Bilsby
{{Short description|Village in East Lindsey district, Lincolnshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2014}}
{{Infobox UK place
|static_image_name = Holy Trinity Church, Bilsby - geograph.org.uk - 531351.jpg
|static_image_alt =
|static_image_caption = Holy Trinity, Bilsby parish church
|country = England
|official_name = Bilsby
|map_alt =
|coordinates = {{coord|53.266650|0.207499|display=inline,title}}
|population = 487
|population_ref = (including Farlesthorpe2011)
|shire_district = East Lindsey
|shire_county = Lincolnshire
|region = East Midlands
|constituency_westminster = Louth and Horncastle
|post_town = Alford
|postcode_district = LN13
|postcode_area = LN
|dial_code =
|os_grid_reference = TF473766
|london_distance_mi = 120
|london_direction = S
}}
Bilsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the main A1111 road between Alford and Sutton-on-Sea, {{convert|1|mi|km|1}} east of Alford. Thurlby and Asserby are hamlets within Bilsby parish. The censuses showed a parish population of 538 in 2001 and 487 in 2011, with an estimate of 489 in 2019.[https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastmidlands/admin/east_lindsey/E04005602__bilsby/ City Population site. Retrieved 5 November 2020.]
History
Bilsby appears in the 1086 Domesday Book with 18 households.{{Cite web |title=Bilsby |url=http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF4676/bilsby/ |work=Domesday Map |publisher=Anna Powell-Smith/University of Hull |access-date=23 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007015231/http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF4676/bilsby/ |archive-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=dead}} Its name may derive from the Norse goddess Bil.Streatfield (1884:68){{page needed|date=October 2014}}
Mumby Road railway station used to be situated here. In 1897, Thurlby would have been an important junction between the Sutton and Willoughby Railway (part of the East Lincolnshire Railway) and a proposed line from a new port at Sutton-on-Sea to another in Warrington to be built by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway.Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway. Plans and sections. 1890. Lincolnshire Archive [LIND DEP PLANS 1/177.]
A steam tramway ran through Bilsby between 1884 and 1889. The Alford and Sutton Tramway{{Cite web |title=Alford & Sutton Tramway |url=http://www.alford.info/town/tram.htm |publisher=Alford Website}} ran from Alford town to Sutton-on-Sea on rails set into the road; it opened in 1884, but closed only five years later.{{Cite web |title=This Is Grimsby |location=Grimsby |url=http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/End-daily-grind-village-windmill/article-3154299-detail/article.html |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913052637/http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/End-daily-grind-village-windmill/article-3154299-detail/article.html |archive-date=13 September 2012 |url-status=dead}}
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Landmarks
Bilsby Parish Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a Grade II* listed building,{{NHLE |num=1360007 |desc=Church of the Holy Trinity |grade=II* |access-date=3 July 2018}} dating from the 15th century. It was extensively repaired in 1841.{{Cite web |title=Kellys Directory |url=http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp |publisher=Kellys Directories Ltd |page=66 |year=1919}} The building is stuccoed, with an 18th-century stone tower with brick battlements. The pulpit stem is the bole of a tree, with steps cut from another.{{Cite book |title=Shell Guide To Lincolnshire|year=1965 |publisher=London Faber & Faber |author=Jack Yates & Henry Thorold |page=31}} A memorial slab in the chancel commemorates Sir John Byllesby (died 1640), a prominent figure in his day. His descendant, Major H. M. Byllesby (US Air Service), largely aided a restoration of the church in 1918.
Built about 1740, Bilsby House is a mansion in Georgian style on the site of an older moated, castellated house, reputedly the residence of the Bilsby, sometimes spelt Billesby, family.{{Cite book |title=Post Office Directory of Lincolnshire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOUNAAAAQAAJ&q=bilsby&pg=PA374 |access-date=22 April 2011 |page=27 |year=1855}} This family appears to have left the original mansion in 1616.{{Cite web |title=Lincolnshire Wills:with notes and introductory sketch |url=https://archive.org/stream/lincolnshirewil00maddgoog/lincolnshirewil00maddgoog_djvu.txt |publisher=J Williamson |access-date=22 April 2011 |author=Arthur Roland Maddison |page=chapter XVI |year=1891}}
Bilsby windmill was built in 1861 and later extended. It operated until 1932.{{Cite web |title=This Is Grimsby |url=http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/End-daily-grind-village-windmill/article-3154299-detail/article.html |access-date=21 April 2011 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913052637/http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/news/End-daily-grind-village-windmill/article-3154299-detail/article.html |archive-date=13 September 2012 |url-status=dead}} Although disused and missing its cap, the tower of the mill still stands as a Grade II listed building.{{NHLE |num=1063005 |desc=Windmill |grade=II |access-date=3 July 2018}}
Thurlby and Asserby
Thurlby is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a settlement of 18 households.{{Cite web |title=Thurlby |url=http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF4975/thurlby/ |work=Domesday Map |publisher=Anna Powell-Smith/University of Hull |access-date=23 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007082606/http://www.domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF4975/thurlby/ |archive-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=dead}} Today it is a hamlet in the parish of Bilsby, but in medieval times it was a parish in its own right, with a church dedicated to St Mary, of which no trace remains.{{Cite web |title=Lincs to the Past |url=http://www.lincstothepast.com/THURLBY-DESERTED-MEDIEVAL-VILLAGE/228172.record?pt=S |work=Thurlby Deserted Medieval Village |publisher=Lincolnshire Archives |access-date=17 May 2011}}
Earthworks have confirmed that the hamlet of Asserby is smaller today than in medieval times. Unlike Thurlby, it is not mentioned in Domesday and did not have its own church.{{Cite web |title=Lincs to the Past |url=http://www.lincstothepast.com/DESERTED-MEDIEVAL-VILLAGE-OF-ASSERBY/228165.record?pt=S |work=Deserted Medieval Village of Asserby |publisher=Lincolnshire Archives |access-date=17 May 2011}}
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Population
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%; width:70%; border:0; text-align:center; line-height:120%;"
! colspan="12" style="text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|Population of Bilsby Civil Parish |
| style="background:#9cc; color:navy; height:17px;"|Year
! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1801 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1811 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1821 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1831 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1841 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1851 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1881 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1891 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1901 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1911 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1921 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1931 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1951 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|1961 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|2001 ! style="background:#fff; color:navy;"|2011 |
|---|
| style="text-align:center;"
! style="background:#9cc; color:navy; height:17px;"|Population{{Cite web |title=Vision of Britain |url=http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TOT_POP&u_id=10398400&c_id=10001043&add=N |access-date=23 August 2011}} |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|337 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|373 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|416 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|453 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|584 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|611 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|510 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|450 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|387 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|377 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|313 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|318 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|293 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|251 |style="background:#fff; color:black;"|415 |style="background:#fff; color:blsck;"|487 |
Geography
{{Geographic location
|title = Destinations from Bilsby
|North-west = Aby with Greenfield, Muckton, Louth
|North = Beesby, Maltby le Marsh, Theddlethorpe
|North-east = Markby, Sutton-on-Sea, Mablethorpe
|West = Tothby, South Thoresby, Swaby
|Centre = Bilsby
|East = Huttoft, Anderby Creek
|South-west = Well, Ulceby, Spilsby
|South = Farlesthorpe, Willoughby, Welton le Marsh
|South-east = Mumby, Hogsthorpe, Chapel St Leonards
}}
Sources
- Streatfield, George Sidney (1884). Lincolnshire and the Danes. K. Paul, Trench & Co.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category-inline|Bilsby}}
{{Portal bar|England|United Kingdom}}
{{Lincolnshire}}
{{East Lindsey (district)}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Villages in Lincolnshire
Category:Civil parishes in Lincolnshire