• Before it became a Civil Parish, Holywell was a township and chapelry in Careby parish.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Beltisloe Wapentake in the South Kesteven district and parts of Kesteven.
   
• The Civil Parish was dissolved in 1931 and the land incorporated into Careby Civil Parish.
   
• For today's district governance, contact the South Kesteven District Council.

It was customary up to the 20th century to say "the county of Lincoln" - the term Lincolnshire was not generally used. The county of Lincoln was split up into three "parts" until 1974 when local government reorganisation took place. The three "parts" were Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland. Each had its own Quarter Sessions.

There are 14 registration districts covering Lincolnshire (for census). Some registration districts cover parts of other counties: some of Rutland is in Stamford RD, a few Leicestershire parishes are in Grantham RD, a few Nottinghamshire parishes are in Gainsborough RD. Some Lincolnshire parishes are in Newark (Nottinghamshire) RD, others are in Thorne and Goole RDs (West Yorkshire) and Crowland is in Peterborough RD (Northamptonshire); county boundaries are not followed by the registration districts.

There are 23 Deaneries in Lincolnshire. These are ecclesiastical boundaries and the marriage indexes are published in Deaneries.

There are 32 Wapentakes (called "Hundreds" in other parts of England) in Lincolnshire. These are ancient political collections of parishes which had lost much meaning by the 1700s.

This is all very confusing which is why The Lincolnshire Family History Society publishes the "Gazetteer of Historic Lincolnshire for Family & Local Historians". All the different boundaries are explained in this book which also lists all the parishes, townships, hamlets, even some large houses and other very small areas. From this book you can also find out in which Wapentake, Methodist Circuit, Poor Law Union, Registration District, Registration Sub District, Deanery etc. each place is in. You can also find out whether the Protestation Returns are extant and find the grid reference for each place. If everyone researching in Lincolnshire had the Gazetteer, no one would need to ask where this place or that place is; you would have the information at your fingertips.

• The US National Archives has an interesting page on the Magna Carta.
• The English Bill of Rights (1689) was the forerunner of the US Constitution.
• The Village Labourer 1760-1832: A Study in the Government of England before the Reform Bill by J.L. and Barbara Hammond (Originally published 1911, New Edition, 1920.)

• Links to Local Government Websites (archived copy, July 2022) provided by UK250.
• List of Open Central Government Websites provided by the Cabinet Office.
• Government Publications
• The Developing Franchise - British Isles (archived copy), by Timothy Owston.
• Transcripts of Various Acts of Parliament of Interest to the Genealogist - a large collection, provided by Guy Etchells.
• The Official Home of Revised UK Legislation: The National Archives provide free online full text searchable access to all UK legislation from as early as 1267 for the UK and 1953 for that from the EU, for anyone who is interested in historical UK legislations for their research.