Broughton, or Barrow-Town (St. Mary)
BROUGHTON, or Barrow-Town (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Glandford-Brigg, E. division of the wapentake of Manley, parts of Lindsey, county of Lincoln, 4 miles (N. W.) from Glandford-Brigg; containing, with the township of Castlethorpe, 913 inhabitants. This place derives its name from a large barrow or tumulus near the western extremity of the village. It is situated on the Roman road from Lincoln to the Humber at Winteringham, and was a Roman station, which, in the time of the emperors Honorius and Arcadius, was occupied by the prefect of the Dalmatian horse, auxiliary to the 6th Legion, and which Horsley supposes to have been the station called Prtorium. Numerous relics of the Romans have at various times been found. The manor for several ages belonged to the family of Radford, till, in 1455, Sir Henry Radford engaging in the rebellion of the Earl of Rutland and others against Henry VI., it became forfeited upon his attainder of high treason: subsequently it came into the possession of the Andersons, of which family was Sir Edmund Anderson, chief justice in the reign of Elizabeth, who presided at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, in Fotheringay Castle. The parish is situated on the river Ancholme, which falls into the Humber at Brigg; it is bounded on the south-east by the road to Barton, and comprises 6912 acres, of which 1200 are wood, and 863 common land. A fair is held at Midsummer. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £21; net income, £824; patron, Ellys Anderson Stephens, Esq.: the glebe comprises 80 acres. The church, which was extensively repaired in 1826, is an ancient edifice, with a tower surmounted at one angle by a circular turret; it contains some interesting monuments. Gokewell, a Cistercian nunnery, founded by William de Alta Ripa prior to 1185, stood in the north-west part of the parish; the only remains are a doorway in a farmhouse which has been erected on the site.
Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.