[3] Domesday Book (1086) records the name "Scheldinchope" and that it contained 12 carucates of land worked by 18 villeins, two sokemen and four bordars.

[clarification needed][6] The area was marsh and woodland at the time of the Romans and there is no evidence of a permanent settlement by ancient Britons, although it is possible that nomadic forest or swamp dwellers occasionally passed through.

[citation needed] Other Roman-era discoveries include a copper alloy bell found in Main Drain,[8] and 13 coins (dated to the third or fourth century) unearthed in 1978.

[7]: 4 On the attainder of Sir William Tailboys, his estates were escheated to the crown and a portion, including Skellingthorpe, were granted to Thomas Burgh and his male heirs by King Edward IV in 1460.

[15] He died aged 62 on 26 June 1693, and the following year the governors of 'Christ Hospitall' in London arranged for a tomb to be erected in his memory, which is now in the grounds of the church.

Throughout the late 1600s and early 1700s the village economy stemmed from duck decoys, but began to decline with the drainage and enclosure of the land.

[16][17] In 2010 it was announced the surviving decoy pond was one of 79 historic sites to be protected under an environmental stewardship scheme, run by Natural England.

[20] By the middle of the 19th century, Skellingthorpe had been well-drained for some time and two small steam engines were erected near the Decoy Farm to pump out floodwater.

In 1914 Christ's Hospital sold off all their properties in the parish, effectively ending a connection between Skellingthorpe and the capital that had existed for over 200 years.

During the 1915–1918 aerial bombardment of Britain by German Zeppelins 14 bombs damaged an engine shed and a railway track at Skellingthorpe on the night of 12/13 April 1918.

Among the village curiosities was an antiquated post-box that still bore the initials of King George VI, despite that monarch having been dead 34 years by that time.

Six crewmembers died in the incident, and the villagers of La Chapelle-Thecle defied Nazi occupation to lay flowers on the bodies of the airmen.

[29] A slaughterhouse in Skellingthorpe has been the site of a number of small, and peaceful, demonstrations against the treatment of cattle being transported to the premises.

The vigils - called ‘Cow Save’ - were organised by the Boston and Skegness Vegans and Vegetarians Group, and occurred in 2016 and 2017, aiming to highlight what they perceived as the animals’ distress before being slaughtered.

[31][35] Although now long gone, the line remains open through the old station and a footpath passes opposite the site between Lincoln and Saxilby via Burton Waters.

There has been a place of worship in the village since the beginning of the 13th century: the institution of Robert de Weinflet as chaplain to the church of Skellingthorpe is recorded in 1225.

[38] Patent Rolls for 1258 (dated 1 October) refer to the "Presentation of Master Raymond, the Queen's physician, to the church of Skeldinghop in the kings gift".

Its new design was described in an 1865 gazetteer as being ‘in the Early English style, consisting of a nave with clerestory over, aisles, chancel, south porch and a tower crowned by a spire and containing a peal of five bells… The East Window is filled with stained glass, in memory of Richard Carline, Esq., and Mrs.

[40] When the new church was officially opened in 1855 it rained heavily, but this did not deter the crowds that arrived from great distances to participate in the ceremony.

[41] A fire on Sunday 2 April 1916 that destroyed the interior, two of the bells, the organ, the pulpit, the font, cassocks and prayer books.

The porch is particularly good, with pilasters at the angles and fluted Greek Doric columns in antis with a finely carved frieze behind them above the entrance'".

[7]: 52 The village sign on Lincoln Road was presented to the parish by the Skellingthorpe Women's Institute in 1982 to celebrate their Diamond Jubilee.

Its double-faced design reflects numerous aspects in the parish's history, from its likely Viking origins to the establishment of RAF Skellingthorpe.

The Village Hall is used by the local scouts as their HQ, and a small Heritage Room at the Community Centre houses a collection of photographs showing the development of RAF Skellingthorpe.

[51] An early 19th-century Ordnance Survey map shows there was at one time a small Victorian-era Methodist chapel sited between two bends in the road.

[52] In 2016 it was reported that some kind of large cat-like animal might be on the prowl in Skellingthorpe, following the discovery of two mutilated hares on the lawn of a 'remote home' in the parish.