Asterby

• The parish was in the Horncastle sub-district of the Horncastle 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:

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter.
• The church was renovated in 1900.
• The church seats about 140.
• The Diocese of Lincoln declared St. Peter's Church redundant in November, 1983. It was retained by the parish as a monument in 1988. The church is no longer open for services, but the burial yard is available to local people for internment.
• There is a photograph of St. Peter's Church on the Wendy PARKINSON web site.
• Jonathan THACKER has a photograph of St. Peter's western tower on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2012.
• Here is a photograph St. Peter's Church supplied by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):

• Parish registers exist from 1686, although Bishop's transcripts go back to 1561.
• We have the beginnings of the church parish register extract in a text file for your review. Your additions are welcomed.
• The LFHS has published several marriage indexes for the Horncastle Deanery to make your search easier.
• A Wesleyan Methodist chapel wes erected here in 1866. The Baptists also held services in the parish for many years in a chapel near Goulceby village. 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 Horncastle sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration starting in July 1837.

Asterby is both a town and parish six and half miles north of Horncastle and eight miles southwest of Louth. The parish itself is bounded on the north by Stenigot parish, to the west by Goulceby and on the south by Hemingby. The parish is in the heart of The Wolds. In 1871, the civil parish covered about 900 acres, but that was enlarged by 1900 to 1,100 acres. The ecclesiastical parish included Goulceby.

Asterby is a small village, often not marked on many modern maps. In was more populous in ancient times (see Population). If you are planning a visit:

• The town is easily accessed as it lies just north of the A153 trunk road between Louth and Horncastle.
• Silverines Meadow is a grassland area preserved by the Lincolnshire Trust. Map co-ordinates are TF 259787.
• Visit our touring page for more sources.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Asterby to another place.

• In 1821, at Hall Close, three human skeletons and a dirk were dug up.

• In 1842, Sigismund Trafford SOUTHWELL, Esq., owned the greater part of the parish and was lord of the manor.
• In 1872, William S. TRAFFORD, Esq., was the principal landowner and lord of the manor. William PINNING and Benjamin HARRISON also had estates in the parish.
• In 1900, William Henry TRAFFORD, Esq., of Wroxham Hall, Norfolk, was the principal landowner and lord of the manor.
• In 1913, William Henry TRAFFORD, Esq., was the principal landowner and lord of the manor.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF263795 (Lat/Lon: 53.297409, -0.106397), Asterby which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

• The name of Asterby comes from the Old English and Old Scandinavian combination easterra+by or "easterly farmstead".
  A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
• The name also appears in old records as Asserby and Aisterby.

• White's 1842 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: FOWLER, HARRISON, KIRKBY, MARTIN and TRAFFORD.
• White's 1872 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: ATKIN, BABB, BLAND, BROWN, FRITH, GRIFFIN, GUNNELL, HALL, HARRISON, HATCLIFF, HUTCHINSON, JACKSON, KIRKBY, LEONARD, MARTIN, PINNING and WRIGHT.
• Kelly's 1900 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: ASHLEY, BONNETT, FISHER, GRAHAM, GRIFFIN, HOWARD, LEE, LEONARD, WALTER and WRIGHT.
• Kelly's 1913 Directory lists the following surnames in the parish: ASHLEY, BURKITT, EAST, ENDERBY, FAULKNER, GRAHAM, GRIFFIN, HOWARD, PATCHETT and SMITH.

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincoln county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
• The parish was in the ancient Gartree Wapentake 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.
• The common lands were enclosed here around 1790.
• In 1638 Anthony ACHAM left a yearly rent charge of £2 and 10 Shillings for the poor, which was distributed in bread.
• As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Horncastle Poor Law Union.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	154
1811	199
1821	189
1831	231
1841	256
1851	313
1861	304
1871	295
1881	213
1891	166
1901	154
1911	137
1921	149
1931	117
2001	103

• A public elementary school was built here for the children of this parish and Goulceby about 1756, partly endowed by Anthony ACHAM. The school was rebuilt in 1826 and again in 1865.
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.