Whitton | |
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Chapel Lane, Whitton |
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Whitton shown within Lincolnshire
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Population | 212 (2011 Census) |
OS grid reference | SE903244 |
• London | 155 mi (249 km) SSE |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Scunthorpe |
Postcode district | DN15 |
Dialling code | 01724 |
Police | Humberside |
Fire | Humberside |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
EU Parliament | Yorkshire and the Humber |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Whitton:notes on the history of a village. |
Whitton is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The 2011 census found 212 inhabitants, in 92 households. It is situated at the northern termination of the Cliff range of hills, on the south shore of the Humber about 3 miles (4.8 km) below Trent Falls, and 9 miles (14 km) west of Barton-upon-Humber. The parish is bounded on the west by Alkborough, on the east by Winteringham (which also includes the Winteringham Haven Wildlife Reserve) and, to the south, by West Halton.
Cameron and Mills have suggested that the place name is an Old English masculine personal name (genitive -n) + Anglian ēg, hence 'Hwita's island of land', but Ekwall thought the name meant ‘White Island’ perhaps assuming wrongly that the ground was chalky. Gelling pointed out that the settlement is situated on an obvious ēg, i.e. an 'island' of dry land, projecting into the Humber Estuary, and surrounded on east and west by former marshy ground.
Whitton may have originated at the time the Romans crossed the Humber northward in 71 AD; first as a military camp and then later as a Roman villa, overlooking the river, with its temple a few yards to the east, where the Church now stands. It is possible that Whitton was a landing stage on the south bank for the Roman fort and civitas of Petuaria Parisorum at Brough across the river. Roman Coins of Claudius Gothicus (268–270 AD) and Constantine I (the Great) (309–337 AD) have been found in the fields.Pevsner states that the Church tower "re-uses massive blocks of Roman stone", but these blocks of millstone grit which are to be found in several local churches (such as neighbouring Winteringham) may have been transported down the Ouse and the Humber from York where Roman buildings were being dismantled, or may even have come from some sort of triumphal arch or structure (perhaps like the Arch of Constantine), which might have stood at the end of Ermine Street.