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Leake (St. Mary)

LEAKE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Boston, wapentake of Skirbeck, parts of Holland, county of Lincoln, 7¼ miles (N. E.) from Boston; containing 1859 inhabitants. The parish comprises by measurement 7044 acres. The soil is various, in some parts richly fertile, and in others marsh and fen; the lands have been materially improved by draining, and considerable portions of marsh have been brought into profitable cultivation. A spacious canal, or drain, for carrying off the water from the fens, is made available for the purpose of navigation to Boston. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 6. 8., and in the patronage of the Governors of Oakingham and Uppingham grammar schools, who are also impropriators. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1810; the income of the benefice, which was augmented in 1841, with £52 per annum, by a grant of £1200 from the patrons and £400 Royal Bounty, is now £210, with a glebe-house. The church is an ancient structure, built at different periods. There are two proprietary episcopal chapels, for the accommodation of the fenny districts; also places of worship for Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans; and in the adjoining parish of Wrangle is a school, endowed for the instruction of children of both parishes, by the Rev. Thomas Allenson. The Rev. Jacob Conington, vicar, in 1718 left 40 acres of land, producing £98 per annum, to his successors, for morning service every Wednesday and Friday in the week, and on all holydays throughout the year. £140 per annum, arising from numerous other benefactions, are distributed among the poor; and £10, the produce of land bequeathed by Simon Clarke in the 44th of Elizabeth, are paid to a widow. There are some remains of two religious houses.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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