Axe head and jugs give an insight into Spalding’s medieval past

In the latest ‘What’s The Story?’ column, Spalding Gentlemen’s Society looks at the town’s medieval history.

You don't have to look very far to find hints of Spalding’s medieval past.

Although much has changed over the hundreds of years many parts of medieval Spalding still echo back to that long-ago age.

The town then was dominated by the priory, made wealthy by trade in grain and wool and land reclamation. The priory, standing in about 33 acres, lay behind the Market Place and Sheep Market with marshland beyond the orchards and gardens. The priory also owned land in Pinchbeck, Weston, Moulton, Surfleet and Sutton.

Merchants grew rich from trade to and from the town on the water. The River Welland was tidal with a direct link to the sea and the busy trading ports of Boston and King’s Lynn.

Sailing boats moored up to wharves along the river brought luxury goods from the Baltic nations across the North Sea and left with home-grown grain and wool.

Very little remains of the priory despite it existing for more than 500 years. The Prior’s Oven in the Sheep Market was part of the priory, dating back to 1230 when it was used as a monastic prison and included a tower from which a bell tolled to mark executions, then it was used as a bakery and now a micro pub.

But the biggest indicators of Spalding’s medieval wealth and expansion are the 13th century parish church of St Mary and St Nicholas and Ayscoughfee Hall.

Spalding also had a castle, possibly wooden and probably in the area of the current Castle Sports Complex.

Spalding Gentlemen’s Society possesses maps and paintings of medieval Spalding along with other medieval artefacts such as those pictured here - a costel (a type of jug) found in Red Lion Street, a jug dug out of the Welland at the site of the railway bridge on London Road and a jug from Whaplode. It also has a large axe dug up in White Hart yard.

No one can know how these items survived intact or how they became lost, perhaps a careless peasant girl on her way to market, or a forgetful labourer. But they point in small part to the lifestyle of town residents hundreds of years ago.

The market was important to the life of townsfolk, who would walk in to buy and sell their wares.

The routes they took have changed little, although some of the names have altered over the centuries.

Pinchbeck Road had orchards on both sides belonging to the priory. Nearing town Penny Gate was the first road. Spalding had a second river, the Westlode, now buried beneath Westlode Street. A route to market was then via Westlode Side and across a small footbridge into Rosemary Lane, now New Road. The town prison was on the corner of Crackpool Lane (now Broad Street) leading to the lower end of Market Stead (Hall Place).

Carrying further on along Market Stead (Market Place) would take a traveller past the monastic prison bell tower at the top of the Beast Market (Sheep Market), Opposite the tower was The Shambles where butchers killed animals from the Beast Market and sold meat. Animal remains were simply tipped into the River Westlode in the hope that the current would carry them away, but there were problems with the smell in summertime.

The east gate of the priory lay adjacent to the “Holy Wall”, now the Hole-In-the-Wall passage.

Spalding was not immune to the terror that was the Black Death, probably arriving in town on the trading vessels. Quadring was especially affected where the village once surrounded the church. The medieval settlement was devastated by the plague and was abandoned. Survivors relocated on the main road to Donington, which is why the church is now a mile or so distant from the modern community.

The society's museum is now closed for building work, but a changing display of exhibits is being maintained at Ayscoughfee Hall, Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 4pm. Admission is free.

Thanks for information from A Guide To Medieval Spalding by Spalding U3A History Group.