Moorby
- The parish was in the Tetford sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
- In 1891, we find the parish in the new Tattershall sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
- The North Lincolnshire Library holds a copy of the parish census returns for 1841 and 1881.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The village seems to have been excluded from the 1901 census.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1841 |
H.O. 107 / 640 |
| 1851 |
H.O. 107 / 2108 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2369 & 2371 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3383 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2599 |
- The Anglican parish church was dedicated to All Saints.
- The church was rebuilt in 1864 using materials from the old church. Built of stone, it had Ancaster stone dressings.
- The church spire was struck by lightning on 8 July 1893.
- The church was restored in 1911.
- The church seated 160.
- The church was declared redundant by the Diocese of Lincoln in July, 1976. In November of 1982, the building was demolished and the site sold or leased out. It is not reported if the churchyard is still in use.
- Parish register entries start in 1561 and include Claxby Pluckacre.
- Burial register entries for All Saints (1813-1899) are included in the National Burial Index (NBI).
- Most local Anglicans today attend church in Wilksby parish.
- The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Horncastle Deanery to make your search easier.
- The volunteers for Free Reg. have transcribed the marriages for this parish from 1681 to 1970. They've also included the baptisms and burials for roughly the same period.
- The Wesleyan Methodists had a small chapel here, built before 1842 (some records indicate the chapel was in the Fen allotment, which later went to Wildmore Fen parish). For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
- The Wesleyans abandoned this chapel and sold it for private use. David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the Former Methodist Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Tetford sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
- In 1891, we find the parish in the new Tattershall sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.
Four and a half miles south-east of Horncastle, Moorby is a parish and small village in the Wold hills. Hameringham parish is to the north and Wilksby parish to the south, with Claxby Pluckacre parish to the east. The parish covered 786 acres in 1900.
The village is small. If you are planning a visit:
- Take the B1183 southeast off of the A153, just south of Horncastle. The B1183 runs through the village.
- David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the feild where Moorby once stood on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.
- See our touring page for visitor services.
- The Royal Oak Public House was a good place to gather to share gossip and news. But there wasn't enough business to keep the place open and it has been converted to a private residence.
- David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the former Royal Oak Pub on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.
- In 1842, J. B. STANHOPE was lord of the manor and a principal landowner, but part of the parish belonged to the Rev. W. H. RAWNSLEY and to John ELSEY and a few smallholders.
- In 1872, J. B. STANHOPE was lord of the manor and a principal landowner, but part of the parish belonged to the Rev. R. B. D. RAWNSLEY and to the trustees of John ELSEY and the trustees of Bardney School.
- In 1882, J. B. STANHOPE was lord of the manor and a principal landowner, but part of the parish belonged to the Rev. R. B. D. RAWNSLEY and to Thomas ELSEY and the trustees of Bardney School.
- In 1900, the RAWNSLEY family were the principal landowners.
- In 1913, the trustees of Rev. RAWNSLEY were the principal landowners.
- The national grid reference is TF 2964.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer 273 map, which has a scale of 2.5 inches to the mile.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
- The parish was used as a "Great War landing ground," but no aerodome was constructed and no unit was posted here.
- The village contains traces of POW Camp 79, which was a standard World War II work camp for German prisoners. It was last used as a poultry farm.
- The name derives from the Old Scandinavian mor+by, meaning "farmstead or village in the moor or marshland". It appeared in the 1086 Domesday Book as Morebi.
[A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].
- White's 1842 Directory lists these individuals: George BAINTON, Thos. BIRD, Martin BORROWS, John FRANKISH, William GREEN, Christopher GUY, Christopher LEONARD, Jno. LOWISH, Wm. NEWHAM, Wm. RANSHAW and John WRIGHT.
- White's 1872 Directory lists these individuals: Robert BURROWS, John CHEESEMAN, John COOK, Miss Louisa COVILL, Mrs. Elizabeth DAFT, Rev. Hamilton Llewellyn GERTY, William GREEN, Rchd. HARRISON, William NEWHAM, William RANSHAW, Rev. Francis SMITH, John VEAL and Edward WELLS.
- White's 1882 Directory lists these individuals: John BBrown BURROWS, John CHEESEMAN, John Hall COOK, Holdershaw DAFT, John FOWLER, William GREEN, James HODSON, William NEWHAM, Rev. Francis SMITH, Miss Harriet TABRAHAM, John VEAL and Mrs. Elizabeth WELLS.
- Kelly's 1900 Directory lists these individuals: James Brown BURROWS, William COOK, George Shaw CHEESEMAN, William HARDY, George MIDDLETON, Thomas MIDDLETON, Rev. Benjamin Williams RICKETTS and Frank Thos. WALTER.
- Kelly's 1913 Directory lists these individuals: Arthur BELLAMY, Fred BRACKENBURY, George Shaw CHEESEMAN, Mrs. Frances HARDY, Rev. Edward Haydock MURDOCH and Frank Thos. WALTER.
- This place was an ancient parish of Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- On 24 December, 1880, a detached portion of this parish was taken to enlarge Wildmore Civil Parish.
- On 24 March, 1884, a detached portion of this parish called "Moorby Marsh" was taken to enlarge Wildmore Civil Parish.
- The parish was in the ancient Horncastle Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
- The parish was also in the Horncastle Soke.
- In recent years the parish has merged with nearby Claxby to create the Claxby and Moorby Civil parish and a united Parish Council.
- For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
79 |
| 1811 |
105 |
| 1821 |
118 |
| 1831 |
154 |
| 1841 |
130 |
| 1851 |
131 |
| 1861 |
128 |
| 1871 |
117 |
| 1881 |
98 |
| 1891 |
75 |
| 1901 |
77 |
| 1911 |
85 |
| 1921 |
61 |
| 1931 |
78 |
- A parish school was built in 1855, but replaced the next year after the local parishes formed a school board.
- A National School was erected in 1856 to serve the parishes of Moorby, Wilksby, Calxby Pluckacre and Wood Enderby. The school was enlarged in 1872. Designed to hold up to 104 children, attendance in 1913 was only 48.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
Last updated on 24-November-2015
Click here to send any questions and/or comments about this site to the Lincolnshire County Coordinator.
© 2004 EnglandGenWeb Project