Aby is always the first in any list of Lincolnshire
place-names and the shortest too.
The name comes from Old English and Danish and means 'the farmstead by the stream' though it was shown as Abi in the Domesday Book when Odo, half-brother of William the Conqueror and Bishop of Bayeux owned the manor.

There was an early medieval church here (All Saints) but when that collapsed in 1642 Aby parish was combined with adjacent Belleau and shared the church there.
However, Belleau's churchyard remained in use and in 1888 a
tin mortuary chapel was built there at a cost of £95. This was only demolished about five years ago.
At the other end of the village is an imposing Methodist chapel of 1895.

On the hilltop at Belleau is St John the Baptist church, the outside of which was rebuilt in 1862, but inside keeps much of its medieval atmosphere. It contains a memorial to Sir Henry Vane (died 1662).
Vane was a somewhat larger than life character and was a prominent republican during the Civil War and one-time governor of Massachusetts.

After a lifetime in the limelight of English and American politics he retired to seclusion at Belleau but upon the Restoration of Charles II was executed for treason.
Note the large gravestone to Oriana Michell (died 1780) forming the step into the porch and the rare 'VR' letterbox in the wall in the hillside below the church.
Belleau itself, Elgelo in the Domesday Book, and Bellhowe by 1536, surrounds a deep hollow where springs burst from the hillside to form the Great Eau and the land has been farmed since at least early mediaeval times when there was a moated manor house here.

This was once the home of the Willoughby family who in due course married into the Willoughby D'Eresby title and went to live at Eresby Hall near Spilsby where the church contains several magnificent family monuments.
Later marriages into the Bertie family improved their status even further and took them to Grimsthorpe Castle near Bourne.
Even so, remains of the Willoughby estate still exist today. In the farmyard there is a well-preserved Tudor
brick dovecote and a barn (within the former moat area) that has Tudor brickwork and windows.

A more modern barn built in 1904 incorporates a medieval archway and the Willoughby family mascot, a bearded 'Wild Man' – probably a fertility symbol.
(These may be spotted
only by leaving the track just after the modern barn in order to peer around the back; do not trespass elsewhere into the farmyard.)

The Railway Tavern at Aby recalls the former East Lincolnshire Railway main line between Grimsby and London that passed to the east of the village when Aby had its own station near the adjoining hamlet of Claythorpe.
The line closed late in 1970 and most of it has now disappeared or been tamed by nature.

* Readers may park at the Railway Tavern by kind permission of the landlady.

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The route

ABOUT THE WALK
START: The Railway Tavern, Aby.
MAPS OS: Landranger 122 (Skegness) : Explorer 274.
DISTANCE 3 miles: 4.5 kilometres.
REFRESHMENTS: The Railway Tavern, Aby.

From the inn car park turn right and walk into Aby and there turn right into School Lane.

Turn left along New Street and you will emerge opposite the Methodist chapel. Turn right for a few paces and then look across the road for a sign where a footpath begins.
Walk over a long meadow to a footbridge visible at the far end against some trees. Cross this and follow the path to a second, long footbridge and cross that too.
The path now goes to the right of a hedge end and leads up to a stile.

This may be overgrown – if it is, walk to the left of the hedge to its corner, the stile will be just to your right.
However, we turn left here and walk down the field aiming just to the right of a group of trees where the ground drops steeply to a stream.

Bear right alongside this until you reach a footbridge and turn left across it.
Now aim towards Belleau church seen ahead and you will soon join a lane.

Turn left into Belleau and go up the hill to see the church.
To return to Aby go back down the hill and bear right along an unsigned track past the Tudor dovecote, the Belleau Springs and some barns.

Beyond these is a footpath sign and kissing gate on your left.

Walk beside the Great Eau now until you reach a footbridge, cross over and continue by a hedge to a second bridge and cross that too.

Now turn sharp right behind a hedge, going left at the field corner until a hedge gap leads into Aby churchyard.
Walk across to a gate at the far side from where a grass track leads straight back to the Railway Tavern.

The Map