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Collapse AllTorrington's Tour of Lincolnshire 1791On 8 April, Brian Davey discussed John Byng's 1791 Lincolnshire tour.
At St Hugh’s church hall in Lincoln on 8 April Brian Davey gave an interesting and amusing talk on the tour of John Byng (later Viscount Torrington) around Lincolnshire in 1791. Byng, an army officer turned Commissioner of Stamps, travelled in the company of Ranger, a friend’s dog and stayed in inns. He kept a diary in which he recorded his often pungent opinions of the sights he had seen and the people he had met , showing considerable social awareness of a changing country. For part of the tour Byng was joined by his old friend Colonel Albemarle Bertie whose presence Byng began to find increasingly annoying. Brian had obviously undertaken a great deal of research on the talk. He had visited many of the same places as Byng and photographed some interesting architectural features mentioned in the diary. The original diary, complete with port stains, can be found in Lincoln Central Library and has been published most notably by Barnes & Noble. Mark Acton |
 White Hart Hotel, Spilsby where John Byng stayed on the nights of 6 & 7 July 1791 |
April 2025John Byng Viscount Torrington Lincolnshire tour
Lincolnshire WatermillsAn brief survey of their history and significance
Jan Sass MBE gave a brief talk about Lincolnshire watermills at the Sunday Special in Nettleham on 19 January. Although only 55 watermills survive today in Lincolnshire, Domesday book recorded their presence in most settlements supplemented by windmills introduced from the late twelfth century. Jon showed photographs of millers and their families in watermills including at Alvingham (shown right), Claythorpe, Nettleham and Tealby Thorpe. Claypole’s flour mill later became a cotton and flax mill. Roller mills in our ports and larger cities producing flour on an industrial scale led to the demise of local watermills and we are grateful that our Industrial Archaeology Group has recorded several mills. JM |
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January 2025
