Alkborough

The Scunthorpe Library is an excellent resource with a Local History section.

Alternatively, the Brigg Library also has a Local History section.

• The Anglican churchyard is now closed as a cemetery. A new burial ground was formed in 1905 on land donated by James GOULTON-CONSTABLE.

• The parish was in the Winterton sub-district of the Glanford Brigg Registration District.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• A small monastic establishment apparently existed here just prior to the Norman Conquest. It was a cell or offshoot of the Monastery at Spalding. It closed down in 1220.
   
• The Anglican church is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist.
   
• The church tower is believed to be of Anglo-Saxon origin, dating back to 1052.
   
• The church was restored in 1887.
   
• The church seats 220.
   
• There is a photograph of St. John's church on the Wendy PARKINSON Church Photos web site, taken by Sheila FENTON.
   
• A photograph and history of St. John's church can be found in Simon JENKINS' book, "England's Thousand Best Churches," Penguin Books.
   
• Here is a photograph St. John the Baptist's Church supplied by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):

• The Anglican church register dates from 1538 and Bishop's transcripts exist from 1599.
   
• We have the beginning of a Parish Register Extract in text form for your use. Your additions are welcome.
   
• Check the Manlake Deanery to see what LFHS indexes exist.
   
• The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel here in 1840 and the Primitive Methodists built their's in 1864. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• For more on county-wide church records, see our Church Records page.

• The parish was in the Winterton sub-district of the Glanford Brigg Registration District.
   
• Check our Civil Registration page for sources and background on Civil Registration which began in July, 1837.

Alkborough is a parish in the north of Lincolnshire, located where the Trent River joins the Ouse River and form the River Humber. This portion of the Trent is often called Trent Falls. The parishes of Whitton, West Halton and Burton on Stather form the eastern border to the parish. The parish is 16 miles northwest of Brigg and covers about 2,875 acres. The parish includes the hamlet of Walcot, which lies about a mile south of the village of Alkborough.

The village itself stands on a cliff overlooking the rivers. Just south of the village is Alkborough Hill, providing viewing points over the rivers and surrounding countryside. If you are planning a visit:

• The village itself is best reached by taking the B1430 Trunk Road north out of Scunthorpe to Burton on Stather, then continuing north into Alkborough.
   
• You may prefer to travel by bus, train or rented car. If so, use our Trains, Bus Service, Caravan and Car Hire resources.
   
• Visit our touring page for visitor services.

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

• Roman trenches, a 43 foot turf maze called Julian's Bower, and a 300-foot square encampment can be found on Alkborough Hill. (Sources disagree as to whether the maze is of Roman origin, but the encampment is probably theirs. The maze is more likely of medieval origin.) These are likely the remains of a Roman watchtower built to overlook the rivers. The Romans may have called this place Aquis, but that is more likely in Derbyshire.
   
• The earthwork above is known as "Countess Close", roughly square, broken by an entrance on the North. Other sources say it is medieval, perhaps the remains of a fort. It is supposed to have been named after Countess Lucy, wife of Ivo Taillebois, who had a manor house there. She was a kinswoman of Thorold who built Alkborough church and the Lucy of the Lucy Tower in Lincoln Castle.
  N. Pevsner and J. Harris, "The Buildings of England," Lincolnshire Penguin, 1989, p96.
   
• In ancient times, folks used to visit Kell Well to gather star-stones for amulets.
   
• Motor bus service came to Alkborough in 1923 when Mr. W. JARVILL introduced service to Scunthorpe and surrounding villages.
   
• The village participated in the Alkborough and Whitton Dividend Society (to pay for sickness and burial) and had 132 members in 1900.
   
• For more on the history of the parish, visit the North Lincolnshire Local Studies Archive site.

• The Manor House is on Whitton Road.
   
• Walcot Hall was the home of James GOULTON-CONSTABLE in 1900. It was built before 1649.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SE882218 (Lat/Lon: 53.68522, -0.665988), Alkborough 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.

• Alkborough Flats was home to a bombing range during the Second World War. During one bombing run, a horse was killed, and another bomb narrowly missed a group of children sledging.
   
• The Alkborough War Memorial sits at the edge of the churchyard as photographed by Richard CROFT. The cross commemorates the men of the parish who died in World War I.

For a closeup of the Alkborough War Memorial plaque and the list of names on it, see the Wikipedia photograph.

The Imperial War Museum lists these names on the War Memorial (both World Wars):

1. Birkett, T. Edward
2. Clarke, Sidney
3. Cooling, Arthur
4. Cowling, Sidney
5. Dawson, George
6. Escreet, Sidney
7. Foster, Frank
8. Gaunt, Alfred
9. Gelder, Leonard
10. Lane, Ernest A.
11. Pickup, C. Fred
12. Poole, Harry
13. Senger, Edwin
14. Thornton, Geoffrey
15. Vessey, Carey
16. York, Edgar

• The name Alkborough is from the Old English Alca+bearu, for "grove of a man named Alca". In the 1086 Domesday Book it appeared as Alchebarge and in the 12^th century as Alchebarua.
  A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
   
• Walcot comes from Old English Walh+cot, for "Cottage of the Britons".
  A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991.
   
• Residents of Alkborough pronounce the town name as "Auckboro" or "Auckbro", and several spelling variations can be found in old records.

• This place was an ancient parish in county Lincoln and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Manley Wapentake in the North Lindsey division in the parts of Lindsey.
   
• District governance is currently provided by the North Lincolnshire Council.

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Winterton petty sessional hearings.
   
• Care for the poor of the parish extends back prior to 1765.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, Alkborough became part of the Glanford Brigg Poor Law Union.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1671	161
1801	345
1811	368
1821	428
1831	467
1841	492
1861	497
1871	487
1891	427
1901	420
1911	418
1921	432
1961	470
2001	455

• A parish school was built here in 1874 and by then was schooling about 50 boys and 30 girls. Also, by 1871, there was an Infant School funded by Lady Strickland, attended by about 30 children.
   
• The current Alkborough Primary School (photo by Steve PARKER) is located on Whitton Road and was enlarged in 2001 by the addition of two schoolrooms.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.