South Thoresby

Census

• The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
  
  
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
  
  

Top

Church History

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew.
  
  
• The original church here had fallen into ruin by 1735.
  
  
• A new church was built in 1738 to replace the earlier church.
  
  
• The church underwent extensive repairs in 1872.
  
  
• The church seats 100.
  
  
• David HITCHBORNE provides a photograph of the entry path to St. Andrew's Church on Geo-graph, taken in 2008.
  
  
• There is a photograph of St. Andrew's church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
  
  
• Here is a photo of St. Andrew's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
  
  

Top

Church Records

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1660.
  
  
• The LFHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Calcewaith and Candleshoe Deanery to make your search easier.
  
  
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1873. For more on researching these chapel records, see our non-conformist religions page.
  
  
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
  
  

Top

Civil Registration

• The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
  
  

Top

Description and Travel

South Thoresby is a village and a parish about 4 miles west of Alford, 8 miles north of Spilsby and about 9 miles southeast of Louth in the Wold hills. A stream called the Withern Eau runs through the parish and eventualy joins the Great Eau. The parish covers about 950 acres and includes the hamlets of Calceby and Driby.

If you are planning a visit:

• By automobile, take the A16 trunk road south out of Louth just past Swaby. Or, from Alford, take the A1104 arterial road west to the A16, then north on that road about a mile and turn right for South Thoresby.
  
  
• South Thoreby Warren was declared a Nature Reserve in 2008.
  
  
• See our touring page for visitor services.
  
  

Top

History

• For many years in the 20th century, South Thoresby was the site of a Magic Wand Factory. For some reason they were unable to make a go of it and the business has moved and the old building reverted to residences.
  
  
• Ian PATERSON provides a photograph of the Vine Inn on Geo-graph, taken in 2008.
  
  
• The Vine Inn (also called the Vine Hotel) dates back to at least 1842 when it was a popular stopover for coaches and men on horseback. It offered food, drink, stables, blacksmithing and wheelwright work. At last report, the Vine Inn was for sale. Here are the names listed in various directories for the Inn:
  
  

The 1881 census shows the following people at the Inn (RG11 / 3260, folio 21):

Relationship	Name	Sex	Age	Where born
Head	Samuel WHITE	M	63	Haltham, Lincolnshire
son	Charles B. WHITE	M	36	Haltham, Lincolnshire
serv.	Sarah BONNETT	F	19	Aby, Lincolnshire
boarder	Charles GREEN	M	32	Sheffield, Yorkshire
boarder	Joseph EDESON	M	31	Worksop, Nottinghamshire
boarder	William PINNINGTON	M	20	Worksop, Nottinghamshire

Top

Manors

• The WOOD family lived in The Hall, which was taken down in 1826.
  
  

Top

Maps

• The national grid reference is TF 4076.
  
  
• 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.
  
  

Top

Military History

• On the north wall of the church a marble tablet was mounted bearing the names of those who fell in the Great War.
  
  

Top

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].
  
  

Top

Politics and Governance

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
  
  
• The parish was in the Marsh division of the ancient Calceworth Wapentake (or Hundred) in the East Lindsey district and in the parts of Lindsey.
  
  
• Kelly's 1900 Directory of Lincolnshire places the parish, perhaps erroneously, in the South Lindsey district of the county.
  
  
• For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
  
  

Top

Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Alford petty session hearings on alternate Tuesdays.
  
  
• After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Louth Poorlaw Union.
  
  

Top

Population

Year	Inhabitants
1801	150
1811	145
1831	142
1841	138
1871	148
1881	159
1891	139
1901	108
1911	115

Top

Schools

• The children of this parish attended school in Aby.
  
  
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
  
  

Top

Return to the Alphabetical Index

© 2004 EnglandGenWeb Project