Public Transport
Finding Your Way
Getting Access to Churches
Setting the Scene - Lincoln
The Trail - Section 1
Stage 1. Lincoln to Washingborough
Stage 2. Washingborough to Branston
Stage 3. Branston to Potterhanworth
Stage 4. Potterhanworth to Nocton
Stage 5. Nocton to Dunston
Stage 6. Dunston to Metheringham
The Trail - Section 2
Stage 1. Metheringham to Blankney
Stage 2. Blankney to Scopwick
Stage 3. Scopwick to Digby
Stage 4. Digby to Dorrington
Stage 5. Dorrington to Ruskington
Stage 6. Ruskington to Sleaford
History | The Route
Section 2 - Stage 6
Ruskington to Sleaford
As you leave Ruskington do step aside into Jubilee Street to view the quaint little "Teatotal Houses" built to commemorate built Queen Victoria's jubilee in 1897.
The Sleaford Navigation opened in 1794 and connected the town to the River Witham at Chapel Hill thirteen miles away. It is called a "Navigation" (rather than a "Canal") since it utilised a pre-existing river, the New River Slea, rather than being dug as a completely new channel. The "New" river name itself is something of an understatement for it dates back to the Middle Ages when it was engineered as a diversion of the "Old" River Slea in order to power local watermills.
From Haverholme Bridge there is a glimpse of the remains of Haverholme Priory beyond the woods. Haverholme is the "island between two rivers" and the first priory founded here in 1137 was for Cistercian monks from Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire, but within two years they moved on to Louth Park and offered the site to St. Gilbert of Sempringham whose Gilbertine order remained for 400 hundred years until the Dissolution in 1538. The priory subsequently had various owners during the next two and a half centuries before finally coming into the possession of the Finch-Hatton family, the Earls of Winchelsea. They held the property until 1927 when it was demolished but for today's surviving tower.
The elegantly arched road bridge nearby dates from 1893 and bears the arms of the Earl of Winchelsea because he paid the extra cost of its construction when the local authority would only pay for a simple flat bridge. The lock here had the highest rise, nearly ten feet, on the whole navigation and some restoration work has been done here by the Sleaford Navigation Trust.
From Holdingham there is a short detour to Evedon. The name comes from "Eafa's Hill" where St Mary's church stands, or rather leans, down the hillside at the end of the lane. Its remoteness may well indicate that the nucleus of the village has shifted over the centuries. The tower is the oldest part of the church and it has tilted because the underlying clay has subsided. Near the porch is a row of unusual and ornately carved C16th and C17th horizontal gravestones, which are listed monuments.
On the edge of Sleaford we reach Cogglesford Mill, which was one of at least a dozen along the River Slea in mediaeval times. As a watermill site Cogglesford's origins may go back to Anglo-Saxon times although the building we see now dates from the early C18th. Following the decline of the navigation the mill converted to steam power but eventually closed in 1885.
Old Sleaford, or the "Old Place" as it still appears on OS maps, stretches under the meadows and housing estates to the south of the Navigation at Cogglesford. Rich in archaeological finds it dates back to the Neolithic era around 4,000BC and evidence of a mint possibly indicates it to be the local "capital" for the Coritani tribe. Hundreds of coins (over 700 from one "dig" alone) have been excavated here.
On the opposite bank as we walk towards the town centre we pass an area of low-lying ground once important for growing osiers (willows) used in basket making. Known as Lollycocks Field, this rough grassland was mentioned in the Domesday Book and since 1983 has been maintained by NKDC as a nature reserve. As you near the footbridge beyond the nature reserve, look across the water for a glimpse of art installations created by artsNK for the Nettles. This area is managed by artsNK as a space for experimental outdoor arts projects. One is a "Woven Willow Sculpture" by Alison Walling and near it a sculpture by Nick Jones made up of a sequence of large wooden frames that provide vistas through two fallen trees whilst also supporting the branches. On our final few yards beside the Navigation we come across three mosaic panels set into the pathway by Alan Potter. They represent aspects of the waterway's local importance and the bargemen's reliance on horse, wind and manpower.
Sleaford's wharf area has undergone considerable regeneration in recent years and a converted 1880s seed warehouse occupies pride of place as The Hub National Centre for Craft and Design. It contains two galleries, artist and community workshop spaces, a fine craft shop a cafˇ and the office base of the artsNK team.
Nearby in Carre Street is the restored Navigation House (1838), formerly the Navigation Company offices. Over the doorway is their coat of arms designed by Sir Joseph Banks, an important supporter of the Navigation scheme, who also suggested the company motto, which he "borrowed" from Ovid. Now badly eroded it reads "Leve Fit Quod Bene Furtor Onus", that is "A Heavy Burden Correctly Carried Becomes Light". The building is now a heritage centre.
Having started beneath the grandeur of Lincoln Cathedral the trail ends fittingly in the shadow of another of Lincolnshire's magnificent churches; Sleaford's St Denys' which stands guard over the bustling market place. The dedication is unusual in that it is an amalgam of Dionysus and St Denis. The steeple contains the oldest part of the church (circa 1180) and is important as a very early example of a broach spire; St Denys' is also renowned for its window tracery. The nave dates from around 1360 with the chancel and clerestory added about 1430. The interior is crammed with monuments from mediaeval gravestones to C21st stained glass and two other important features are the communion rails designed by Sir Christopher Wren and another William Morris window in the south aisle known as the "Angels and Oranges"; though some experts
There are a number of other artworks to be seen in Sleaford besides the "Navigation" mosaics seen on our way into town. Especially worth seeking out are the stainless steel "Mast and Sail" by William Lasdun rising from the water near The Hub; the hilarious "Washing Line" in Moneys Yard, by pupils of Kesteven and Sleaford High school who worked with Nottingham artist Chris Lewis Jones and the "Wyvern" (a two legged dragon and symbol of Sleaford Victorian Developers Kirke and Parry) by Richard Bett at the southern end of South Gate. There are also examples of Nick Jones's street furniture around the town, all with a local heritage theme.
DISTANCE : 5 3/4 miles : 9.5 kilometres.
REFRESHMENTS : Cogglesford Mill Cottage, Sleaford.
The Hub, Sleaford.
Various inns and cafts in Sleaford.
NOTES. There is ample street parking in Ruskington though it would be thoughtful to leave your vehicle at the east end of the High Street away from the shops. The station is about half a mile from the village centre at GR087505. There is a village trail leaflet. This is the longest section of the walk but is easily divisible into two sections by using the Stepping Out carpark at Haverholme. (GR106496)
The Route
Walk away from Ruskington church along High Street South (Jubilee Street and the "Teatotal Houses" are on the right) and pass the youth club before turning right into Chestnut Street. At the end bear left to follow Station Road until a footpath sign is seen pointing left. (The path is also a school entrance) Cross the railway over a blue footbridge and continue on a track behind bungalows and in the second field veer off to the right towards a high black fence or leave the track just before the beck. Go over the footbridge near the fence and now with a hedge to your left, walk along a field edge to a gap in the far corner. Go through it and then aim between a telegraph pole and a large shed to a kissing gate seen ahead at a farm track.
Turn right along this, going left at the first junction along another (now grassy) track to the A153 road. Cross with care into the lane opposite and proceed to Haverholme Bridge and the Sleaford Navigation.
Take the footpath on the right immediately before the bridge. (Or use the far bank, rejoining the main route from the footbridge over Haverholme Lock.) The path stays close to the navigation until a waymarked detour goes round a private garden. This goes right to join a lane where almost opposite a permissive path swings left to rejoin the
navigation bank. Now turn right and continue to Papermill Lane and the adjacent lock. Cross the navigation now using the opposite bank to reach the next lock at Holdingham Mill where a short detour can be made to Evedon. (See below)
Continue by the navigation passing under the A17 Sleaford by-pass to Bonemill Lock; in a further mile or so the final lock at Cogglesford is reached. Now cross the navigation again to turn left and follow the waterside path through Lollycock's Field nature reserve and re-cross at the footbridge at the far end. Follow the towpath to another footbridge and cross this too. Bear left to pass between The Hub and the old canal wharf. Finally bear right past The Hub and Navigation House to emerge in Carre Street, Sleaford and turn right to arrive at the Market Place and St Denys's church.
DetourTo visit Evedon church simply take the grass track leading away from the Navigation at Holdingham Lock where after a ford and footbridge over the Old River Slea track leads directly up to the church. Return the same way.
artworks symbols
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