Norton Disney

The Library at Newark-on-Trent will prove useful in your research.

It appears that there has been a churchyard extention, but no date is given. Jonathan THACKER has a photograph of the Churchyard Extension on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2020.

• The parish was in the Bassingham sub-district of the Newark Registration District.
   
• 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. It contains several ancient monuments to the Disney (d'Isney) family.
   
• The "Topographical Dictionary of England", 1848, tells us that the parish church is dedicated to All Saints.
   
• The church was restored in 1886.
   
• The church seats 170.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in September 2005.
   
• Here is a photo of the Church of St. Peter taken by (and copyright of) Wendy PARKINSON.
   

• Here is a photo of the Church of St. Peter taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
   

• The parish register dates from 1578, but the Bishop's transcript goes back to 1562.
   
• Parish registers are on file at the Society of Genealogists, covering 1578 - 1812.
   
• Marriages are in Boyd's Marriage Index, covering 1651 - 1812 and Pallot's Marriage Index, covering 1790 - 1812.
   
• The LFHS has published several indexes (marriage and burial) for the Graffoe Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• Methodism came to Norton Disney circa 1821. The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here, apparently in 1894. For information and assistance in researching this chapel, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
   

• The parish was in the Bassingham sub-district of the Newark Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which started in July, 1837.
   

Norton Disney is both a parish and a village that lies in the vale of the River Witham, seven miles north-east of Newark-on-Trent and eleven miles SSW of Lincoln. The two Nottinghamshire parishes of North and South Collingham lie to the west, and the Lincolnshire parishes of Swinderby and Thurlby to the north. The parish covers just over 2,300 acres of good farmland.

The small village of Norton Disney is just south and east off of the A46 trunk road between Lincoln and Newark. The River Witham passes just south of the village. If you are planning a visit:

• Ian S. has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2012.
   
• Visit our touring page for more sources.
   

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

• The D'ISNEY family was established here by 1300, living in a moated mansion which has since fallen into ruins.
   
• William DISNEY was Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1532. His son, Ricahrd DISNEY held that office in 1556 and 1566.
   
• It appears that the parish had a single Public House with a long life. It started out in the 17th century as "The Sportsman", but changed to "St. Vincent Arms" in 1909. The name reflects the Viscount St. Vincent who was lord of the manor and principal landowner of the parish. There is a photograph at Geo-graph, taken by Richard CROFT in 2007. It has changed its name again, after 1930, to become "The Green Man".
   
• Here are the names of the proprietors or victuallers from various Directories:
   

• In 1871, most of the land was owned by the Viscount St. Vincent of Godmersham Park in Kent. In 1913, he was still the principal landowner.

• Norton Disney Hall is the manor house in the parish. It has long been the seat of the D'ISNEY (or DISNEY) family, from whom Walt DISNEY is decended.
   
• Chris has a photograph of Norton Disney Hall on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2014.
   
• In 1930, Frederick William BROWN was residing at Norton Disney Hall.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK887592 (Lat/Lon: 53.122775, -0.675917), Norton Disney 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.

• In 1912, Major The Honorable St. Leger Henry JERVIS D.S.O. was residing in Norton Disney Hall. He had been a major in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in the Boer War.
   
• In 1919, the Major was a Lt.-Col., still residing in the Hall.
   
• RAF Norton Disney was opened in August 1939 as RAF Swinderby due to the fact that it was close to the Swinderby railway station. It was renamed RAF Station Norton Disney in 1940.
   
• RAF Norton Disney was a heavily camouflaged bomb storage and supply station (93 MU). The base also stored ammunition and oxygen for aircraft.
   
• There is a memorial plaque inside the church for two squadrons that flew out of this station.
   
• Mustard Gas has been found in clumps buried on the site.
   
• The site was closed in 1958. Most of the buildings and ammo dump sites have been demolished.
   
• The site was sold off 1997.
   

• The parish name derives from the Old English north+tun, which means "northern farmstead" coupled with the Norman family name de Isney. In the 1086 Domesday Book the parish is listed simply as Nortune. In 1331, the parish is first recorded as Norton Isney.
  [A. D. MILLS, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]

The following surnames were found in the 1872 White's Directory of Lincolnshire under this parish:

BATTERBY, CURTIS, DIXON, FISHER, HITCH, LACEY, LYNN, MARSHALL, MARTIN, MARRIOTT, PEACOCK, ROBERTS, ROBINSON, ROGERS, SEWELL, WALKER, WELLS, and WILSON.

• The parish was in the lower division of the ancient Boothby-Graffoe Wapentake in the North Kesteven district in the parts of Kesteven.
   
• One source puts the parish, perhaps erroneously, in the South Kesteven District Council.
   
• You may contact the local Parish Council regarding civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to help with family history searches.
   
• For today's district governance, see the North Kesteven District Council.
   

• Bastardy cases would be heard at the Lincoln South petty session hearings.
   
• Around 1758, Dr. Samuel DISNEY left the interest on £100 to provide books to the poor of Norton Disney, Swinderby and St. Margaret's parish in Lincoln.
   
• After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Newark Poor Law Union in 1837.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1801	184
1831	210
1861	196
1871	186
1881	171
1891	181
1901	171
1911	163
1921	175
1931	165
1951	182
1971	181

• The children of this parish attended the schools at Bassingham, Carlton-le-Moorland and Stapleford.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.