Until the Enclosure Acts between 1750 and 1860 the village consisted of a scattered collection of small crofts and farmhouses.
In the Victorian era several substantial houses and cottages were built in the village under the stewardship of the Weston-Craecroft-Amcotts family as Lords of the Manor.

The Coaching inn originally known as The Ship Inn, with its spare teams of Mail coach horses stabled in a coach house, was built in the late 18th century.
The Inn was later renamed as The Vanguard in 1876 to commemorate the sinking of HMS Vanguard.
In 1993 the public house’s name was changed for the third time and is now called The Coach House although the actual coach house building was sold separately and converted as a family home.
A Victorian style conservatory was added to the pub for use as a restaurant.

Keal Cotes Post Office and village stores opened in 1795 on the same site as the village well and a 16th-century farmhouse, the oldest standing building in the village.
The shop and post office was run by several generations of the local Shaw family for most of its existence.
In 1923 the village telephone box was erected on a new layby outside the post office at a time when only the post office and the village blacksmith had a private telephone.
The post office's telephone number was originally Spilsby 20 and later became Keal Cotes 200.
The original shop and post office closed in 1995 after being downgraded to an unprofitable part-time community office, with the previous shop premises being absorbed by its adjoining house now known as 'Orchard View'.
The principal factor causing the traditional levels of trade to drop was the building of the M18 motorway and the M180 motorway in the 1970s, diverting the previously busy A16 traffic.
The post office franchise moved to a small house annex at the other end of the village for several years before moving yet again to the Coach House public house where it remained until it was eventually closed by Post Office Counters Ltd as a cost-saving exercise in 2005.

A Wesleyan Chapel and Sunday school was built in the village in 1891.
Closed in the 1950s the building still stands and is now used as general storage facility by a local farmer.
The village windmill, built in the 18th century, fell into decay and disuse before being demolished in 1949 and is only remembered by the naming of Mill Lane.

West Keal Primary School closed in the 1960s after the school roll fell below a sustainable level.
After a fund raising campaign half of the school building was bought by the combined villages of Keal Cotes and West Keal and established as a community village hall, renamed as the "Craecroft Hall", with the other half of the building used as a private residence.

Between 1845 and 1930 the most commonly used route between Keal Cotes and Boston was by the daily Steam Packet passenger vessel that travelled between Spilsby and Boston several times a day, also carrying the mail.
The Keal Cotes wharf on the East Fen Catchwater Drain was alongside the Vanguard Bridge, with further stops in Stickford and Sibsey the route joined up with the River Trader, past Boston Golf Course to a wharf near the windmill on the Maud Foster waterway through the centre of Boston.
After a final stop near the Old Blue Anchor waterside public house on Windsor Bank the steam packet turned round and headed back to Spilsby.

There was a historic footpath through the fields connecting West Keal and Keal Cotes formalised by the Enclosure Act of 1750, much used by villagers heading for the West Keal Parish Church.
The footpath was annexed for its entire length by the Air Ministry in 1941, as it passed across the perimeter track of RAF East Kirkby, with a firm undertaking that the footpath's right of way would be reinstated as and when the airfield ever closed.
However, an administrative error by a junior Air Ministry clerk in 1965 resulted in the footpath being sold as several parcels of land by tender to a number of local farmers and subsequently plowed up for agriculture.
Several campaigns to reopen the original footpath for publi
Until the Enclosure Acts between 1750 and 1860 the village consisted of a scattered collection of small crofts and farmhouses. In the Victorian era several substantial houses and cottages were built in the village under the stewardship of the Weston-Craecroft-Amcotts family as Lords of the Manor.
The Coaching inn originally known as The Ship Inn, with its spare teams of Mail coach horses stabled in a coach house, was built in the late 18th century. The Inn was later renamed as The Vanguard in 1876 to commemorate the sinking of HMS Vanguard. In 1993 the public house’s name was changed for the third time and is now called The Coach House although the actual coach house building was sold separately and converted as a family home. A Victorian style conservatory was added to the pub for use as a restaurant.
Keal Cotes Post Office and village stores opened in 1795 on the same site as the village well and a 16th-century farmhouse, the oldest standing building in the village. The shop and post office was run by several generations of the local Shaw family for most of its existence. In 1923 the village telephone box was erected on a new layby outside the post office at a time when only the post office and the village blacksmith had a private telephone. The post office's telephone number was originally Spilsby 20 and later became Keal Cotes 200. The original shop and post office closed in 1995 after being downgraded to an unprofitable part-time community office, with the previous shop premises being absorbed by its adjoining house now known as 'Orchard View'. The principal factor causing the traditional levels of trade to drop was the building of the M18 motorway and the M180 motorway in the 1970s, diverting the previously busy A16 traffic. The post office franchise moved to a small house annex at the other end of the village for several years before moving yet again to the Coach House public house where it remained until it was eventually closed by Post Office Counters Ltd as a cost-saving exercise in 2005.
A Wesleyan Chapel and Sunday school was built in the village in 1891. Closed in the 1950s the building still stands and is now used as general storage facility by a local farmer. The village windmill, built in the 18th century, fell into decay and disuse before being demolished in 1949 and is only remembered by the naming of Mill Lane.
West Keal Primary School closed in the 1960s after the school roll fell below a sustainable level. After a fund raising campaign half of the school building was bought by the combined villages of Keal Cotes and West Keal and established as a community village hall, renamed as the "Craecroft Hall", with the other half of the building used as a private residence.
Between 1845 and 1930 the most commonly used route between Keal Cotes and Boston was by the daily Steam Packet passenger vessel that travelled between Spilsby and Boston several times a day, also carrying the mail. The Keal Cotes wharf on the East Fen Catchwater Drain was alongside the Vanguard Bridge, with further stops in Stickford and Sibsey the route joined up with the River Trader, past Boston Golf Course to a wharf near the windmill on the Maud Foster waterway through the centre of Boston. After a final stop near the Old Blue Anchor waterside public house on Windsor Bank the steam packet turned round and headed back to Spilsby.
There was a historic footpath through the fields connecting West Keal and Keal Cotes formalised by the Enclosure Act of 1750, much used by villagers heading for the West Keal Parish Church. The footpath was annexed for its entire length by the Air Ministry in 1941, as it passed across the perimeter track of RAF East Kirkby, with a firm undertaking that the footpath's right of way would be reinstated as and when the airfield ever closed. However, an administrative error by a junior Air Ministry clerk in 1965 resulted in the footpath being sold as several parcels of land by tender to a number of local farmers and subsequently plowed up for agriculture. Several campaigns to reopen the original footpath for publi
Keal Cotes