Kirkby La Thorpe

Kirkby la Thorpe is a village and civil parish in North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east from Sleaford. The village is near the start of the A17 Sleaford bypass.

There are three possible Deserted Medieval Village sites in the parish. Which have been identified with the three known names of Thorpe, Laythorpe and Burgh, from written records including Domesday. It is unlikely the mystery of which is which can ever be resolved.

There are about 45 people who live in the village itself, although the civil parish extends to take in that part of Sleaford that lies to the south-east of the town's Boston Road Police Station, including the Poets Estate; in the late 1990s Sleaford Town Council asked residents to agree to a change in the civil parish boundary, in order to realign these parts within the town, but this was rejected. Poets Estate falls within the Ecclesiastical Parish of New Sleaford, since the boundary between New Sleaford and the parish of Quarrington and Old Sleaford was changed in c.1924 from the River Slea to the railway line.

The village is served by a Church of England primary school, comprising the original 1860 building with its large classroom and school hall, together with an extension housing three additional classrooms, cloakroom and library that was opened in April 2004 and two further rooms, which were added in the summer of 2011.

Kirkby's Grade II* listed Anglican parish church is dedicated to St Denys. Originating in the 12th century, its chancel was rebuilt in 1854 in Early English style. The aisle and crenellated tower with crocketed pinnacles are of Decorated Gothic period, the tower incorporating some Saxon elements, and there are remnants of 14th century glass in the aisle windows. Kirkby previously had two churches; the church of St Peter was pulled down in 1593, and in 1859 fragments of the church were found, together with Saxon remains. St Denys was part of the Leasingham group of churches until the latter part of 2009, when the Ecclesiastical Parishes of Kirkby Laythorpe and Ewerby became part of the benefice of New Sleaford, to be held in plurality.

The Grange is a Grade II* listed house on Church Lane. Of 15th century origin, it was altered in the 16th; Pevsner records a moulded beam that indicates its earlier date. An early 19th century barn on Church Lane, early 17th century cottages on Mount Lane, and mid-18th century Mount Lane Farmhouse are also listed.

The village pub is the Queens Head Inn on Boston Road, and was winner of the Lincolnshire Life's best pub restaurant in 2001.