Moorby

• The parish was in the Tetford sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
• In 1891, we find the parish in the new Tattershall sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
• The North Lincolnshire Library holds copies of the census returns for 1841 and 1881.
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• The Anglican parish church was dedicated to All Saints.
• The church was rebuilt in 1864 using materials from the old church. Built of stone, it had Ancaster stone dressings.
• The church spire was struck by lightning on 8 July 1893.
• The church was restored in 1911.
• The church seated 160.
• The church was declared redundant by the Diocese of Lincoln in July, 1976. In November of 1982, the building was demolished and the site sold or leased out. It is not reported if the churchyard is still in use.

• Anglican parish register entries start in 1561 and include Claxby Pluckacre.
• Burial register entries for All Saints (1813-1899) are included in the National Burial Index (NBI).
• Most local Anglicans today attend church in Wilksby parish.
• The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Horncastle Deanery to make your search easier.
• The volunteers for Free Reg. have transcribed the marriages for this parish from 1681 to 1970. They've also included the baptisms and burials for roughly the same period.
• The Wesleyan Methodists had a small chapel here, built before 1842 (some records indicate the chapel was in the Fen allotment, which later went to Wildmore Fen parish). For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
• The Wesleyans abandoned this chapel and sold it for private use. David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the Former Methodist Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.

• The parish was in the Tetford sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
• In 1891, we find the parish in the new Tattershall sub-district of the Horncastle Registration District.
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.

Four and a half miles south-east of Horncastle, Moorby is a parish and small village in the Wold hills. Hameringham parish is to the north and Wilksby parish to the south, with Claxby Pluckacre parish to the east. The parish covered 786 acres in 1900.

The village is small. If you are planning a visit:

• Take the B1183 southeast off of the A153, just south of Horncastle. The B1183 runs through the village.
• David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the feild where Moorby once stood on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.
• See our touring page for visitor services.

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

• The Royal Oak Public House was a good place to gather to share gossip and news. But there wasn't enough business to keep the place open and it has been converted to a private residence.
• David HITCHBORNE has a photograph of the former Royal Oak Pub on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2007.

• In 1842, J. B. STANHOPE was lord of the manor and a principal landowner, but part of the parish belonged to the Rev. W. H. RAWNSLEY and to John ELSEY and a few smallholders.
• In 1872, J. B. STANHOPE was lord of the manor and a principal landowner, but part of the parish belonged to the Rev. R. B. D. RAWNSLEY and to the trustees of John ELSEY and the trustees of Bardney School.
• In 1882, J. B. STANHOPE was lord of the manor and a principal landowner, but part of the parish belonged to the Rev. R. B. D. RAWNSLEY and to Thomas ELSEY and the trustees of Bardney School.
• In 1900, the RAWNSLEY family were the principal landowners.
• In 1913, the trustees of Rev. RAWNSLEY were the principal landowners.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF292640 (Lat/Lon: 53.157463, -0.069186), Moorby 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 parish was used as a "Great War landing ground," but no aerodome was constructed and no unit was posted here.
• In World War II, the village was also home to Camp 79. This was one of only five remaining POW camps in England, according to English Heritage. The camp's huts were used for many years as turkey sheds, but have been torn down. The camp was a standard WWII working camp and housed a large number of German soldiers, many of whom integrated into the local population; many have fond memories of their time in the village and still visit the area.

• The name derives from the Old Scandinavian mor+by, meaning "farmstead or village in the moor or marshland". It appeared in the 1086 Domesday Book as Morebi.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].

• White's 1842 Directory lists these individuals: George BAINTON, Thos. BIRD, Martin BORROWS, John FRANKISH, William GREEN, Christopher GUY, Christopher LEONARD, Jno. LOWISH, Wm. NEWHAM, Wm. RANSHAW and John WRIGHT.
• White's 1872 Directory lists these individuals: Robert BURROWS, John CHEESEMAN, John COOK, Miss Louisa COVILL, Mrs. Elizabeth DAFT, Rev. Hamilton Llewellyn GERTY, William GREEN, Rchd. HARRISON, William NEWHAM, William RANSHAW, Rev. Francis SMITH, John VEAL and Edward WELLS.
• White's 1882 Directory lists these individuals: John BBrown BURROWS, John CHEESEMAN, John Hall COOK, Holdershaw DAFT, John FOWLER, William GREEN, James HODSON, William NEWHAM, Rev. Francis SMITH, Miss Harriet TABRAHAM, John VEAL and Mrs. Elizabeth WELLS.
• Kelly's 1900 Directory lists these individuals: James Brown BURROWS, William COOK, George Shaw CHEESEMAN, William HARDY, George MIDDLETON, Thomas MIDDLETON, Rev. Benjamin Williams RICKETTS and Frank Thos. WALTER.
• Kelly's 1913 Directory lists these individuals: Arthur BELLAMY, Fred BRACKENBURY, George Shaw CHEESEMAN, Mrs. Frances HARDY, Rev. Edward Haydock MURDOCH and Frank Thos. WALTER.

• This place was an ancient parish of Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
• On 24 December, 1880, a portion of this parish was taken to enlarge Wildmore Civil Parish.
• On 24 March, 1884, a portion of this parish called "Moorby Marsh" was taken to enlarge Wildmore Civil Parish.
• The parish was in the ancient Horncastle Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
• The parish was also in the Horncastle Soke.
• In recent years the parish has merged with nearby Claxby to create the Claxby and Moorby Civil parish and a united Parish Council.
• For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.

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

Year	Inhabitants
1801	79
1811	105
1821	118
1831	154
1841	130
1851	131
1861	128
1871	117
1881	98
1891	75
1901	77
1911	85
1921	61
1931	78

• A parish school was built in 1855, but replaced the next year after the local parishes formed a school board.
• A National School was erected in 1856 to serve the parishes of Moorby, Wilksby, Calxby Pluckacre and Wood Enderby. The school was enlarged in 1872. Designed to hold up to 104 children, attendance in 1913 was only 48.
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.