finds of the Neolithic and the Iron Ages. A possible
early Neolithic flint core was recovered in 2011 from Nocton Fen from which flint blades had been napped. A
Neolithic polished stone axe was discovered close to the future site of Nocton Hall in its grounds opposite Manor Farm, in 1909,
Bronze Age There is some limited evidence of
Bronze Age occupation. A negative
cropmark indicates the presence of a Bronze Age
round barrow approximately 500 metres south of Abbey Hill. Two
Deverel-Rimbury urns dating from 1600 – 1100 BC were found locally in 1882, possibly in Nocton Fen.
Iron Age There is archaeological evidence of
Iron Age (800 BC - AD 44) settlement and activity in Nocton that was then in the territory of the
Brythonic Celtic tribal federation of the
Corieltauvi. Iron Age scored pottery sherds containing animal bones were found both at the Neolithic site and to the south-western edge of the village along the bridleway to Dunston. The Archaeological and Historical Sites Index also records the presence of an Iron Age settlement and rectilinear enclosures to the north-east of the village although Iron Age Britons lived in round houses with conical thatched roofs of straw or heather that left few archaeological remains.
Roman era The Romans were present in the area of Nocton although no sizeable occupation has yet been discovered here. Their legacy in Nocton is most strongly visible in the
Car Dyke Romano-British canal that runs along the western fen edge from
Lincoln to
Peterborough linking the
River Witham to the
River Welland and forming part of an ancient fen drainage system. It is thought to have been constructed by the Romans, possibly around 125 AD. It is the dividing line between the limestone uplands of the west and the fenlands of the east of the parish, the strip between Car Dyke and the River Witham at the eastern extreme of Nocton Parish once being known as the Witham Peat Fen. Two Roman clay coin moulds were found in 1811 in the bed of Car Dyke at the north end of Nocton Wood, close to Wasps Nest. The moulds are identified as belonging to Constantine the Great (AD307–337) and his mother Helena and copies of copper alloy
folles, now located at the British Museum. Other archaeological discoveries in Nocton include a beehive
quern-stone, the site of a Roman settlement and cropmark and a Roman coin hoard. that the former Romano-Britons of Lincoln continued to control a large area around the city into at least the early sixth century which would likely have included the area of Nocton. There was an
Anglo-Saxon settlement at Nocton whose name is derived from the
Old English words 'hnoc tun', meaning 'village of the
wether sheep'. It is likely that elements of the Great Heathen Army passed through Nocton in September 870 after destroying Bardney Abbey, crossing the River Witham from Lindsey into Kesteven before travelling south towards Peterborough. By the late tenth century Nocton fell within the Langoe Wapentake within the
Five Boroughs of the Danelaw. By the eleventh century at the time of the coming of the Normans the settlement comprised 39 families and a church. All but one of 24
carucates of taxable land was owned by Ulf of Nocton who also owned 12 carucates in Dunston that was a jurisdiction of Nocton. Oswulf of Faldingworth owned the remaining carucate Remains of the medieval settlement were found along Main Street and the church and churchyard were traced to the south-west of the current Nocton Hall.
Norman In the
Domesday Survey of 1086 Nochetune (Nocton) was held in its entirety by Norman de Arci (later written d’Arcy), Lord of Nocton. Nocton’s entry in the Domesday Book put it in the largest 20% of settlements recorded in England. D'Arcy was allotted 33 parishes, also holding land in Dunston, Timberland, Kirkby Green and Scopwick. The previous Anglo-Saxon landlords had given place to Norman at some time between 1066 and 1086 and d’Arcy’s descendants held the property for 23 generations until the 1600s. The d'Arcy family had established a deer park at some time between 1086 and the early twelfth century and it became known as Nocton Park. Norman lords imported a craze for deer parks after 1066, their number growing from 37 to as many as 3000 by the fourteenth century. Deer parks were created in an area of the manor not under cultivation, hayfields or coppiced woods. In the early twelfth century, around 1140, Norman d’Arcy’s son Robert granted the church at Nocton to the
Benedictines of
St Mary's Abbey, York and some land to the
Carthusians of
Kirkstead Abbey. He also founded
Nocton Park Priory, which stood about a mile east of the village on a hill overlooking Car Dyke, in or near the existing deer park, for the canons of the
Augustinian Order who arrived in England from 1108. Its location on Abbey Hill remains evident in the shape of the ground. The grant was reconfirmed by Robert’s grandson, also called Norman, in a charter dated 17 Jun 1218. Nocton Park Priory was smaller and poorer than the other houses of the Witham Valley and never numbered more than nine canons. The long, parallel fields of Nocton Fen between Car Dyke and the modern course of the River Witham were the result of the division of wetlands that had its peak in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Common fen or marsh pasture was partitioned between tenants to provide land for grazing and arable; these long strip-like fields of enclosed fen were known as 'dales'. Before 1331 the dales on Nocton Fen belonged to Bardney Abbey, having been granted by Mabel, wife of Andrew Pincetun of Nocton.
Middle Ages General Markets and fairs were held in the Middle Ages at Nocton. The first market was held in 1214.
Plantagenets In the mid-twelfth century the western edge of modern Nocton Parish fell within an area known as Hanehaithe that denoted part of the great heath stretching southwards from Lincoln as far as
Boothby Graffoe and
Blankney. The heath was given to Kirkstead Abbey around the mid-twelfth century. Thirty-nine households were recorded in 1563, falling to 28 by 1721. The population rose to 287 people in 1801 and 482 in 1901. A charter was granted to Philip Darcy in 1257, and another was granted to Norman Darcy in 1284 to hold a fair on 21 to 22 July. During the reign of
Elizabeth I the site passed to Henry Stanley (Lord Strange) who converted the priory into a residence.
Georgian era In the first four decades of the eighteenth century,
Sir Richard Ellys of Nocton formed a collection of books which eventually went to
Blickling Hall in Norfolk by inheritance in the 1740s, though most of the books were kept in London. They form the core of the library of some 12,500 books now in the care of the
National Trust.
Nocton Fen: Land improvement and industry in the 19th century Nocton Fen stands to the north-east of the village, and includes the
hamlet of Wasp's Nest. At the end of the 18th century,
George Hobart, 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire invested in the drainage of the fen. In around 1794 he paid for a windmill which pumped water into the River Witham until it was superseded in 1834 by a 40 bhp steam engine powerful enough to drain the fen faster than water ingress. on Nocton Heath before 1824 approximately 200 metres west of the B1188 Lincoln Road / B1202 Main Street junction and was taken down in 1827 to be replaced by a new mill at Mill Corner, approximately 700 metres to the east at the junction of the B1202 and Old Sleaford Road. The second mill burned down after 6 years in service in October 1833; its replacement on the same site was pulled down in 1904.
Twentieth century Nocton Estates Light Railway was constructed in 1926 and used to transfer potatoes to the
railhead at
Dunston and sugar beet to a factory at
Bardney. The light railway rolling stock and track were originally used to move munitions and troops to the front line in the
First World War. The village shared the
Nocton and Dunston railway station (GNR/GER Joint) until it was closed in 1955. Trains still run on the route from
Lincoln to
Sleaford but do not stop for goods or passengers at the old Nocton and Dunston station. There was a
rail accident on this line on 28 February 2002 when a van fell onto the railway line and was hit by an oncoming train, killing the driver. A survey of the
East Midlands Oilfields including blocks around Nocton in 1943 resulted in short-lived production from a well – Nocton-2 – drilled by d'Arcy Oil Company from December 1943 until 1945 amounting to 521 barrels in total, described as a major disappointment. The
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (BP) required 100,000 tons of crude oil per year, which it found at
Eakring and
Caunton, as supplies from the
Abadan Refinery, in Iran, were hampered until the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Oil was also
found in Nocton in the 1960s.
Military activity Between 1917 and 1995
Nocton Hall was used variously by the
United States Army,
Royal Air Force and
United States Air Force as the site of a convalescent home and military hospital. The ruins of the Hall and hospital buildings remain to the present day. In the early twentieth century, particularly during World War II, there were numerous close to Nocton; the level of training and operational flying resulted in a number of crashes within the parish: •
9 September 1930.
Avro 504N J9007 of
2 FTS from
Digby hit a tree on Nocton Heath. •
4 April 1941.
Defiant N3333 of
225 Sqn crashed on Nocton Fen near Glebe Farm following an engine explosion at 4000 ft on a patrol sortie from
Kirton in Lindsey. Crew baled out with minor injury. •
14 June 1941.
Hampden AE129 of
44 Sqn crashed on eastern Nocton Fen on approach to
Waddington returning from a mining operation, killing all four crew. •
10 September 1941.
Wellington X9872 of 25 OTU from
Finningley hit farm buildings on Nocton Delph mile from the River Witham, killing all six crew. •
1 October 1943.
Halifax DG275 of 1660 HCU span into the ground at Nocton Washway close to the River Witham following loss of control during a training flight from
Swinderby, killing all nine crew. ==Geography==