Fillingham
- The parish was in the Willingham sub-district of the Gainsborough Registration District.
- In an 1891 redistricting, the parish was placed in the Marton subdistrict of the Gainsborough Registration District.
- The North Lincolnshire Library holds a copy of the parish census returns for 1841 through 1901.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew.
- Portions of the church date back to 1200 or so. It was partially reconstructed in 1777, and restored again in 1866.
- The church seats about 120.
- Here's a picture of the Anglican Church:
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- Parish registers exist from 1661, but the Bishop's transcripts go back to 1599.
- The North Lincolnshire Library holds a copy of the parish register entries for baptisms 1661-1948, burials 1661-1812 and marriages 1661-1837.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has a Loan Library service which has the parish registers on microfiche for Baptisms from 1661 to 1813 and Marriages from 1661 to 1812.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Lawres Deanery to make your search easier.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1859. For more on these chapels and their records, check our Non-Conformist Church Records page for additional resources.
- The parish was in the Willingham sub-district of the Gainsborough Registration District.
- In an 1891 redistricting, the parish was placed in the Marton subdistrict of the Gainsborough Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started July, 1837.
Fillingham is both a parish and a village about nine miles east of Gainsborough, nine miles north of the city of Lincoln and about 151 miles north of London. The parish itself is bordered on the north by Glentworth parish, on the east by the old Roman Road "Ermine Street", and to the south by Ingham parish. The parish covers about 3,590 acres. A lake near the manor house is one of the sources for the River Till. Some reports say that the Old River Ancholme rises from this parish.
Fillingham village is at the head of a picturesque valley or dale on the western side of the Wolds. In the 1800's there were several scattered farms in the vale of the Glentworth rivulet. If you are planning a visit:
- Take the A631 trunk road east out of Gainsborough and turn south at the B1398 intersection. The village will be about two miles south.
- Fillingham is a popular place for people to buy their Christmas trees.
- Visit our touring page for more sources.
- Fossil shells have been found here, evidence of a time when this area was under the ocean.
- The park near Summer Castle shows evidence of being a Roman camp. Coins, broken spears, swords, fragments of armour and a stone coffin have been found there.
- Anglo-Saxon pottery have been found at Blacklands, a site on the north side of the lake.
- In 1953 a ancient, probably medieval, burial was discovered in the garden of Lakeside Cottage, Chapel Road. The grave was lined with rough-hewn stones. Foundation stones nearby give evidence thjat the area was once a church cemetery. In 1982, two more graves were found on adjoining property. In July 2000, an archaeological dig conducted by Sheffield University showed that the cemetery was adjacent to an earlier Anglo-Saxon settlement.
- In post-Conquest times, the parish belonged to the WRAY family who had a large mansion here.
- In 1842, Colonel DALTON was the principal landowner.
- In 1872, 1900 and 1913, Mrs. PORTMAN-DALTON and the rector, William Wilton SMITH, MA, were the principal landowners.
- The Domesday Book of 1086 records as many as seven manor homes in Fillingham.
- Summer Castle is a large square Gothic castellated mansion with a circular bastion tower at each corner. It was built in 1760 by Sir Cecil WRAY. It stood on a rise and had a view into five counties. There is an stone old manor house nearby, built about a century before.
- The national grid reference is SK 9485.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer 271 map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
The name Fillingham comes from the Old English Fygla+inga+ham for "homestead of the family of a man named Fygla". The name appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as Figelingeham.
A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
- The WRAY family of Fillingham are descended from Lord Chief Justice WRAY who settled at Glentworth in the reign of Elizabeth I.
- White's 1842 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: BROODBENT, BROUGHAM, CLAYTON, COX, DALTON, DAWBER, EMMINGHAM, FOX, GLOVER, GODFREY, HARRISON, PEARSON, POOLE, ROBERTS, STORR, WALKER, WELLS and WOODHEAD.
- White's 1872 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: ACKRILL, ATKINSON, BELL, BROUGHAM, BROWN, CARTER, CLAYTON, COX, DALTON, EMMINGHAM, GLOVER, GODFREY, GREEN, JENKINS, LAIDLOW, MELBOURN, OVERING, POOLE, ROBERTS, STORR and WALLER.
- Kelly's 1900 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: ACRILL, ATKINSON, BELL, BUTLER, CARTER, CLARKE, HEATH, HUTCHINSON, LAIDLOW, MELBOURNE, PORTMAN-DALTON, ROBERTS, SMITH and STORR.
- Kelly's 1913 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: AKRILL, BELL, CARTER, CLARKE, CODD, CROSS, DIXON, EMMINGHAM, HUTCHINSON, JUBB, LAIDLOW, MARGRAVE, PAGE, PORTMAN-DALTON, PRIESTLY, ROBERTS, SMITH and STORR.
- For governance, the parish was in the ancient Wapentake of Aslacoe in the West Lindsey district and parts of Lindsey.
- In 1739 the common lands were enclosed.
- After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, this parish became part of the Gainsborough Poor Law Union.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
242 |
| 1831 |
308 |
| 1871 |
307 |
| 1891 |
283 |
| 1911 |
232 |
- John DALTON erected the first school here. That school was replaced in 1860 with a building designed to hold 60 children. It was expanded in 1895 with an additional classroom.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
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[Last updated: 14-July-2006 - Louis Mills]
