Drinsey Nook

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 8th and 9th centuries.

Vikings came from the whole of Scandinavia. They did not have horns on their helmets (a Victorian invention!). The name means ‘sea pirate.’

Until the mid-18th century, each parish was responsible for the upkeep of all roads. This situation changed when Turnpike Companies were formed. They became responsible for many 'main' roads, whose upkeep was paid from tolls. The modern route of the A57 follows the Lincoln to Worksop turnpike, which opened in 1756. A daily stagecoach service between Lincoln and Sheffield was quickly introduced, which led to the building of coaching inns. These inns, in addition to providing refreshment for travelers, also kept a change of horses. Such an inn was the predecessor of the existing building shown in the photograph above.

For example, Charles Anderson wrote in his diary of his journey from Lea to Lincoln during the late 18th century - `We used in going to Lincoln to have horses from Lincoln to meet us at Drinsey Nook, otherwise we should never have got there. We generally had four horses, and the road used frequently to be under water'.

Known as the 'Buffalo' Inn, the landlord in 1887 was Alfred Tear. He expanded the business, as an article in the 'Lincolnshire Chronicle' of June that year shows – 'Drinsey Nook is surrounded with charming walks, such as would repay anyone at this time of the year, when the trees are in full foliage. Unfortunately however, it has borne in the past a very bad name for the comfort and convenience of visitors, the principal difficulty being in the matter of refreshments of a non-alcoholic nature.

Recently, however, there has been a change in the management, and we are informed that it is now the intention of the proprietors to do all they possibly can towards securing the comfort and convenience of their patrons.

Within easy distance of Lincoln, from which city it can be reached by rail, road and river, there should be no difficulty in rendering it a most popular resort.

Truly a better spot for 'ruralising' could not be had, and with the additional attraction to the lovely walks of fishing and boating in the Foss, which runs by the side of the house, one could very well spend a few days of enjoyment there.

For the convenience of large parties, we are told that there is now a spacious building adjoining the Inn, capable of holding 500 persons, and a capital field near for sports and pastimes.'

This advertisement appeared in the Lincoln Gazette in 1877.

 

The Rev. George Hall, in his book 'The Gypsy's Parson', written in 1914, describes the 'Buffalo' – 'A few miles outside my native city, there stands on the bank of the Roman Fossdyke a lonely house known as “Drinsey Nook”, a tavern with bowling greens, swings and skittle alleys, a resort of wagonette and boating parties out for a frolic in the sunshine.

Today, as of yore, the brown-sailed barges, laden with grain or scented fir-planks, glide lazily past the place, and a motorboat will at times go racing by, to the alarm of the waterhens.

One golden October morning, my father hired a small sailing craft, and we were wafted along the Fossdyke as far as the said riparian house of call. Hour after hour we wandered in the beech woods stretching behind the inn.

Linked with this ramble is an impression I have never forgotten. “Look,” said my father, pointing to a decayed stump of a post, “this is all that remains of Tom Otter's gibbet-tree.’

The Buffalo’s Head Inn was also the location for meetings of the Association for the Prosecution of Felons and Protection of Property.

These voluntary associations were setup by landowners for the purpose of sharing the burden and expense of detecting and prosecuting crime.

Before the middle of the 19th century, there were no police forces and no public prosecutors. It was up to private individuals to prosecute and pay the expenses involved, or they could club together with others and spread the cost. Since the members of the Association were mainly farmers, the crimes they were interested in prosecuting were offences relating to property, for example theft of animals and farm produce.

The ‘spacious room’ at the side of the Inn was used as a recuperation hospital during the Lincoln typhoid epidemic of 1904/5, and during WW1.

To the rear of the Inn, the present mobile home site was the location of a Prisoner of War Camp during WWII.

It opened in late 1942 to accommodate Italians who had mainly been captured in north Africa i.e. Benghazi, Tripoli, Tunisia etc.

The camp was used for Germans after the Italians vacated, until they too were repatriated. It then housed Displaced Persons until 1950.

Several of the prisoners remained in the area following the war.

German P.O.W. Alfred Lessig came to the Camp in 1944. He worked at Orchard Farm, Hardwick. After the war he remained in Saxilby, married a local girl, and died in 1980. He is buried in the churchyard.