Thimbleby
Note: There is a Thimbleby in North Yorkshire as well.
- The parish was in the Horncastle sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
Year |
Piece No. |
| 1851 |
H.O. 107 / 2107 |
| 1861 |
R.G. 9 / 2368 |
| 1871 |
R.G. 10 / 3382 |
| 1891 |
R.G. 12 / 2598 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Margaret. It was completely rebuilt to replace the original building in 1744 in the Grecian or Italian style. It was restored in 1879.
- The church seats about 136 people.
- The church was closed in November, 2010, due to unsafe electrical wiring and stonework.
- A photograph of St. Margaret's Church is at the Wendy PARKINSON English Church Photographs site.
- A photograph of the churchyard at St. Margaret's can be found at the Walking Britain site.
- David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the church interior on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2004.
- Here is a photo of St. Margaret's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
- Here is a photo of St. Margaret's Church, taken by Michael PECK (who retains the copyright) and supplied by Charles ANDERSON. You'll note that the steeple has been removed:
- Parish registers exist from 1695, but I.G.I. extracts go back to 1561.
- The LFHS has published several marriage indexes for the Horncastle Deanery to make your search easier.
- The Wesleyan Methodists built their chapel here in 1830 or 1835 (sources differ). Richard CROFT has a photograph of the abandoned Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2008.
- The Primitive Methodists built their chapel in 1857. To research these chapels, check our Non-Conformist Church Records page for additional resources.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Horncastle sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
Thimbleby is both a village and a parish about one mile west of Horncastle. The parish and village overlook the valley of the River Bain, and is bordered on the north by Edlington parish, to the south by Langton and on the west by Horsington. The parish is in the west part of The Wolds and covered about 2,560 acres in the early 1800's. At that time, the parish held land at Tower Moor and Wildmore Fen (some 12 miles south of the parish), but by 1872 the parish had been reduced in size to 1,770 acres. About 1881, the Wildmore Fen allotment was transferred to the new parish of Wildmore and the parish reduced in size once more, now to 1,385 acres.
Thimbleby village sits in a small vale and lies on both sides of the road to Lincoln. If you are planning a visit:
- Take the B1190 secondary road, which runs between Lincoln and Horncastle. About a mile west of Horncastle, you will find yourself in Thimbleby village.
- Visit our touring page for more sources.
- In 1872, the greater part of the parish was owned by John Hassard SHORT.
- In 1842, the small manor house called Hallgarth belonged to Thomas KEMP and Richard ELMHIRST. In 1872, it had a single owner: Thomas Harrison KEMP.
- The national grid reference is TF 2470.
- You'll want an Ordnance Survey Explorer 273 map, which has 2.5 inches to the mile scale.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
For a photograph of the Thimbleby Roll of Honour and the list of names on it, see the Roll of Honour site.
There is one Commonwealth War Grave in St. Margaret's churchyard from post-World War I:
- M. BRACKENBURY, srgt., 2nd Btn. Lincolnshire Regt., age 26, died 24 Jan. 1921.
- The village is first recorded as Stimblebi in the 1086 Domesday Book, but is more correctly listed as Timblebi around 1115. The name derives from the Old Scandinavian Thymill+bi or "farmstead of Thymill or Thymili".
A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
- White's 1842 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: ARTINDALE, BANNISTER, BARKER, BETTISON, BROOKES, BROOKSBANK, BURWELL, CARDEN, CARROTT, CLARK, CLIFTON, COWLING, DAWSON, DOWSE, GIBBONS, GOE, HODGSON, HOTCHKIN, HOWARD, JACKSON, KEMP, MARTIN, MASKELL, ROBERTS, ROSE, SCOTT, SPENCER, STONES, TEBBUTT, WEIGHTMAN, WHITTON and WILSON.
- White's 1872 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: BANNISTER, BELL, BETTISON, BLADES, BROOKS, CLARKE, CLIFTON, COOLING, CROFT, DAWSON, DIXON, GIBBONS, HARRISON, HOTCHKIN, HOWLETT, JACKSON, JORDAN, KEMP, KIRK, LIGHTFOOT, ORGANOR, OWENS, PRIESTLY, RODGERS, ROSE, STEPHENSON, SWABY, WALTER and WEST.
- Kelly's 1900 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: BARLOW, COUPLAND, CROWDER, DUNHAM, FOWLER, FYTCHE, GODDARD, GOODE, HARRISON, LAMIMAN, NUNDY, QUICKFALL, ROBERTS, STEPHENS, SOWBY, WALTER, WELCH and WRIGHT.
- Kelly's 1913 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: BARLOW, BLAKELY, BOOTHBY, BOTT, BRIGGS, COUPLAND, CROWDER, FYTCHE, HUTTON, MORTON, PARISH, ROBERTS, WALTER and WOODS.
- This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the ancient Horncastle Soke in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
- For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Horncastle petty session hearings.
- In 1719, Michael BOULTER left an annual contribution of 40 shillings from his estate near Stow for the education of poor children of the parish, but the money stopped coming in 1813.
- In an undated contribution, Robert CLARKE left a yearly rent charge of 6 shillings and 8 pence for the poor widows of the parish.
- As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Horncastle Poor Law Union on 16th January 1837.
| Year |
Inhabitants |
| 1801 |
224 |
| 1811 |
316 |
| 1821 |
384 |
| 1831 |
364 |
| 1841 |
398 |
| 1851 |
492 |
| 1871 |
454 |
| 1881 |
393 |
| 1891 |
221 |
| 1901 |
219 |
| 1911 |
195 |
- In 1857, the parish's first school for boys and girls was built on land donated by Edwin KEMP. In 1872, it had about 40 children attending. The building was enlarged in 1898. In 1900, only 25 students were attending.
- The village school was closed in 1924 "for want of children".
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
Last updated on 30-August-2015
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