Scothern has many old cottages with at least one, 32 Craypool Lane, going back to the 17th Century (previously known as Town End Farm and originally accessed past its barn on Main Street). As can be seen from its steep roof pitch, in the photo above, it was once thatched as all our pre 18th century houses or crofts would have been. Town End Farm has been a farm house, possibly split into two or three farm cottages, and also a bakehouse. It still has bread ovens in the kitchen (see photo). The cottage sits on the plot of the medieval water mill which was fed from the beck which then ran around Craypool Lane. Even on an 1860 map you can still see the widened Beck in the rear garden, probably where the mill wheel was situated. When converting the adjacent barn into a dwelling I found one of the original mill stones that had unfortunately been cut square to act as a step, it is now the house's hearth stone. If indeed original, it probably dates from the 12th or 13th century and was cut in France. The first known village cottage was on Main Street whose medieval footings were found in the 1960's. These first peasant buildings were made of timber and wattle and daub but later built in stone with thatched roofs.  

There are now approximately ten stone cottages remaining in Scothern. (Please feel free to count more if I'm wrong and let me know).  I say approximately because many original stone houses now have brick fronts, extensions or brick built upper floors. Also many more Langworth Yellow Brick cottages are built on old stone cottage footings.  We call the yellow bricks 'Langworths' because there was a brick works there but in fact many of the yellow bricks came from a brick works on Ashing Lane, Dunholme. This was started by two Scottish brick makers who moved there in the early 19th century. Wier Farm House, which was adjacent to the village pond on Main Street is another interesting cottage because it is built from red two inch bricks, probably cast in Lincoln.

The Manor was rebuilt in brick in 1820 and that probably brought in the fashion of re-fronting of cottages in the village or completely rebuilding in brick. It is thought there was a manor on the site before the 1066 Norman conquest and definitely later by 1154 when its lands together with most of the peasant crofts in the west of the village were given to Barlings Abbey. The crofts in the east half of the village along with their peasant families and all their lands had already been given to St Peter's Abbey( Peterborough Abbey) before the conquest in Saxon times. Back then all of Scothern's peasant houses, about thirty at the most, would have been set around and looking onto the massive village green that stretched from the far west end of the village to the far east end of Craypool (Crake Pool) Lane and maybe a bit further towards Langworth. Width wise it was roughly sandwiched between Main Street and Church Street and then Craypool Lane.  This Common land or Green was probably divided into two when Barlings Abbey was given the western part of the village. The Church and Bottle and Glass sit on what was the Green. This is pretty typical of church and later village pub locations.  

It is thought the first Church or a small chapel would have been on the Manor site. Scothern's first vicarage was on the plot of number 10 Main Street, the now large Stone House beside the beck and behind the bus shelter and old red phone box. The present stone cottage was built for the Manor's foreman. The Manor's blacksmith used the rear stone farm buildings behind and one stone barn still remains. The vicarage then moved across the road to a long house that ran parallel with the church's north side, on what later became the north graveyard next to the beck. The front and rear south areas were the full extent of the graveyard at the time. The vicarage was then moved into a farmhouse at No. 4 Sudbrooke Road in 1854. This vicarage was then extended and updated over the years to become the large private house it is today.  The old vicarage next to the church became three or four semidetached cottages which could be classed as hovels with cottage gardens in front. These were demolished when the Langworth Yellow Brick 'Church View' cottages were built opposite. Number 2 Church View (now 23 Main Street) was my first marital home. When we retiled the roof we found the rafters were rough cut still carrying their original bark. These were obviously as old as the houses but quite possibly recycled from the Church hovels that once stood opposite.  Just a last word about the Church when the vicarage or later hovels stood on the now northern graveyard. At the time the main Church entrance was through an arched porch on the southern, Church Street, side not through the western tower. Although this porch was removed long before any us or indeed our great grandparents were born most of us have passed through it. Village rumour has it the arch was rebuilt as the front entrance of the Bottle and Glass. I suppose it was a way of not lying to your wife when you said, "Im just popping down to Church".

A HOUSE IN TIME

       The old Vicarage on the graveyard         Old Church drawing. South side            Is this the old church porch?