Whilst staying with Marian and Martin in Greatford, south Lincolnshire Ike also went on a walk to the neighbouring village of Barholm. The children of Barholm would have walked to school in Greatford along the same path.
Ike was excited to hear that Hereward (the Wake) held land in Barholm just before the invasion by William of Normandy in 1066. Hereward was of high status, and may have been the son of Leofric of Bourne and Eadgyth, a descendant of an earl of Northumberland. He did have some land of his own, but otherwise he held his land in Barholm from Peterborough Abbey. He was involved in a rebellion against William the Conqueror in 1070, and was involved in plundering the abbey of Peterborough in 1071, after William had appointed a Norman abbot. Along with others, he fled into the fens, but managed to escape when William besieged the Isle of Ely. He may eventually have been buried at Crowland.
Ike is staying with Marian and Martin for a little while longer and we will be hearing from him again soon.
I wonder what artefacts lie beneath those expansive fields?