South Kelsey

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <div> <B>South Kelsey</B><B> Parish Registers</B> are well-known for really weird spellings during the 18th century.</div> <div> <><><></div> <div> The Dracas family, who lived at Stainton le Vale, Lincolnshire in the late 16th century, moved to nearby South Kelsey during the 18th century. They stayed there for about 100 years, and were initially recorded in the Parish Registers (& Bishop's Transcripts) as 'Dracas', but soon became 'Drakehurst' and even 'Drakehouse', before re-appearing at nearby Tealby as 'Dracas', 'Drakehas', 'Draykas', then 'Drakes'. The South Kelsey spellings are not known anywhere else at any time, and the 'Dracas' family disappeared then re-appeared for the same period.</div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=145 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Drax, Dracas, Dracass & Drakes</B></FONT><B>     </B><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drax, Dracas, Dracass Drakes"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Research"><U>Research</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Race origins"><U>Race & origins</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id78.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="UK photos"><U>UK photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DNA"><U>DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My DNA"><U>My DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="YDNA"><U>Y-DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Basques"><U>Basques</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="When where"><U>When & where</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Maps placenames"><U>Maps & placenames</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="GRO B/M/D refs"><U>GRO B/M/D refs</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In Loving Memory"><U>In Loving Memory</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Relationships"><U>Relationships</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Trees"><U>Trees</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drax village"><U>Drax village</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Darfield"><U>Darfield</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ellerton, Charborough Olantigh"><U>Ellerton, Charborough & Olantigh</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dissolution of Monasteries"><U>Dissolution of Monasteries</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Woolbridge"><U>Woolbridge</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dracas(s)"><U>Dracas(s)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Burton to Barrow"><U>Burton to Barrow</U></A>   |   <B>South Kelsey</B>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tealby"><U>Tealby</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bayons Manor"><U>Bayons Manor</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id73.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Postcard"><U>Postcard</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id74.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Halfway House"><U>Halfway House</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Morton Grange"><U>Morton Grange</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thurlby Hall"><U>Thurlby Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ludford"><U>Ludford</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stainton Hall"><U>Stainton Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gunthorpe Hall"><U>Gunthorpe Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My family"><U>My family</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mum"><U>Mum</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rick"><U>Rick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jeremy"><U>Jeremy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ian"><U>Ian</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id79.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark"><U>Mark</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martyr"><U>Martyr</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Waterman"><U>Waterman</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sailors life"><U>Sailor's life</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worth Matravers"><U>Worth Matravers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="W. 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Dannatt', the Rural Sub-Postmaster, above the door. George Dannatt was also a draper & grocer, who was born in the village about 1870/1.</I></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="ba320e80.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="488" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </div> <bR> <div> <I>Early 1900s street scene with the Chapel, Caistor Road, South Kelsey, Lincolnshire</I></div> <bR> <div> <I><IMG SRC="ba720fd0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="509" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"> </I></div> <bR> <div> <I>The first local bus in 1919 at Four Cross Roads, South Kelsey, Lincolnshire, a Model T Ford owned by </I><I>Balderson</I></div> <bR> <div> Henry and Edward Balderson had just returned from WWI, when their father Joseph Balderton bought them this bus. They ran a regular bus service to Market Rasen on Tuesdays and Saturdays, to Brigg on Thursdays and Saturdays, and to Lincoln on Fridays. From these humble beginnings grew a large local bus service partnership, which ran until 1934, after which the brothers operated separate companies in the same type to business.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><IMG SRC="ba9202e0.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="558" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Early 1900s cottage by the canal, South Kelsey, Lincolnshire</I></div> <bR> <div> In the village of South Kelsey, Lincs., 7 miles northwest of Market Rasen, there are several surnames with strange spellings. During the 17th & 18th centuries, one of these was 'Drakehurst', which is only recorded in a few entries there. This surname is not found elsewhere in the UK during any period and must have evolved from, and then into, a different spelling. The 'Dracas' family arrived at South Kelsey from Stainton-le-Vale then vanished during the exact period that 'Drakehurst' appeared in the village. Lincolnshire Archives and several local researchers have confirmed that the South Kelsey Parish Registers are locally renowned for such wierd spellings during this period. Further analysis of parish records shows that it apparently evolved from 'Dracas' (Drakas), into 'Drakehurst', then 'Draykas' (Drakehas), then back to 'Dracas', and finally to 'Drakes'. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="abf20590.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="601" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>                                                                                                 </I>photo by Chris Drakes, 2010</div> <bR> <div> <I>The Bull Inn, South Kelsey, Lincolnshire</I></div> <bR> <div> This particular 'Dracas' line were the last of this famly to leave Stainton-le-Vale; they moved to South Kelsey between 1668 and 1672. Their move to South Kelsey was not long after their marriage and the birth of their first child; maybe he moved to a farm tenancy, or for better employment, or because of land-clearance for sheep? It was only eight years after the Restoration of the Monarchy and the end of the Commonwealth in 1660, which had ruled since the Civil War. Was he was a Parliamentarian? Was he forced to move away due to recriminations by Royalists? Or, was he forced out because of his faith? Charles II had landed at Dover, Kent on 25.5.1660; the country slowly returned to ‘the old ways’, sequestered estates were eventually restored, and compensation was granted to those who lost as a result of supporting the Royalist side. There were a lot of Parliamentarians in the Lincolnshire Wolds; it would be interesting to find out if a ‘Royalist’ owned the manor of Stainton-le-Vale in 1660, and especially if he had been dispossessed under Cromwell. Others suffered because of their faith: “<I>In 1678 Titus Oates alleged a Catholic plot to murder Charles and establish Catholicism. In the wake of the Popish Plot Catholics were excluded from Parliament, some were arrested, and some were killed. This was only one of a series of real or alleged Catholic plots against the king. Social conditions during the 17th century were abysmal. Laws were harsh, and religious non-conformists and Catholics faced heavy discrimination.</I>” Later branches of this ‘Drakes’ line were either Non-Conformists (Methodists) or Roman Catholics. However, whilst there were to be no recriminations against the majority of Parliamentarian supporters by the king, it doesn't mean that individual landowners kept to that agreement. All this being considered, it should be noted that many changes in farming were going on about this time and it is possible that the family moved due to lack of employment, change of use (or sale) of land.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="aba20590.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="601" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>                                                                                                 </I>photo by Chris Drakes, 2010</div> <bR> <div> <I>The Parish Church of St. Mary, South Kelsey, Lincolnshire from the south west</I></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="abd20590.jpg" border=0 width="800" height="601" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I>                                                                                                 </I>photo by Chris Drakes, 2010</div> <bR> <div> <I>The Parish Church of St. Mary, South Kelsey, Lincolnshire from the east</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>