STOW, a parish in the wapentake of WELL, parts
of LINDSEY, county of LINCOLN, 7 miles (S.E.) from
Gainsborough, containing, with the townships of Normanby,
and Sturton with Bransby, 698 inhabitants. The
living is a perpetual curacy, in the peculiar jurisdiction
of the Prebendary of Stow in Lindsey in the Cathedral
Church of Lincoln, endowed with £ 1200 parliamentary
grant, and in the alternate patronage of the Prebendaries
of Corringhain and Stow in the Cathedral Church of
Lincoln. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a large
structure, principally in the Norman style, with the upper
part of the tower, the west window, and a few other
portions, of later date. It was founded for Secular
priests by Eadnoth, Bishop of Dorchester, its revenue
having been greatly augmented by Earl Leofric and his
Lady Godiva. After the Conquest these religious became
Benedictine monks, under the government of an abbot,
and Bishop Remigius obtained for them, from William
Rufus, the then desolate abbey of Eynsham in Oxfordshire,
where they soon afterwards settled. There is a
place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists. Courts leet
and baron are annually held here, and a fair for horses
and cattle on October 10th. A school for the education
of poor children is endowed with about £12 per an-
num. Watling-street passes near this place, which is
supposed to be the ancient Lidnacester of the Romans.