FALKINGHAM, or FOLKINGHAM, a market-town
and parish in the wapentake of AVELAND, parts of KESTEVEN,
county of LINCOLN, 265 miles (S.S.E.) from
Lincoln, and 102 (N. by W.) from London, containing
759 inhabitants. This town is supposed to have
originated from a baronial castle in the vicinity, said to
have been built by Henry de Beaumont, lord of the
manor in the reign of Edward I., which having been
garrisoned by the royalists in the time of Charles I., was
subsequently demolished by order of Cromwell: it occupies
an elevation which commands an extensive view
over the fens. The streets are clean and well paved, and
the inhabitants well supplied with water from springs.
There is a small market on Thursday; fairs are held on
Ash-Wednesday, Palm-Monday, and May 19th, for
horses and sheep; June 15th and 16th, for horses and
cattle; July 3d, for hemt> and hardware; and on the
Thursday after Old Michaelmas-day, and November 22d,
for horses, cattle, &c. A court leet is held annuallyfot
the manor, on the 1st or 3d of November; the petty
sessions for the parts of Kesteven, formerly held her
have been removed to Bourn. In the year 1808, a
new prison, or house of correction, was erected on the
site of the ancient castle, at an expense of £6600;
which was defrayed by a rate on the county; in 1825,
a further sum of £8000 was expended in making
considerable additions: it is now capable of containing
from sixty to seventy prisoners, and is intended
for a district which comprises five market-towns and
two hundred and eleven villages; the jurisdiction and
superintendence, are vested in the magistrates for the
parts of Kesteven, who appoint six officers belonging
to the prison, viz., a chaplain, surgeon, surveyor,
keeper, matron, and turnkey. There are ten day-rooms
and airing-yards, used by the five classes of male and
female prisoners, as directed by act of parliament in the
4th of George IV., and within the walls are a chapel and
a tread-mill. The male prisoners sentenced to hard labour
are employed at the tread-wheel, and the females in
knitting and spinning, and they are severally allowed
one-fourth of their earnings; prisoners not committed
for hard labour, who work voluntarily, receive one-half;
and those committed for trial three-fourths. The
living is a rectory, with the vicarage of Laughtbn
united, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Lincoln, rated
in the king's books at £21.12. 3., and in the patronage
of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Bart. The church, which is
dedicated to St. Andrew, is a spacious and handsome
structure, principally in the later style of English architecture;
the chancel is of earlier date, and exhibits some
fine decorated windows; and the tower, which is the
most remarkable part of the edifice, has a rich battlement
and eight pinnacles. The free grammar school is open
to all the children of the parish; the master has a salary
of £30 per annum, in addition to £40 per annum
which is chargeable on land near the town, and was bequeathed
by J. R. Brokesby, Esq.; other benefactions
have been made to provide clothing for a certain number
of the scholars.