Dry Doddington

---

title: "Dry Doddington" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-lincolnshire", "former-civil-parishes-in-lincolnshire", "south-kesteven-district"] description: "Village in Lincolnshire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-lincolnshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_Doddington" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Village in Lincolnshire, England ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]

Field	Value
official_name	Dry Doddington
static_image_name	St.James' church, Dry Doddington, Lincs. - geograph.org.uk - 81108.jpg
static_image_caption	Church of St James, Dry Doddington
country	England
region	East Midlands
coordinates
os_grid_reference	SK850466
post_town	Newark
postcode_area	NG
postcode_district	NG23
constituency_westminster	Sleaford and North Hykeham
civil_parish	Westborough and Dry Doddington
shire_district	South Kesteven
shire_county	Lincolnshire
london_distance_mi	105
london_direction	S
::

| official_name= Dry Doddington | static_image_name= St.James' church, Dry Doddington, Lincs. - geograph.org.uk - 81108.jpg | static_image_caption = Church of St James, Dry Doddington | country= England | region= East Midlands | map_alt= | coordinates = | os_grid_reference = SK850466 | post_town= Newark | postcode_area= NG | postcode_district= NG23 | dial_code= | constituency_westminster= Sleaford and North Hykeham | civil_parish= Westborough and Dry Doddington | shire_district= South Kesteven | shire_county= Lincolnshire | london_distance_mi= 105 | london_direction= S Dry Doddington is a small village in the civil parish of Westborough and Dry Doddington, in the north-west of the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately 5 mi south-east from Newark, approximately 8 mi north-west from Grantham, and just over 1 mi to the east from the A1 road. In 1921 the parish had a population of 131.

History

Dry Doddington means the "dry estate of a man called Dodda". There was a deserted medieval village called 'Stocking' or 'Stockyng' associated with Dry Doddington in the early 14th century; its precise location is unknown.

Dry Doddington CE School was built as a National School in 1872, but was closed between 1926 and 1929, after which it re-opened as a primary school. It closed for the last time in 1961.

Today, the village forms part of the civil parish of Westborough and Dry Doddington, which had a population of 335 in 2001. Before 1 April 1931 Dry Doddington was a separate parish when it was merged with Westborough.

The village public house is The Wheatsheaf Inn on Main Street.

Geography

The village, on a small hill called Lincoln Hill, is surrounded by the River Witham to the west and south. The village of Claypole is to the north and Westborough and Long Bennington 1 mi to the south. The East Coast Main Line passes 1 mile to the north-east.

The Church of St James

The parish church, dedicated to St James, has a westward-leaning tower. It is a Grade II* listed building dating from the 12th century, with an early 14th-century tower. It was restored in 1876.

Recent restoration work, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, has brought the 14th-century tower back to its former glory. The tower boasts an impressive tilt of 4.8 or 5.1 degrees, leaning more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, which is now tilted at 3.97 degrees.

The church contains a memorial to a No. 49 Squadron RAF Avro Lancaster that crashed near the village on 26 November 1944. The aircraft, called 'O-Oboe', was piloted by F/O Le Marquand (PB432). It had only been in the air for a few minutes before it crashed, laden with bombs and fuel. Whilst five members of the crew survived, Norman Langley, the wireless operator and air gunner, and Edward Blake, the mid-upper gunner, were killed.

References

References

1. "Population statistics Dry Doddington CP/Ch through time". [[A Vision of Britain through Time]].
2. "Stocking deserted medieval village". Lincolnshire Archives.
3. "Dry Doddington CE School". Lincolnshire Archives.
4. "Dry Doddington". University of Portsmouth.
5. [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/164857 "The Wheatsheaf"], geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2011
6. {{PastScape
7. {{National Heritage List for England
8. "Going for the tourist angle." Newark Advertiser. 11 July 2013
9. (2015-10-12). "More tilt than Pisa tower could boost Dry Doddington visits". BBC News.
10. "Dry Doddington Memorial". Malcolm Brooke/49 Squadron Association.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::