Cherry Willingham
This village and parish lies just 4 miles east of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, on the northern side of the River Witham. Reepham parish is to the north, Fiskerton parish to the east and Greetwell parish to the west. The parish is small in area, covering only 1,030 acres.
The village of Cherry Willingham is a suburb of the city of Lincoln. It can be reached off the A158 trunk road heading northeast out of Lincoln. If you are planning a visit:
- The village currently has approximately 3,200 inhabitants and over 1,200 homes, but little in the way of tourist accomodations.
- The railway still runs through the village, a former stop on the Great Northern Railway.
- The village has its own website at Cherry Willingham.
- Visit our touring page for more sources.
- The parish was in the Home ("Lincoln Home") sub-district of the Lincoln Registration District.
- The North Lincolnshire Library holds copies of the census returns for 1841 and 1881.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1841 |
H.O. 107 / 649 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2357 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3369 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2589 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. It was founded in 1700 by George RIGG and the HUTTON family.
- The church was extensively restored in 1867.
- The Anglican parish church seats 100.
- Here is a photograph of St. Peter and St. Paul Church supplied by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
- The parish registers only go back to 1662, but the Bishop's transcripts go back to 1599.
- A new register was started in 1700 with the dedication of the new church building.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has a Loan Library service which has the parish registers on microfiche for Baptisms from 1678 to 1812 and Marriages from 1678 to 1812.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Lawres Deanery to make your search easier.
- Copies of the parish registers are also held at the North Lincolnshire Library and cover baptisms 1678 - 1961, burials 1678 - 1985, and marriages 1678 - 1978.
- There was a Wesleyan Methodist chapel here in the 1800s. The current Methodist church is Cherry Willingham Methodist Church. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Home ("Lincoln Home") sub-district of the Lincoln Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
- In the 1086 Domesday Book survey, there wasn't much here. The book records "a church and a priest, and two fisheries of thirty-two pence, and forty acres of meadow."
- The parish was granted to the MARMION family by William the Conqueror. In later years the parish was owned by the BECKE family.
- The national grid reference is TF 0272.
- 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.
For a photograph of the Cherry Willingham War Memorial Plaques and the names on them, see the Roll of Honour site.
- The name Cherry Willingham is from the Old English chiri+Willa+inga+ham, for "Cherry Tree of Willa's homestead". In the 1086 Domesday Book it first appears as Willingeham and in 1386 as Chyry Wylynham.
["A. D. Mills, A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]
- This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the ancient Lawress Wapentake in the West Lindsey division of the county, in the parts of Lindsey. It was part of the Lincoln Union and County Court district.
- In March, 1887, this parish was reduced in size to enlarge Greetwell Civil parish. But other boundary adjustments brought the parish from 980 acres up to 1,030 acres in size.
- You can contact the Cherry Willingham Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed or funded to help you with family history searches.
- Today's district governance is provided by the West Lindsey District Council.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Lincoln (Bail and Close) petty session hearings on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month.
- As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Lincoln Poor Law Union.
- In 1847, Wm. ELLIS left the interest on £100 to be distributed to the poor parishioners at Christmas.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
77 |
| 1811 |
89 |
| 1821 |
89 |
| 1831 |
103 |
| 1841 |
111 |
| 1871 |
146 |
| 1881 |
156 |
| 1891 |
119 |
| 1901 |
145 |
| 1911 |
161 |
- A National School was built here in 1872 to hold 60 children.
- One current school is Cherry Willingham County Primary School, Lime Grove, Cherry Willingham, Lincoln, LN3 4BD. Tel/fax 01522 751148. This primary school is of modern design, the grounds cover 5 acres. There are aprox. 230 children in the school.
- Another current school is Cherry Willingham Community School, Croft Lane, Cherry Willingham, Lincoln LN3 4JP. This school serves 11 to 16 year olds.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
Last updated on 22-November-2015
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