Kelstern

The Library at Louth will prove useful in your research.

• The parish was in the Binbrook sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
   
• We have a handful of 1901 census surnames in a text file. Your additions are welcome.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
   

• The Anglican Church is dedicated to Saint Faith.
   
• The church appears to be from the 14th century.
   
• The church was restored and partly rebuilt in 1886-87.
   
• The church is a Grade II listed building with British Heritage.
   
• Richard CROFT provides a photograph of St. Faith's Church on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2006.
   
• Here is a photo of St. Faith's Church, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):

• The Anglican parish register dates back to 1651.
   
• The LFHS has published several marriage and burial indexes for the Louth Eske Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
   
• Michael CATT tells us that his great grandfather Mathew MERRIKIN was the vicar for St Faith's church circa 1895.
   

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

Kelstern is a parish at the north end of the River Bain, west-north-west of Louth and south-east of Binbrook parish. The parish is in the Wold Hills. Lambcroft is a hamlet in the parish, about 2 miles northeast of Kelstern village. The parish covers about 2,600 acres.

Kelstern village is a small, quiet place. If you are planning a visit:

• By car, take the A631 west out of Louth. Kelstern is about one half mile north of this road, about four miles west of Louth.
   
• John FIRTH has a photograph of Kelstern village on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2013.
   
• Visit our touring page for more sources.
   

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

• To the east of the village are several Bronze Age barrows.
   

• Earnest SHARPLEY, a farmer, was the resident of Kelstern Hall in 1913.
   
• Richard CROFT provides a photograph of Kelstern Hall on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2006.
   

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF251903 (Lat/Lon: 53.39505, -0.11939), Kelstern 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.

• RFC Kelstern was established in 1917, primarily as an emergency landing strip for fuel-starved aircraft returning from Zeppelin hunts.
   
• The field was little used in WWI.
   
• The field closed in March, 1919.
   
• In July, 1942, construction started at RAF Kelstern. The field was re-opened by the RAF in September, 1943.
   
• The field closed again in May, 1945.
   
• The property was sold by the MOD in 1965.
   
• There is a memorial to 625 Squadron near the old runways. The webpage author does not have any information on the memorial.
   
• Chris HUFF has a photograph of the RAF Kelstern Memorial on Geo-graph, taken in September, 2012.
   
• Adrian S. PYE has a similar photograph on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2019.
   
• There is a photograph of one building at RAF Kelstern on the Traces of War website.
   

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincoln county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• The parish was in the Wold division of the ancient Louth Eske Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
   
• For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey Govt. Council.

• After the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act reforms, the parish became part of the Louth Poorlaw Union.
   
• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Louth petty session hearings.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1801	154
1831	200
1841	211
1871	218
1881	235
1891	221
1901	175
1911	188

• A Public Elementary School was built in Kelstern village in 1861. It was enlarged in 1898.
   
• Children came to school here from Lambcroft hamlet and the village of Calcethorpe.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.