Bilsby

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Bilsby
Lincolnshire
Holy Trinity Church, Bilsby - geograph.org.uk - 531351.jpg
Holy Trinity, Bilsby
Location
Grid reference: TF473766
Location: 53°15’60"N, 0°12’27"E
Data
Population: 487  (2011, incl Farlesthorpe)
Post town: Alford
Postcode: LN13
Local Government
Council: East Lindsey
Parliamentary
constituency:
Louth and Horncastle

Bilsby is a village in Lindsey, the northern part of Lincolnshire. It is on the main A1111 road between Alford and Sutton-on-Sea, a mile east of Alford.

The village name may derive from the Norse goddess Bil.[1]

History

Bilsby is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a settlement of eighteen households.[2]

Alford – Sutton Tramway

Mumby Road railway station used to be situated here. In 1897, Thurlby would have been an important junction between the Sutton and Willoughby Railway (part of the East Lincolnshire Railway) and a proposed line from a new port at Sutton-on-Sea to another in Warrington to be built by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway.[3]

A steam tramway ran through Bilsby between 1884 and 1889. The Alford and Sutton Tramway[4] ran from Alford town to Sutton-on-Sea on rails set into the road; it opened in 1884 and closed only 5 years later.[5]

Parish church

Bilsby church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and is a Grade II* Listed Building,[6] dating from the 15th century. It was extensively repaired in 1841.[7]

The church is stuccoed and has an 18th-century stone tower with brick battlements. The pulpit stem is the bole of a tree, with its steps cut from another.[8]

A memorial slab in the chancel commemorates Sir John Byllesby (died 1640), a prominent figure in his day. His descendant, Major H. M. Byllesby (US Air Service), largely aided a restoration of the church in 1918.[7]

Landmarks

Bilsby Mill

Built about 1740, Bilsby House is a mansion in the Georgian style occupying the site of an older moated and castellated house,[7] reputedly the residence of the Bilsby, sometimes spelt Billesby, family.[9] This family appear to have left the original mansion in 1616.[10]

Built in 1861, Bilsby windmill was later extended; it was powered by wind and operated until 1932. Although disused and missing its cap, the tower of the mill still stands and is a Grade II Listed Building.[11]

Thurlby and Asserby

Thurlby is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a settlement of 18 households. Thurlby today is a hamlet in the parish of Bilsby, but in the Middle Ages it was a parish in its own right and had a church dedicated to St Mary. No trace of the church remains today.[12]

As indicated by earthworks, the hamlet of Asserby is smaller today than the village it was in mediæval times. Unlike Thurlby, it is not mentioned in the Domesday Book and did not have its own church.[13]

Outside links

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("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Bilsby)

References

  1. Streatfield (1884:68)
  2. Bilsby: Open Domesday
  3. Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway. Plans and sections. 1890. Lincolnshire Archive [LIND DEP PLANS 1/177.]
  4. "Alford & Sutton Tramway". Alford Website. http://www.alford.info/town/tram.htm. 
  5. "This Is Grimsby". Grimsby. http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/End-daily-grind-village-windmill/article-3154299-detail/article.html. Retrieved 21 April 2011. 
  6. National Heritage List 1360007: Church of the Holy Trinity (Grade II* listing)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Kellys Directory". Kellys Directories Ltd. 1919. p. 66. http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp. 
  8. Jack Yates & Henry Thorold (1965). Shell Guide To Lincolnshire. London Faber & Faber. p. 31. 
  9. Post Office Directory of Lincolnshire. 1855. p. 27. https://books.google.com/books?id=sOUNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA374&dq=post+office+directory+lincolnshire+1855&hl=en&ei=ZCOxTayWG5Kq8APttcSVDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=bilsby&f=false. Retrieved 22 April 2011. 
  10. Arthur Roland Maddison (1891). "Lincolnshire Wills:with notes and introductory sketch". J Williamson. p. chapter XVI. https://archive.org/stream/lincolnshirewil00maddgoog/lincolnshirewil00maddgoog_djvu.txt. Retrieved 22 April 2011. 
  11. National Heritage List 1063005: Windmill (Grade II listing)
  12. "Lincs to the Past". Thurlby Deserted Mediæval Village. Lincolnshire Archives. http://www.lincstothepast.com/THURLBY-DESERTED-MEDIÆVAL-VILLAGE/228172.record?pt=S. Retrieved 17 May 2011. 
  13. Deserted Mediæval Village of Asserby: Lincs to the Past
  • Streatfield, George Sidney (1884). Lincolnshire and the Danes. K. Paul, Trench & Co.