The settlement of Snelland was very small as documented in the earlier medieval period: a sokeland holding was waste in 1086. Including Swinthorpe, only 3 and 4 taxpayers were listed in the early 14th century, yet the settlement was not deserted by the Black Death and there were even 10 households in the parish in 1428. Kirkstead Abbey's possession of the manor from the 12th century through to the Dissolution was an important factor in both the recorded population levels and the settlement's survival. Slight earthworks recorded on early aerial photographs included a field west of the church named Grange, presumably the site of Kirkstead's manor: most of these earthworks have now been levelled. The earliest estate map of c.1800 shows the church, as now, topographically separate from the village and with a road around its north side, now gone. {1}{2}