In the sanctuary is a late-13th-century effigy of a knight in chain mail;[7] perhaps a Wake family member.

Hereward the Wake was an Anglo-Saxon who led resistance to the Norman Conquest, and was born in or near Bourne.

[9] In addition, Wilsthorpe Crossing Halt railway station was located to the north of the village.

Nearby is the pumping station house from the old Peterborough Waterworks with its 52 feet (15.8 m) deep artesian well drilled during the late 19th century when it provided a million gallons of water each day to supply the cathedral city 14 miles (23 km) away.

[citation needed] Wilsthorpe appears as a real world location in Mr Humphreys and His Inheritance a short ghost story by M.R.