These articles/documents are displayed by date of publication; as such, the more recent items will be found toward the bottom of the page, so you will need to scroll down.
Bassingham – Portrait of a village (‘Lincolnshire Life’ February 1977)
I had been aware of this article by W.E.R. Hallgarth for quite a while but was unsuccessful in tracking it down – until December 2022. Now I can present it for you in its entirety.
And, in case you were wondering, that’s the South Wold Hunt on the cover.
On the High Street section of my website you will find a postcard which mentions “Mr Gent’s House” and marks it with a an ‘X’.
And then there was this September 1977 follow-up article in the same magazine by Ralph Bates, son of Co-Op proprietor Arthur.
Lincolnshire Past & Present No.1 (Autumn 1990)
I found this magazine on eBay in late 2022. Hidden amongst interesting articles about “Burglarious Activities”, “The Lincolnshire Family Portraits Index” and “Lincolnshire Church Bell Inscriptions and the Effect of Change”, there is one about two disasters that befell the village in the early 20th century. Interestingly the postcard showing the flooding at Scotwater Bridge is the exact same one that is now in the possession of local resident/collector John Brogan. It’s easily identifiable by the ink handwritten “Bassingham” on the front and the text of the message on the back (which you can see for yourself elsewhere on my website).
And, of course, we now know the answer to the question about who the people in the second postcard are – it’s local farmer and landowner Edward Henry Marfleet of Manor Farmhouse on Whites Lane, but I have no idea as to the identity of the two girls. They cannot be his daughters because they would have been much older, with the exception of Kelly, who would have only been about 3 years old .
You can read more about this incident together with two more postcards showing the damage to Mr. Marfleet’s property HERE.
The Bassingham Story by Bill & Connie Wilson, and Helen Ash (2003)
In 2023 I was extremely fortunate to find a copy of this book up for auction on eBay and even more lucky to actually win it, although it came at great expense, I might add! Long out of print and almost impossible to find, it is filled with facts and anecdotes relating to the buildings and the families who inhabited them. It is a treasure trove of local information and, in truth, a large slice of what I have included here on this website has been gleaned from its 117 pages. 
The Rich of Bassingham, Lincolnshire 1655-1799 by Dr. J.A. Johnston (Lincolnshire History and Archaeology Vol. 40, 2005)
Now here’s a very studious account of the people who had most of the money and the land in Bassingham stretching back to the days of King Charles II and right up to George III. It’s quite a long read – eight pages of narrative with some tabulated information, and then a further two pages of listed sources – but it is both interesting and rewarding. Click the opening paragraph below to open – and download if you wish – the pdf of the article.
Household size and structure in Bassingham, Lincolnshire, 1851-1901 by Enid Hunt (‘Local Population Studies’, No. 75 Autumn 2005)
This is an overly academic eighteen-page article which is a study of the size and composition of households in the village in the fifty year period between 1851 and 1901. It effectively charts the movement of people as the Industrial Revolution unfolded, leading to mass migration from rural areas to the more urban ones. Did it affect the village? And, if so, to what degree? This is the crux of the article, but unless you’re a fan of statistics I’d stay away from it (spoiler alert – it did affect the village!) A few families are named: Storr, Wayland, Marfleet, Morley, Reynolds and Morshead to name but a few. Click the cover below to open a pdf of the article.
Bassingham Community Led Plan (2015)
John Rowland has kindly supplied me with a copy of this 2015 document. It’s filled with information about the village as it was and how it was perceived by its inhabitants at that time. It is most enlightening and, as well as adding some historical context, it also contains several very interesting photographs from the collection of the late Helen Ash.
The Bassingham Story by Bill & Connie Wilson, and Helen Ash (Edited by Rona Pounder, 2015)
As will be perceived from the title, this is an edited booklet of the original Wilson & Ash book of 20023 (see above) and you will need almost as much good fortune in hunting down a copy of this as you will the original publication. I was lucky enough to be lent a copy which I subsequently scanned, and you can download your own copy by clicking the cover picture below. But note that it is actually only an edited version of the original book. Focussing almost wholly on the church and its redevelopment/improvements, there are some other important facts about places such as Green’s Stores, the Wesleyan Chapel and the Salvation Army Barracks (number 1 High Street).
BACK HOME
Bassingham Back Then... 