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"GREENFIELD, a hamlet in the parish of Aby, hundred of Calceworth, parts of Lindsey, county Lincoln, 3 miles N.W. of Alford. A nunnery of the Cistercian order was founded here by Eudo de Greines, about the middle of the 12th century, of which there are still some remains, now converted into a farmhouse. At the Dissolution the revenues were returned at £79 15s. 1d. This is a meet for the South Wold hounds. There are some traces of an ancient burial-place."
[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2020
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The Community Library at Alford has a local history archive that will prove useful in your research.
Peter WOOD has a photograph of the Burial Ground near Aby on Geo-graph, taken in February, 2019.
| All Saints, Aby, Church of England |
- The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
- Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
Census
YearPiece No. 1841 H.O. 107 / 626 1851 H.O. 107 / 2111 1861 R.G. 9 / 2379 1871 R.G. 10 / 3398 1891 R.G. 12 / 2606
- There was a Cistertian Nuns Priory here in Greenfield, founded in 1153 by Eudo de GREINSBY and Ralph de ABY. It was only a farm house in 1930.
- The Anglican parish church was dedicated to All Saints.
- The church was constructed in the 13th century.
- The church was in ruins in the early 1600s and was dismantled in 1660 by Sir Henry VANE, but the churchyard continued in use for burials.
- It was the custom, until 1830, to hold an annual church service in the churchyard.
- In 1888 a pitch pine chapel was constructed on the original site, but all that remains today is the churchyard. A small iron mortuary chapel was build on the former church foundation to handle burials.
- The inhabitants of the parish attended services in Belleau, where the register was kept.
- The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a burial index for the Calcewaith and Candleshoe Deanery to make your search easier.
- The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1895, but the photo below tells us that the chapel dates from 1885. The Wesleyan Methodist chapel closed and is now a private residence.
- Chris has a photograph of the Former Methodist Chapel on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2013.
- The Primitive Methodists built their chapel in 1836. For more on researching these chapel records, see our non-conformist religions page.
- Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
- The parish was in the Withern sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
- Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.
The parish is about 4 miles north-west of Alford. Greenfield is a hamlet in the parish, and it lies closer to Alford. The parish covers about 1,400 acres.
If you are planning a visit:
- By automobile, one can take the A16 south out of Louth, Aby lies 2 miles north and east of South Thoresby.
- The nearby railway station, in Claythorpe, closed in 1961.
- See our touring page for visitor services.
The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland - 1868
"GREENFIELD, a hamlet in the parish of Aby, hundred of Calceworth, parts of Lindsey, county Lincoln, 3 miles N.W. of Alford. A nunnery of the Cistercian order was founded here by Eudo de Greines, about the middle of the 12th century, of which there are still some remains, now converted into a farmhouse. At the Dissolution the revenues were returned at £79 15s. 1d. This is a meet for the South Wold hounds. There are some traces of an ancient burial-place."
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Aby to another place.
- Richard CROFT has photographed the disused railway bridge page near Aby.
- The Railway tavern on the west side of the village provided a place to catch up on local news.
- Individuals' names associated with the Inn in various directories are:
Year Person 1868 George TURNER, butcher 1872 Geo. TURNER, vict. 1882 Thomas FOUNTAIN, vict. 1900 Thomas FOUNTAIN, vict. 1913 Edward CRAWFORD 1930 Edward CRAWFORD
Thomas FOUNTAIN was born in West Barkwith, LIN, circa 1851.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF410784 (Lat/Lon: 53.283825, 0.113525), Aby 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.
- This place was an ancient parish in Lincoln county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the ancient Calceworth Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
- You may contact the local Parish Council regarding civic or political matters, but they are NOT staffed to assist with family history searches.
- For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Alford petty session hearings.
- After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, this parish became part of the Louth Poor Law Union.
- A National and Infant School was built here in 1852. The school was enlarged in 1862.
- Aby School was on School Lane. This school closed in 2009.
- Andrew WHALE has a photograph of Aby School on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2010.
- For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.