Table of Contents
The Small Settlement of Waithe
Waithe is a small, unassuming settlement off of a main A road, in the fields. One may be forgiven for not noticing it’s presence when driving past, as a handful of houses and a tree-shrouded Church are not much for one to note in these times.
The first widely known record of Waithe is from the Domesday book of 1086, where it is recorded as “Wade”, with 30.7 (somehow) households. As you may suspect, the name Wade likely refers to the siting of the settlement next to the Waithe Beck, and the crossing of a road across this waterway, I believe to be somewhere immediately to the east of the present road route, though evidence of this has long disappeared. This has also been speculated by an aerial archaeological survey in the past.
Waithe also hosts evidence of being a deserted medieval village, with trackways, ditches and enclosures being the only remnants of these. Unfortunately much of the remains of this were ploughed up during the 1950’s, leaving only aerial photographic evidence and hearsay.
C18th Waithe and Nothing New Under the Sun
At the beginning of the 1700s, what I believe to be the main estate at Waithe and Grainsby was passed down through the female line from Mr Francis Foulding, who passed away in 1719, to Mr Francis Nettleship. He owned the estates until his death without issue in 1797. It transpires that he left his estates at Waithe and Grainsby to his servant and housekeeper Elizabeth Borrell. When she passed in 1826 the estates passed to her great niece Elizabeth Charlotte Borrell. Upon her marriage to a wealthy Yorkshire family the estate passed into the hands of the current landowners, who over time both expanded and consolidated the estates, both in Grainsby and Waithe.
In the 1850s, the current properties that make up the village of Waithe were constructed by this family, completely destroying any evidence of the village before this time, with the exception of the Church and a water powered mill on the Waithe Beck.