Saundby
"Saundby is but a small village, pleasantly situated on an eminence overlooking the Trent, 3 miles south-west by west of Gainsborough, and 7/12 miles north-east of Retford. The parish, which extends to the Trent, contains 107 inhabitants and 1,330 acres of rich enclosed land, all of which belongs to Lord Middleton, the lord of the manor, except a small quantity of glebe, and 28 acres belonging to the poor of Gainsborough. At the Domesday Survey, the whole was of the Archbishop of York's soke of Laneham, except one garden, which a villein held of the soke of Mansfield, by the service of finding "salt for the King's fish in Bigrodie". The church, which has evidently been a much larger edifice, is dedicated to St Martin. The living is a rectory, valued in the King's books at £14 8s 6d, now £101, and is in the gift of Lord Middleton, and incumbency of the Rev. Charles Walter Hudson. The rectory house is a handsome mansion, built in 1831.
Trent Port, on the west bank of the Trent, opposite to Gainsborough, contains a good inn, two large ship yards, an oil mill, and several wharfs, warehouses &c., which belong to Lord Middleton."
[White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853]
- The parish was in the Misterton sub-district in the Gainsborough Registration District.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2407 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3443 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2633 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours.
- The church was built before 1504, because that is the year when the tower was added.
- The church closed for services in 1973 and is preserved by the Church Conservation Trust.
- Bill HENDERSON has a good photograph of St. Martin's Church on Geo-graph, taken in 2006.
- For photographs of the inside of St. Martin Church, see those taken by Allan BARTON on Flickr.
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1568 but is missing entries from 1600 through 1662.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Retford.
- The parish was in the Misterton sub-district in the Gainsborough Registration District.
- Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
Saundby is a small village and a parish 148 miles north of London, 7 miles north-east of East Retford and 3 miles south-west of Gainsborough (in Lincolnshire). The River Trent provides the eastern border of the parish. In the 1800s, much of the parish was grazing land.
If you are planning a visit:
- By automobile, take the A620 arterial road north out of Retford. This road runs right through the village.
- Alternatively, take the A631 arterial west out of Gainsborough, turn south at the A620 interchange and you'll be in Saundby before you can get up to the speed of traffic.
- For photographs of the parish, see those taken by Barbara WHITEMAN on Pictures of England.
- In the 1800s the parish had a small ship-yard, wharves and an oilmill on the River Trent just opposit Gainsborough.
- The national grid reference is SK 7888.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale, or the Landranger #112 which covers this section of the Trent valley.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- The Royal Flying Corps established a landing field in Saundby in 1916.
- The landing field was returned to agricultural use in 1918.
- The War Memorial plaque on the wall of St. Martin's Church honors four men who fell in World War I.
| William Arthur CHAMBERS |
private |
| Herbert VALLANCE |
Corporal |
| John WAINWRIGHT |
private |
| Walter Herbert YATES |
Lance Sergeant |
- This place was an ancient parish in the county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the North Clay division of the ancient Bassetlaw Wapentake (Hundred) in the northern division of the county.
| Year |
Population |
| 1801 |
100 |
| 1841 |
107 |
| 1851 |
88 |
| 1861 |
86 |
| 1871 |
98 |
| 1881 |
113 |
| 1891 |
126 |
| 1901 |
103 |
| 1911 |
101 |
| 1921 |
98 |
| 1931 |
101 |
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[Last updated: 2-March-2013 - Louis R. Mills]
