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Castle Bytham
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“CASTLE BYTHAM, a parish in the wapentake of Beltisloe, parts of Kesteven, in the county of Lincoln, 5 miles to the S. of Corby. Stamford is its post town. It is situated on the river Glen, near the Great Northern railway, and comprises the hamlet of Counthorpe and the chapelry of Holywell with Aunby. It was the site of a castle, which was given after the Norman Conquest to Odo, Earl of Albemarle, and which, after being destroyed by Edward III., was rebuilt and long held by the baronial family of the Colvilles. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lincoln. The church is dedicated to St. James. The Wesleyans have a chapel in the village. There is an endowed free school, with an annual income of £40, and some other charities worth about £5 a year.
"AUNBY, a hamlet in the parish of Castle Bytham, in the wapentake of Beltisloe, parts of Kesteven, in the county of Lincoln, 4 miles to the N. of Stamford. The living is a perpetual curacy united with the rectory of Careby."
"HOLYWELL-CUM-AUNBY, a chapelry in the parish of Castle Bytham, wapentake of Beltisloe, parts of Kesteven, county Lincoln, 6 miles S.W. of Bourne, and 7 N.W. of Stamford, its post town, and is situated near the river Glen. The living is a curacy annexed to the rectory's of Careby, in the diocese of Lincoln. The chapel-of-ease is an ancient structure dedicated to St. Wilfred."
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from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868
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The parish had a reading room in 1909.
The Library at Bourne should prove useful in your research.
- A Cemetery was laid out in 1898.
- Jonathan THACKER has a phtograph of St. James churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2020.
- The parish was in the Corby sub-district of the Bourne Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
| Census Year | Piece No. |
|---|---|
| 1841 | H.O. 107 / 615 |
| 1861 | R.G. 9 / 2315 |
| 1871 | R.G. 10 / 3311 |
| 1891 | R.G. 12 / 2555 |
| 1901 | R.G. 13 / 3023 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint James.
- The church dates from about 1115.
- The church was restored in 1857 when the south transept, which had been destroyed, was rebuilt.
- The church was restored again in 1900.
- The church seats 280.
- The church sits on a rise in the centre of the village.
- Richard CROFT has a photograph of St. James' Church on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2008.
- Here is a photo of St. James' Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
- The Anglican parish registers exist from 1567.
- Parish marriages are in Boyd's Marriage Index, covering 1567 - 1751.
- The LFHS has published several indexes (marriage and burial) for the Beltisloe Deanery to make your search easier.
- The parish had a Wesleyan Methodist chapel erected in 1836. This chapel was enlarged in 1866 and restored in 1899.
- 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 Corby sub-district of the Bourne Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
Castle Bytham is both a village and parish which lies just east of the A1 trunk road, 94 miles north of London, 9 miles north-west of Stamford, and 5 miles south-west of Corby, near the border with Rutland County. Swayfield parish lies to the north and Creeton parish to the northwest. The parish includes the hamlet of Counthorpe, sits on a branch of the River Witham and covers about 4,100 acres, but was once considerably larger.
If you are planning a visit:
- There is a caravan park just east of the village.
- You will klnow when you're there when you see the Village Sign, here photographed by Robert HARVEY, taken in August, 2005.
- Stop by the Village Hall on Pinfold Lane and get a schedule of current events. (Photo by Stephen ARMSTRONG, taken in October, 2009.)
- Check out our touring page for resources.
The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868
"AUNBY, a hamlet in the parish of Castle Bytham, in the wapentake of Beltisloe, parts of Kesteven, in the county of Lincoln, 4 miles to the N. of Stamford. The living is a perpetual curacy united with the rectory of Careby."
"HOLYWELL-CUM-AUNBY, a chapelry in the parish of Castle Bytham, wapentake of Beltisloe, parts of Kesteven, county Lincoln, 6 miles S.W. of Bourne, and 7 N.W. of Stamford, its post town, and is situated near the river Glen. The living is a curacy annexed to the rectory's of Careby, in the diocese of Lincoln. The chapel-of-ease is an ancient structure dedicated to St. Wilfred."
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Castle Bytham to another place.
- The ancient name of the village was West Bytham, changed to Castle Bytham after the castle was built.
- Castle Bytham may have been where the first Norman castle in England was built. By 1086, it was held by Drew de BEURERE, the Lord of Holderness.
- There is a book entitled 'The History of Castle Bytham (update 2000)' by Richard FOERS MBE JP. It is published by the Castle Bytham Parish Council and runs to some 200 pages. Cost £12.50 when published in 1999. No ISBN, therefore I assume it's a limited publication. To see if copies are still available, write to: Castle Bytham Parish Clerk, Mrs J Gascoyne, 2 St Martins, Castle Bytham, Grantham, NG33 4RH, United Kingdom.
- Jonathan THACKER has a photograph of the Fox and Hounds Pub. on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2020.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK977181 (Lat/Lon: 52.751694, -0.553921), Castle Bytham 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.
- Bytham is from the Old English bythme or "valley bottom," and the name first appears in 1067 as Bytham and in the 1086 Domesday Book as Bitham.
A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
- Castle Bytham is often listed as "Bytham Castle".
- Locals pronounce the name as "Bye-Tham".
- 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 Beltisloe Wapentake in the South Kesteven district in the parts of Kesteven.
- For today's district governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.
- Bastardy cases were heard in the Bourne petty session hearings.
- The Common Lands here, about 2,151 acres, were enclosed in 1801.
- As a result of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Bourne Poor Law Union.
- The parish had a charity of MILLS and others, dating from 1716, which generated about £3 in interest annually in 1909.
- A Public Elementary School (mixed) was built here in 1860 for 160 children. A new classroom was added in 1890.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.