Касл-Битхэм: Линкольншир ауылының тарихы мен қазіргі жағдайы

Village and civil parish in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England
the village

NOTOC
Castle Bytham is a village and civil parish of around 300 houses in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England. It is located 9 mile (14 km) north of Stamford and 9 mile (14 km) west of Bourne. The population was measured at 768 in 317 households at the 2011 census. At one time the village was an important commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural communities, but it is now largely a dormitory, although a number of farming families remain with a much reduced workforce.

[[File:Castle Bytham Maypole Montage. jpg|thumb|right|May Day celebrations, banned under the Commonwealth, were revived in 1660. The maypole at Castle Bytham was inscribed to commemorate the date when it was later cut in half for use as a ladder in the church tower In the Domesday survey of 1086 the village was known as West Bytham as the castle had yet to be built. People have named the river that runs through the village the Tham or Am as a back formation from the village name. Morkery Wood housed a former bomb dump during the Second World War for the nearby airfields. In the early hours of 19 November 1942 Handley Page Halifax BB209 NP G of 158 Sqn, from RAF Rufforth in North Yorkshire, crashed near Stocken Hall Farm (in the wood). It had been hit by flak south east of Paris coming back from a raid on Turin, Italy. Half the aircrew were in the RCAF.

About 1 mile (2 km) to the east lies Little Bytham. The two villages used to be called West and East Bytham. (which borders on to the west of the civil parish) and some of the road verges are protected for wildlife by Lincolnshire County Council. Tortoiseshell Wood is in the parish of North Witham, although the edge lies on the parish boundary. West of the village, towards Clipsham, is a Yew Tree Avenue maintained by the Forestry Commission, the trees cut into large topiary forms.

The Ecclesiastical parish is part of the Castle Bytham with Creeton group of the Deanery of Beltisloe. The incumbent is Revd S. M. Evans. Castle Bytham's community supports several events each year in the village hall. Every year Castle Bytham holds a midsummer fair and street market, with stalls, a duck grand prix, dog show, funfair, children's games, beer tents and barbecues. The fair has raised over £40,000 for local causes including a Christmas lunch for pensioners and a children's party, and village infrastructure improvements. Efforts are currently being made to improve the village recreation ground for the benefit of local young people and a 2010 Parish Plan suggested wider improvements. The former RAF Coningsby station commander (1974–60) and Commandant of the Central Flying School (1979–83) lives in the village, and a former resident on Glen Road was Harold Wilson's press secretary, Trevor Lloyd Hughes. There is a village shop on Pinfold Road. Castle Bytham Post Office was closed in 2008 despite local opposition. It had served Creeton, Swinstead, Swayfield, Little Bytham and Clipsham, and other nearby small villages – it has now been replaced by a mobile 'outreach' service. There are two remaining public houses in the village: the Fox & Hounds and the Castle Inn. The New Inn on Station Road was converted to housing in the 1960s. It remained open, as did the goods yard on the other side of the road, until the line closed in 1959. West of the village the line of the railway now forms a road crossing under the A1.

The church, started in the 12th century, and restored in 1900, is dedicated to St James and is one of a group of parishes in the rural deanery of Beltisloe. It contains an unusual memento of the English Restoration: a ladder, formerly used in the tower, with a carved inscription which reads "THIS WARE THE MAY POVL 1660" On its closure in 1972 the Methodist Circuit still sent a preacher to the village for a few years, service taking place in the parish church.