Old Clee
| Old Clee | |
| Lincolnshire | |
|---|---|
 Church Lane, Old Clee | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TA293084 |
| Location: | 53°33’24"N, 0°2’54"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Grimsby |
| Postcode: | DN32 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | North East Lincolnshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Great Grimsby |
Old Clee is located in the Clee Road (the A46) and Carr Lane area of eastern Grimsby, in the north of Lindsey, the northern part of Lincolnshire. It adjoins the neighbouring town of Cleethorpes, to which it has historic links.
Not so long ago this was a separate village. Its parish church, Holy Trinity and St Mary, is claimed to be the oldest building in Grimsby, and has an Anglo-Saxon tower dating from 1050.
Located in the area are the Old Clee infants/junior schools (Colin Avenue) and the Havelock Academy (Holyoake Road). Nearby is the King George V Stadium.
History
The settlement of Clee was in existence by the time of the Norman Conquest and is mentioned in the Domesday Book, as a village of over twenty households, held by brothers Erik and Tosti in 1066, and by Odo, half-brother of William the Conqueror, following the conquest.[1] Its Domesday Book name was Cleia, from the Old English for clay, in reference to the area's soil.[2]
Clee was one of six villages, or thorpes, within a wider ancient parish, also called Clee.[3] Of the six villages, only Old Clee, as it is now known,[2] and, to the west, Weelsby, remain.[3] The north-western village of Holme, or South Holm, is now part of Grimsby,[4] while the eastern villages of Hole or Oole, Itterby and Thrunscoe joined to form the town of Cleethorpes.[4] The southern boundary with Humberston was at Buck Beck.
A long-standing dispute with Grimsby over the position of the boundary stone near what is now Bath Street was legally settled in favour of Clee in 1830. Until the mid-19th century, Clee parish operated the open field system of agriculture. Under the Enclosure award of 1846 land in Clee village and Cleethorpes was divided between various landowners, mainly G.F Heneage, Richard Thorold and Sidney Sussex College.
As trade in the Grimsby commercial and fishing docks expanded, its population grew, which led to a shortage of land for housing within Grimsby. From the 1860s there was a movement of people across the town's eastern boundary into the almost uninhabited northern part of Clee (called New Clee) near Grimsby docks. This area lay between Humber Street and Park Street, which formed the boundary with the Cleethorpes section of the parish.
By the 1880s the population of New Clee had reached over 9,000, nearly all dependent on the fishing trades. From this built-up area, about a mile to the south-east lay the sparsely populated rural area of Old Clee, with its mediæval church, farms, cottages and grammar school.
Church history
An early church existed in Old Clee prior to the Norman Conquest which was under the supervision of the Austin canons of Wellow Abbey.[3]
The present church is Grade I listed.[5] Its Anglo-Saxon tower dates to 1050,[6] while a Latin inscription records the dedication of the church,[5] to 'St Trinity and St Mary the Virgin', by Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1192. The church was intended to provide not only a place of worship, but also a vantage point from which to watch for Viking invaders and a sanctuary to protect the villagers. During the building of the tower, an image of a face was added to one side.
Clee Hall
Clee Hall, formerly known as Mordaunt Hall, for the family of that name which lived there,[3] is two storey farmhouse, which dates to the Elizabethan era, with some late 19th to early 20th century additions.[7] The house and garden are surrounded by the remains of a Mediæval moat.[7]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Old Clee) |
References
- ↑ Clee Old Clee in the Domesday Book
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-19-960908-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=tXucAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA117.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Gomme (Editor), George Laurence (1883). The Gentleman's magazine library being a classified collection of the chief contents of the Gentleman's magazine from 1731 to 1868. London: E. Stock. https://archive.org/details/gentlemansmagazi01gommuoft. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Foster (Editor), C.W. (1920). Final Concords of the County of Lincoln: 1244-1272. British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53616. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 National Heritage List 1379405: Church of the Holy Trinity and Holy Mary the Virgin, Old Clee (Grade I listing)
- ↑ "Old Clee Holy Trinity and St Mary the Virgin Parish Church". Lincolnshire County Council. http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/VenueDetails.aspx?venuecode=21761. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 National Monuments Record: No. 81421 – Clee Hall Farmhouse
- Gillet, Edward; A History of Grimsby, University of Hull Press (1986). ISBN 0859584534
- Drury, Edward: 'The Great Grimsby Story' (E. Drury, 1987)
- Watson, C. Ernest; A History of Clee and the Thorpes of Clee, Lulu.com (2008). ISBN 140923844X
