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South Thoresby

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Archives & Libraries

The Community Library at Alford has a local history archive that will prove useful in your research.

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Census

  • The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
     
  • Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year
Piece No.
1841H.O. 107 / 627
1851H.O. 107 / 2111
1861R.G. 9 / 2379
1871R.G. 10 / 3398
1881R.G. 11 / 3260
1891R.G. 12 / 2606
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Church History

  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew the Apostle.
     
  • The original church here had fallen into ruin by 1735.
     
  • A new church was built in 1738 to replace the earlier church.
     
  • The church underwent extensive repairs in 1872.
     
  • The church seats 100.
     
  • David HITCHBORNE provides a photograph of the entry path to St. Andrew's Church on Geo-graph, taken in 2008.
     
  • A photograph of the St. Andrew's church is at the Wendy PARKINSON English Church Photographs site, taken by Paul Fenwick.
     
  • Here is a photo of St. Andrew's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
     
image
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Church Records

  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1660.
     
  • The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Calcewaith and Candleshoe Deanery to make your search easier.
     
  • The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1873. For more on researching these chapel records, see our non-conformist religions page.
     
  • Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
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Civil Registration

  • The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
     
  • Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
     
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Description & Travel

South Thoresby is a village and a parish about 4 miles west of Alford, 8 miles north of Spilsby and about 9 miles southeast of Louth in the Wold hills. A stream called the Withern Eau runs through the parish and eventualy joins the Great Eau. The parish covers about 950 acres and includes the hamlets of Calceby and Driby.

If you are planning a visit:

  • By automobile, take the A16 trunk road south out of Louth just past Swaby. Or, from Alford, take the A1104 arterial road west to the A16, then north on that road about a mile and turn right for South Thoresby.
     
  • South Thoreby Warren was declared a Nature Reserve in 2008.
     
  • See our touring page for visitor services.
You can see pictures of South Thoresby which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

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History

  • For many years in the 20th century, South Thoresby was the site of a Magic Wand Factory. For some reason they were unable to make a go of it and the business has moved and the old building reverted to residences.
     
  • Ian PATERSON provides a photograph of the Vine Inn on Geo-graph, taken in 2008.
     
  • The Vine Inn (also called the Vine Hotel) dates back to 1508 when it was a popular stopover for coaches and men on horseback. It offered food, drink, stables, blacksmithing and wheelwright work. The Vine Inn has not always been in the same building.  At last report, the Vine Inn was for sale. Here are the names listed in various directories for the Inn:
     
Year Person
1842 John HILTON, blacksmith
1872 Samuel WHITE, blacksmith
1882 Samuel WHITE, vict.
1900 Christopher MICHAEL
1913 Christopher MICHAEL
1930 Mrs. Caroline MICHAEL

The 1881 census shows the following people at the Inn (RG11 / 3260, folio 21):

Relationship Name Sex Age Where born
Head Samuel WHITE M 63 Haltham, Lincolnshire
son Charles B. WHITE M 36 Haltham, Lincolnshire
serv. Sarah BONNETT F 19 Aby, Lincolnshire
boarder Charles GREEN M 32 Sheffield, Yorkshire
boarder Joseph EDESON M 31 Worksop, Nottinghamshire
boarder William PINNINGTON M 20 Worksop, Nottinghamshire
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Manors

  • The WOOD family lived in The Hall, which was taken down in 1826.
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Maps

  • See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF401770 (Lat/Lon: 53.271065, 0.100079), South Thoresby which are provided by:

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Military History

  • On the north wall of the church a marble tablet was mounted bearing the names of those who fell in the Great War.
     
  • The Imperial War Museum has photographs of the Roll Of Honour plaque.
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Military Records

The names on the Roll of Honour are:

  1. Ashley, Harold, priv., North Staffs Regt.
  2. Oliver, Henry, priv., Lincs Regt., son of Maria B. OLIVER
  3. Toddenham, Arthur (not found in CWGC database)
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Names, Geographical

  • The name derives from the Old Scandinavian Thorir+by, meaning "farmstead or village of a man called Thorir". It appears as Toresbi in the 1086 Domesday Book.
    [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].
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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
     
  • The parish was in the Marsh division of the ancient Calceworth Wapentake in the East Lindsey district and in the parts of Lindsey.
     
  • Kelly's 1900 Directory of Lincolnshire places the parish, perhaps erroneously, in the South Lindsey district of the county.
     
  • For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
     
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Alford petty sessional hearings on alternate Tuesdays at the Alford Police Station.
     
  • After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became part of the Louth Poor Law Union.
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Population

YearInhabitants
1801150
1811145
1831142
1841138
1871148
1881159
1891139
1901108
1911115
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Schools

  • The children of this parish attended school in Aby.
     
  • For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.