Lincolnshire county page

Contents

Lincolnshire Towns & Parishes

Nearby Places

North Thoresby

Cemeteries

• Brian Chester has provided a Monument Inscription lookup feature at his website for St. Helen's Church.(JB)
  
  

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Census

• The parish was in the Tetney sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
  
  
• We have started a 1901 census return extract. Your additions to this are welcome.
  
  
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

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Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Helen.
  
  
• The church was partially restored in 1848. Although apparently ancient, the date of origin is unknown.
  
  
• The church seats about 350 persons.
  
  
• The remains of a Saxon Cross are preserved in the church.
  
  
• The churchyard was enlarged in 1893.
  
  
• A photograph of St. Helen's Church is at the Wendy Parkinson English Church Photographs site.
  
  
• Here is a photo of St. Helen's, taken by Ron Cole (who retains the copyright):
  
  

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Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1546.
  
  
• The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a 1641/2 Protestation Return for the Haverstoe Deanery to make your search easier.
  
  
• The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists each had a chapel here prior to 1900. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, 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 Tetney 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 and Travel

North Thoresby is both a village and parish about 148 miles north of London and midway between Louth and Grimsby. Grainsby parish is to the north and Ludborough parish to the south. The parish covers about 2,600 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• North Thoresby is just east of the A16, halfway between Grimsby and Louth, where the trunk road intersects with the B1201 arterial road.
  
  
• See our touring page for visitor services.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is TA 2998.
  
  
• For a modern map of the area, try: Multimaps.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, which has a scale of 2.5 inches to the mile.
  
  
• See our Maps page for additional resources.
  
  

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Military History

• The parish established a War Memorial in 2005. The article below appeared in the Grimsby Telegraph newspaper.
  
  

DAY IT RAINED TRAGIC DEBRIS

12:30 - 24 September 2005
The recent dedication of a memorial in North Thoresby to eight men who died in a tragic accident on a training flight prompted FRED ROBINSON of Mill Road, Market Rasen, to send in these moving memories of what happened on that fateful day. Having attended the ceremony for the dedication of the memorial erected for the crew of the Lancaster bomber in the centre of North Thoresby on Sunday, September 4, and to see the large crowds of people who came to show respect for those brave men, was unbelievable. Being interested in incidents like the one which happened on that fateful day, I recorded at the time what my late brother saw on October 4 as it was against the rules to talk about such incidents in public during the war - as "careless talk could cost lives". He was operating a threshing machine on a farm at Brigsley and was just checking the time on his pocket watch to see if it was break time. The time was exactly 12.50pm and, at that moment, he heard a terrific explosion at a great height - and debris began falling which resembled a flock of crows falling from the sky, with some large pieces and some tiny fragments. The largest pieces he saw appeared to be red in colour and he presumed they were the fuel tanks. An aircraft had exploded over Brigsley and Ashby-cum-Fenby. The wreckage was falling in a south-easterly direction towards Grainsby, where two engines fell at the entrance to the park and, at almost three miles away from the explosion, over the village of North Thoresby. A large piece of wreckage fell in the centre of the village demolishing part of the chapel. I was told the monument stands only a few steps from where the chapel, which has since been demolished, then stood.

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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 and Governance

• The parish was in the ancient Bradley Haverstoe Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
  
  
• For today's governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• The poor had 18 acres of land, mostly purchased with a bequest left by Mrs. F. SMITH in 1680.
  
  
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Louth Poorlaw Union.
  
  

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Population

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Schools

• In 1622, Dr. Robert MAPLETOFTE left scholarships for students of North Thoresby.
  
  
• The Public Elementary School was erected in 1856 and enlarged in 1877 and 1911.
  
  
• The children of the adjacent parishes of Grainsby and Waithe attended this school.
  
  
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
  
  

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