Dry Doddington means the "dry estate of a man called Dodda". There was a deserted medieval village called 'Stocking' or 'Stockyng' associated with Dry Doddington in the early 14th century; its precise location is unknown.[2]
Dry Doddington CE School was built as a National School in 1872, but was closed between 1926 and 1929, after which it re-opened as a primary school. It closed for the last time in 1961.[3]
The village public house is The Wheatsheaf Inn on Main Street.[5]
Geography
The village, on a small hill called Lincoln Hill, is surrounded by the River Witham to the west and south. The village of Claypole is to the north and Westborough and Long Bennington 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south. The East Coast Main Line passes 1 mile to the north-east.
Recent restoration work, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, has brought the 14th-century tower back to its former glory. The tower boasts an impressive tilt of 4.8[8] or 5.1[9] degrees, leaning more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, which is now tilted at 3.97 degrees.
The church contains a memorial to a No. 49 Squadron RAFAvro Lancaster that crashed near the village on 26 November 1944. The aircraft, called 'O-Oboe', was piloted by F/O Le Marquand (PB432). It had only been in the air for a few minutes before it crashed, laden with bombs and fuel. Whilst five members of the crew survived, Norman Langley, the wireless operator and air gunner, and Edward Blake, the mid-upper gunner, were killed.[10]
^"Dry Doddington Memorial". Bomber History. Malcolm Brooke/49 Squadron Association. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
