Owston

The Gainsborough Library is an excellent resource with both a Local History section and a Family History section.

• A cemetery of 1.5 acres was formed in 1881 and land purchased in 1883. It was under the control of the parish council.

• Owston was the heart of the Owston sub-district in the Gainsborough 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 Martin.
   
• The church building partly dates from the end of the 12th century.
   
• The church was rebuilt in 1844.
   
• The church seats 600.
   
• There is a photograph of St. Martin's Church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of St. Martin's Church on Geo-graph, taken in 2005.
   
• Here is a photo of St. Martin's Church taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1603 as a collection of loose pages. The registers are continuous from 1709 on.
   
• The churchwarden account books have survived from 1660 to 1684.
   
• Check the Isle of Axholme Deanery to see which LFHS marriage indexes exist.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel was built in 1837. 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 Owston sub-district in the Gainsborough Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.

Owston is a parish, a township and a large village on the west bank of the Trent River about 8 miles north of Gainsborough. The parish covers some 5,350 acres and includes the township of West Butterwick-with-Kelfied.

If you are planning a visit:

• Visit our touring page for more sources.

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

• The MOWBRAY family had a fortified tower here, called Kinafare Castle, which commanded the passage of the River Trent. No traces remain of this tower.
   
• See the history of Owston provided by the Isle of Axholme FHS.
   
• Owston Ferry Smithy Heritage Centre & Village Museum has photos and old farm and boating tools, a working smithy, old relics that locals have found in their lofts. They've got copies of the Indexes for the Parish for visitors to consult. [Sheila Wilson]
   
• Gas Works were built in the village in 1864.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SE809003 (Lat/Lon: 53.493196, -0.78206), Owston 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.

• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the War Memorial at Owston Ferry on Geo-graph, taken in 2011.

For a photograph of the Owston Ferry War Memorial and the list of names on it, see the Roll of Honour site.

• This place was anciently called Kinaird Ferry.
   
• The name Owston is from the Old Scandinavian austr+tun, meaning "east farmstead." In the 1086 Domesday Book it is rendered as Austhun.
  [A. D. MILLS, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]

• The parish was in the ancient Manley Wapentake in the West Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
   
• In 1841, West Butterwick parish was formed from the northeast portion of Owston parish.
   
• In the 1972 government redistricting, Owston became part of the Boothferry District, which is now in the County of Humberside (formerly Lindsey, Lincolnshire).
   
• District governance is currently provided by the North Lincolnshire Council.

• Bastardy cases were heard in the Epworth petty session courts.
   
• The Common Land was enclosed here in 1803.
   
• As a result of the 1843 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parish became part of the Gainsborough Poor Law Union.
   
• Miss Frances SAUNDERS had almshouses built in 1860 for six poor women.
   
• Alan MURRAY-RUST has a photograph of the almshouses on Geo-graph, taken in 2011.

Year	Inhabitants
1801	917
1831	1,409
1851	2,613
1861	2,520
1871	1,527
1881	1,322
1891	1,294
1901	1,204
1911	1,159

• The village of Owston had a Public Elementary School that was built for 230 children.
   
• The hamlet of Gunthorpe had a Public Elementary School that was built in 1910 for 40 children.
   
• See our Schools page for more information on researching school records.

The local genealogical society is the Isle of Axholme FHS.