Haconby

Heggy's Cottage is 400 years old and Oliver Cromwell may have stayed here

The spelling of the village name Haconby with one "c" or two has engaged the attention of local historians and journalists for decades but common usage appears to have won the day. Most of the signs in and around the village say Haconby although one or two which are more ancient in origin stick to the old spelling of Hacconby and so officialdom has made the decision for us. But old habits die-hard and the old spelling still crops up in guide books and circulars and even on some maps. (See box below).

The village is certainly an ancient one and is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086. The varied spellings of that time include Haconesbi, Hacunesbi and Haconebi and later recorded variations include the Danish Hacunebi (1135-54), Hakunebi (1170) and Hakonebi (1199). But to ascertain its origins we have to go back another 100 years when the name meant Hákon's farmstead or village from the Old Danish Hákon and by. The variations have continued until recent times and White's Lincolnshire for 1856 records both Hacconby and Hackenby.

This is a busy farming village looking out across the fens which stretch away eastward as far as the eye can see while the graceful spire of St Andrew's Church that soars over the clerestory battlements welcomes visitors across the meadows as they approach this village from the A15, three miles north of Bourne.

Haconby's name links it with the marauding Danes of long ago but it is now a cluster of houses on a fenland road, grouped around the old church.  There was a church here when the Domesday Book was compiled but that has long since vanished and the present house of prayer comes chiefly from the 13th and 14th centuries. The oldest relic is a plain round Norman font and its most striking features are the nave arcades on their slender piers. The most notable feature is the early 14th century tower, built of alternate courses of ashlar and ironstone, with a plain parapet, a tapering recessed spire, and pinnacles hugging its base. The body of the church is a century earlier with a Perpendicular clerestory and north east chapel and, according to Henry Thorold in his Lincolnshire Churches Revisited: "A distinguished little building with a spacious interior and, although scraped, not lacking in atmosphere."

A 14th century chest can also be found in the church with tracery and foliage carved on the front and posts to the left and right with dragons. It is quoted by Dr J C Cox as a typical example of the Flemish designs of that period. Fred Roe, writing during the last century in his History of Oak Furniture cites "the coffer in Haconby church" as an example of scarce 14th century work that "has been mutilated by wilful and ignorant persons". A coffer is defined as a box "composed of single panels" whereas a chest is strictly speaking "constructed with multiplied framing".

But there is another religious building in the village, albeit far more modest. The Baptist Chapel was built in 1867 and is the smallest galleried chapel of worship in England, being only 24 ft long and a mere 13 ft 6 in wide. It was originally intended to seat only 100 people on the ground floor but it was clearly too small because it was finished 18 inches shorter in width than was originally planned. The builder admitted that he was at fault and when told that he must remedy the error, he made up for the lost seating room by adding two galleries facing each other. They were so close together that worshippers could actually shake hands with each other if they so wished. 

The tiny chapel of red brick and blue slate was built in the main street on a piece of land owned by Mr W Brown, Senior, the site being in the far corner of the grounds of the house where he lived and a brown plaque with white lettering over the door records his philanthropy: 

Baptist Chapel erected by W Brown A D 1867

It was originally used by the United Baptists and the Primitive Methodists, both non-conformist religious groups with a strong working class bias, but after thirty years, around 1899, the Baptists took it over completely. A peppercorn rent of £1 a year was paid to Mr Brown and later to his son, but when he died on 21st July 1932, his estate, including the chapel, was put up for sale. The solicitors handling his affairs did not agree with the view that the chapel had been intended as a gift to the village and the auction sale of the property, held at the Angel Hotel in Bourne, was held up for fifteen minutes by discussion and argument over the issue. In the end, the chapel was withdrawn from sale on the condition that £50 was paid to secure the building for permanent ownership. The people of Haconby managed to raise the money and the chapel has been in public use ever since. 

There was also a mill here until the 19th century when it was destroyed by fire. The Stamford Mercury reported the incident on Friday 27th September 1867:

Hacconby Mill and the whole of the contents were entirely destroyed by fire early on the morning of the 19th inst., the damage being estimated at about £400 [£20,000 in today's money] which is covered by a policy in the "Queen" Insurance Company for which Mr Brown of Market Deeping is agent. The mill is the joint property of Samuel Goodman of Whittlesea and William Lunn (alias William Gregory): the former resides at Whittlesea and the latter manages the mill and occupies a small beer-house at a short distance. It appears that the journeyman was grinding very late on the night of Wednesday the 18th, not leaving before midnight. The fire, which commenced inside, was discovered about half past one o'clock and is supposed to have broken out at the neck of the mill, and to have been occasioned by the working of the mill. It is said that the neck of the mill had previously taken fire from the same cause and Mr Lunn, who was from home at the time of the occurrence, told the journeyman, in whose charge the mill was left, to oil the neck well.

The oldest dwelling in Haconby is Heggy's Cottage. It was built in the late 16th century and is a rare example of a mud and stud cottage, few of which survive in this part of Lincolnshire. The name comes from the last permanent resident, Arthur Headland, who was known as Heggy. It has twice been threatened with demolition, firstly when it was condemned as being unfit for human habitation in 1970 although Heggy was allowed to remain, and again in 1993. Three years later, Heritage Lincolnshire declared that the cottage was an old and valued property that was at risk. It has since been restored through the efforts of the present owner Mrs Mary Atkinson who lives nearby at Haconby Hall. She obtained grant aid from English Heritage but also used a substantial amount of her own money to carry out the work in 1996.

Heggy' Cottage was built over 400 years ago to an L-shaped plan with an unusual pitched roof and raked dormer windows. It comprises three rooms and a lean-to, now converted into a bathroom, on the ground floor and three rooms at first floor level. It may have been built for use by the local priest because there is a track running alongside to the village church. Restoration work has been carried out efficiently and sympathetically. The cottage still contains many of the original features including low doors and oak beams and much of the period character has been retained. Villagers will tell you that Oliver Cromwell is reputed to have slept in this cottage while trying to escape from Charles I's royalist army during the English civil war and that when his pursuers were within earshot, he took flight so fast that he forgot his boots. 

The village contains houses built in a mix of period styles but one of the earliest is the old manor house, a fine Jacobean property near the church which is reputed to have been built during the mid-17th century by General Fynne, aide-de-camp to Oliver Cromwell. There is also an example of Victorian prosperity with a solid red brick and stone house of the late 19th century standing behind cast iron railings, built around 1890 for his family by a successful coal merchant and still in fine condition.

A magnificent horse chestnut tree stands on the tiny village green, its age unknown but once the centrepiece of revels and celebrations and now a playground for local youngsters who meet underneath the canopy and swing from its lower branches. 

The old Victorian school at Haconby was closed in the summer of 1981 as a result of cuts in government spending and pupils were transferred to the village school at Morton, despite protests from parents about the long and unsafe distance involved in travelling. It was known as Haconby Primary School, built during the mid-19th century to the traditional red brick design and much valued by parents for is scholastic success. It once had the highest number of passes in the 11-plus for places at Bourne Grammar School of any similar school in the area. It has now been converted for use as a private home with the addition of dormer windows and given the inevitable name of The Old School but the conversion is not a success and the stone tablet over the entrance that gave the original date of construction has either been lost or hidden by an incongruous porch.

A solid merchant's house from Victorian England (left) and a charming period cottage in  Chapel Street from the 18th century with a surprise in the back yard

There is another surprise at Haconby, one of the historic cottages in Chapel Street, a charming period property with whitewashed walls, a red pantile roof and two tiny dormer windows. It was originally a pair of dwellings, as can be seen by the two chimney stacks, and the present owners think that the building is at least 300 years old. In the yard at the side is a row of red brick stables built during Victorian times as part of the Ancaster estate and nearby is a fifty year old wooden chicken hut adorned with old metal advertising signs that were popular outside shops earlier this century. 

They were collected by the owners and some were salvaged from the village shop in Haconby when it closed down. These old advertising signs have a particular appeal to anyone who remembers the England of the past because they were a familiar sight outside shops and garages between the wars and they remain an evocation of a less hectic world and those times when life proceeded at a far slower pace.

See also

A history of Haconby church      Robert Tinsley Sutton

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