The village of Dunholme is situated some six miles to the north east of Lincoln, and the parish, though smaller in extent than the majority of its immediate neighbours, stretches from the foot of the Lincoln Edge on the west to the Langworth River on the east.  The western part of the parish was once known as the Heath, and the eastern extremity as the Fen, a name preserved in Fen Lane, the correct name for Grimsby Road.

 

The village stands almost exactly in the centre of its parish, on the banks of its beck and the foot of several very low hills. If the author of "The Place and River Names of the West Riding of Lindsey" is correct, the name of the village "Dunham" is derived from "dun" (hill) and "ham" ("river bend"), but the derivation suggested by Ekwall seems more likely to be correct - "Donna's ham'*, ie, the "ham" of Dunna, probably an Anglo Saxon.

 

A tanged and barbed arrow head of the Bronze Age was found at the southwest corner of the parish in 1957, and considerable quantities of Roman pottery have discovered of the second century on a site near the village,, Recent aerial photography has revealed the presence of a double-ditched enclosure of unknown date in a field on Ryland Road,,

 

The earliest written evidence concerning Dunholme is found in Domesday Book (1087).  At the time of the survey Dunholme was divided between three owners - the King, Ilbert de Laci, and Ralph Paganel.  Some of the king's land was held by Odo the Arblaster.  (cross-bow maker). The kings land passed very soon to the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Bishop is still the Lord of the Manor of Dunholme,  The division of the parish from an early date into two (possibly for a time three) manors has given rise to some confusion. The Bishop's manor is the only one for which any records have survived. Two farm houses in the village claim the title of manor house.

 

The association between the Bishop and Dunholme was by no means the only connection between the village and the church in medieval times, for in addition to there being a Prebendal Stall of Dunham in Lincoln Cathedral, with lands for its endowment in Dunholme and other parishes, three Abbie’s (Kirkstead, Barlings, and Louth Park) also held land in the parish until their Dissolution,, The Barlings land passed to the Grantham family in 1545, though they had held land in Dunholme since at least 1452.

 

It is impossible to say whether the interests of the monastic foundations in Dunholme led to support from the people there for the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536; it is known however, that the insurgents passed through the village on their journey from Louth and the Wolds to Lincoln, for it is recorded that they "mustered at Dunholme Heath" in the evening, "-where they were joined by the people of Kyrton Soke".

 

At the beginning of the seventeenth century the land in Dunholme was already in the hands of small farmers, copyholders or freeholders. The most important family in the village for some years had been the Grantham’s, but after the death of Robert Grantham in 1661_;their holdings in Dunholme passed into other hands. The enclosure of the manor took place between "1559 and 1662, due largely to the influence of the Anderson family. The sale of the Bishops possessions during the Commonwealth period, and lawsuits following the enclosure and the Restoration of Charles II, caused the compilation of some extremely important and interesting documents.

 

Eighteenth century records are neither as numerous nor as interesting, but there is a wealth of material for the following century, which saw, in its latter years, the beginning of the Dunholme we know today.

 

Dunholme Old School Commuity Centre