Saxilby History Group

D-Day 80 On Thursday 6 th June we mark the 80 th anniversary of D-Day. The Group is assisting village organisations with events on the day to commemorate the occasion. One of the fallen remembered on Saxilby’s war memorials is Ronald Arthur Britt. He was the son of Harry and Eleanor Britt, the Foss swing bridge keepers, and the husband of Catherine Britt of Galashiels. He was a private in the 2 nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, which played a significant role in the events of D-Day landings. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the 2 nd Battalion was stationed in England. However, when the situation escalated in late 1939, they were deployed straight to France. After 9 months, the Battalion was evacuated from Dunkirk. Following this, they remained in Britain, primarily engaged in home defence duties and training exercises. On the 6 th of June 1944, the 2nd Battalion took part in the Normandy landings. They landed at Hermanville-sur-Mer, codenamed ‘Sword Beach.’ This e...

We were recently contacted by Paul Kidd of Hunstanton asking if we could provide any information on a postcard which had come into his possession. Not only did we supply him with Drinsey Nook’s interesting history, but he sent us the card for our collection. We may receive further enquiries from him, as he is a postcard collector with over 30,000 cards in his collection. Drinsey Nook, a small hamlet of a few houses, straddles the border of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. It sits on the banks of the Foss Navigation at the junction of the A57 Lincoln to Worksop Road and the A156 Lincoln to Gainsborough Road. The name is derived from the Danish ‘ Drenges Eye,’ meaning ‘Dreng’s Island.’ Like ‘Saxilby’ (Saxulf’s Farmstead), the name would have been given by Danish settlers following the Viking invasions of eastern England in the 8 th and 9 th centuries. Vikings came from the whole of Scandinavia. They did not have horns on their helmets (a Victorian invention!). The name means ‘sea...

Cycling became popular at the end of the 19 th Century. However, before the invention of the safety bicycle in the 1880s, the pastime was an expensive hobby. A ‘penny-farthing’ cost £12 in 1880 (6 weeks wages), £800 today.   One of the earlier photographs in our ‘John Wilson Collection’ shows members of a Lincoln cycle club photographed outside the Sun Hotel in 1885. A later photo, taken in 1895, shows a gathering of cyclists at the same spot with their safety bicycles. This was obviously a large gathering, as you can see, they were followed by a stage coach. It was reported at the Annual General Meeting of Lincoln Cycling Club in 1885 that the opening run in the previous year was in the form of a picnic at the Sun Inn, Saxilby. Rev. Canon Fowler defrayed the cost of the club being photographed, and the photos were sold for the benefit of the club. On August 4 th , 1902 (Bank Holiday Monday), the Lincolnshire Echo reports - ‘ Encouraged by the success of the sports organized...