IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
High Street, SLEAFORD, NG34 0DW

Dating from 1784 this is a grade II listed building. The roof pitch, dormers, and chimney suggest it was once thatched. See Image for the datestone above the door. See https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1061761 The tall building on the right, Image, with prominent quoins, was built a little later, in Georgian brick not vernacular stone. It, too, is a listed building, see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1360609.

Above the door of Image is this datestone, inscribed 'Robert Bradley 1784'.

Although Image appears to have been built in a vernacular style, it was a high quality building - the regularity of the stones, the flush faces, the quality of the coursework is undeniable. The lovely lintel is sitting as true as the day it was laid. I was also interested, on this very chilly day, to see the tell-tale marks of chill on the windows, something that modern double glazed houses do not suffer from any more. The perils of a grade II listed building, eh?

The house at the end of Image has a most unusual name. "The Coggarth" Now, I am guessing here, but we are in the Danelaw, where a Garth is an enclosed bit of land, from the Old Norse garðr "yard". Cog is another thing altogether. Ignoring all the associations with gearwheels, this might mean a hill or high ground, or it might mean an act of cheating at cards. Or it might mean a protruding tenon in a wooden frame. But far more interestingly, a "Cog" is a dialect word for a Cuckoo, (pronounced with a vowel half way between 'o' and 'u' and probably onomatopoeic). One source links it with "gowk", also a Cuckoo. There are several places in Lincolnshire known as Cuckoobush, which have legends of simple-minded folk building a fence around a bush to restrain the Cuckoo, often because they are enchanted by the bird's "beautiful song". Perhaps the Garth here was for a Cuckoo too? I have no idea at all why this is called Coggarth - which has been a surname in the past. But I really like the Cuckoo idea.

A huge area of tarmac. One feels there should be a green.

Beside the service valve sign (I looked for the associated valve cover and could not find it. I suspect it has been tarmac'd over) is this little model house, normally used for displaying fresh eggs for sale. The lady owner told me that the hens are off lay, and she blamed the dry weather.

A grade II listed building in Georgian style, facing the side lane not the village square. The single storey extension with the bay window was added in the 20th century, and served as a Butcher's shop in living memory. See https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1360609

This former byway, now the shared access for a handful of homes, is the lane referred to in Image as the one that the large house on the left is built to face