Wainfleet All Saints

Description and Travel

Wainfleet All Saints is both a small market town and a parish that lie near the North Sea near Skegness, almost 40 miles east of Lincoln and 9 miles southeast of Spilsby. Thorpe Saint Peter parish forms the northern border, with Wainfleet St. Mary parish to the south.

Wainfleet was a busy port on the Steeping River in Medieval times, but silting of the River and accretion of sand bars off the coast cut off access to the sea. For many decades, Gibraltar Point, 5 miles distant, was the closest ships could get to Wainfleet. That, too, was abandoned in the early 20th century due to accretion of sand banks. The last commercial boats to use The Haven near the point left in the 1920's. The river, particularly the part from the village to the sea, is sometimes called Wainfleet Haven. The parish covers about 1,600 acres.

There is a town of Wainfleet in the Niagara Falls area of Ontario, Canada. The link to Lincolnshire is via Governor Simcoe who selected the names for the townships of what was formerly Lincoln County.

The village is described in early directories as a "small and ancient market town." If you are planning a visit:

• Visit our touring page for visitor services.
  
  

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Census

• The parish was in the Wainfleet sub-district of the Spilsby Registration District.
  
  
• 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 All Saints.
  
  
• The old church of All Saints was taken down in 1820. The present All Saints was raised on a new site in 1820 and 1821. The new church was thoroughly restored in 1895.
  
  
• There is a photograph of All Saints Church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
  
  
• Here is a photo of All Saints Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
  
  

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Church Records

• The parish register includes Northolme (or Wainfleet St. Thomas) and dates from 1689.
  
  
• The parish lies in the Calcewaith & Candleshoe Deanery.
  
  
• Check our Late Baptism list for 1842 - 1844.
  
  
• The Primitive Methodists had two chapels here, one built in 1869 on St. John's Street and a smaller one in Wainfleet Bank, built in 1838. The Wesleyan Methodists built theirs in 1804. The Salvation Army had barracks here in 1884. 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 Wainfleet sub-district of the Spilsby Registration District.
  
  
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
  
  

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History

• In 1818, Parliament passed an act to drain this and neighborhing parishes.
  
  
• A Gas Compnay was formed in 1858 to light the town at night.
  
  
• The Police Station was erected in 1866.
  
  
• In 1886, the Witham General Commissioners straightened and improved the Steeping River between Salem Bridge and the sea.
  
  
• The Clock Tower in the market place was erected in 1899.
  
  
• Boyhood memories are recalled by Garth Swanson of visits to Gibraltar Point.
  
  

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Maps

• The national grid reference is TF 4958.
  
  
• You'll want an Ordnance Survey #274 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 Records

From the War Memorial, by John EMERSON (with additional notations):

Erected in memory of the men of Wainfleet all Saints who fell in the Great War 1914-1918

Notes:

1. Not found in Commonwealth War Grave Com. database.
2. Not enough info. (Too many matches in CWGC database.)

Also in memory of the men who fell in the second world war of 1939-1945

They died for peace, let us live for it.

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Names, Geographical

• The name Wainfleet is from the Old English waegn+fleot, or "stream that can be crossed by a wagon". The name is Wenflet 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 Candleshoe Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
  
  
• You may contact the local Town Council concerning civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to assist you with family history searches.
  
  
• For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
  
  

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Spilsby petty session hearings held every other Monday.
  
  
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Spilsby Poor Law Union.
  
  

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Population

Year	Inhabitants
1801	506
1831	1,135
1851	1,365
1871	1,355
1881	1,349
1891	1,446
1901	1,233
1971	1,119

In 1851, Wainfleet (All Saints and St. Mary combined) had a population of 2,082.

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Schools

• Magdalen College School was founded in 1459 by William of Wainfleet. The school is affiliated with Magdalen College at Oxford.
  
  
• A National School was built in 1857 to hold up to 220 children.
  
  
• St. Luke's National School was built at Wainfleet Bank in 1869 to hold up to 50 children.
  
  
• The Wesleyans had a school built here in 1820 to hold up to 158 children.
  
  
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.
  
  

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