North Thoresby

The Library at Louth will prove useful in your research.

Jonathan THACKER provides a photograph of the Parish Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2012.

• The parish was in the Tetney sub-district of the Louth Registration District.
   
• We have started a 1901 census return extract. Your additions to this are welcome.
   
• Check our Census Resource page for county-wide resources.
   
• The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:

• The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Helen.
   
• The church was partially restored in 1848. Although apparently ancient, the date of origin is unreported.
   
• The church seats 350 persons.
   
• The remains of a Saxon Cross are preserved in the church.
   
• The churchyard was enlarged in 1893.
   
• A photograph of St. Helen's Church is at the Wendy PARKINSON English Church Photographs site.
   
• Richard CROFT has a photograph of the church interior on Geo-graph, taken in 2006.
   
• Here is a photo of St. Helen's, taken by Ron COLE (who retains the copyright):
   

• The Anglican parish register dates from 1546.
   
• We have a partial Parish Register Extract in a pop-up text tile for your review. Your additions and corrections will be appreciated.
   
• The Lincolnshire FHS has published several marriage indexes and a 1641/2 Protestation Return for the Haverstoe Deanery to make your search easier.
   
• The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists each had a chapel here prior to 1900. For information and assistance in researching these chapels, see our non-conformist religions page.
   
• Check our Church Records page for county-wide resources.
   

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

North Thoresby is both a village and parish about 148 miles north of London and midway between Louth and Grimsby. Grainsby parish is to the north and Ludborough parish to the south. The parish covers about 2,600 acres.

If you are planning a visit:

• North Thoresby is just east of the A16, halfway between Grimsby and Louth, where the trunk road intersects with the B1201 arterial road.
   
• The village has regular bus service to both Louth and Grimsby.
   
• Passenger service on the rail line ceased in the 1960s, but started up again in 2009. The old railbed has been torn up and new track laid a short distance off.
   
• See our touring page for visitor services.

• Geograph
• Flickr

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

• Nigel THOMPSON has a photograph of the North Thoresby railway station on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2011.
   
• J. THOMAS has a photograph of the Halfway House Inn on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2015.
   
• John FIRTH has a photograph of the New Inn on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2011.
   
• Robert EMM has a photograph of the "New Granby" Inn on Geo-graph, taken in July, 2006.

• See our Maps page for additional resources.

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference TF291985 (Lat/Lon: 53.46746, -0.055962), North Thoresby 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.

• The parish established a War Memorial in 2005. The article below appeared in the Grimsby Telegraph newspaper.

DAY IT RAINED TRAGIC DEBRIS

12:30 - 24 September 2005
The recent dedication of a memorial in North Thoresby to eight men who died in a tragic accident on a training flight prompted FRED ROBINSON of Mill Road, Market Rasen, to send in these moving memories of what happened on that fateful day. Having attended the ceremony for the dedication of the memorial erected for the crew of the Lancaster bomber in the centre of North Thoresby on Sunday, September 4, and to see the large crowds of people who came to show respect for those brave men, was unbelievable. Being interested in incidents like the one which happened on that fateful day, I recorded at the time what my late brother saw on October 4 as it was against the rules to talk about such incidents in public during the war - as "careless talk could cost lives". He was operating a threshing machine on a farm at Brigsley and was just checking the time on his pocket watch to see if it was break time. The time was exactly 12.50pm and, at that moment, he heard a terrific explosion at a great height - and debris began falling which resembled a flock of crows falling from the sky, with some large pieces and some tiny fragments. The largest pieces he saw appeared to be red in colour and he presumed they were the fuel tanks. An aircraft had exploded over Brigsley and Ashby-cum-Fenby. The wreckage was falling in a south-easterly direction towards Grainsby, where two engines fell at the entrance to the park and, at almost three miles away from the explosion, over the village of North Thoresby. A large piece of wreckage fell in the centre of the village demolishing part of the chapel. I was told the monument stands only a few steps from where the chapel, which has since been demolished, then stood.

• Robert EMM has a photograph of the Memorial Park on Geo-graph, taken in 2006.
   
• David BURNETT has a photograph of the 1940s Day Celebration on Geo-graph, taken in 2006. Some of these old warriors can still fit in their uniforms.
   
• There is a Roll of Honour (with 107 names) mounted inside the parish Church's porch.

• Brian CHESTER has provided a Monument Inscription lookup feature at his website for St. Helen's Church.(JB)

• The name derives from the Old Scandinavian Thorir+by, meaning "farmstead or village of a man called Thorir". It appears as Toresbi in the 1086 Domesday Book.
  [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991].

• This place was an ancient parish in Lincolnshire and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
   
• The parish was in the ancient Bradley Haverstoe Wapentake in the East Lindsey district in the parts of Lindsey.
   
• You can contact the Parish Council to discuss civic or political issues, but they are NOT staffed to do family history work for you.
   
• For today's district governance, see the East Lindsey District Council.

• Bastardy cases would be heard in the Grimsby petty session hearings.
   
• The poor had 18 acres of land, mostly purchased with a bequest left by Mrs. F. SMITH in 1680.
   
• After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, the parish became part of the Louth Poorlaw Union.
   

Year	Inhabitants
1801	378
1831	544
1841	623
1871	774
1881	745
1891	573
1901	629
1911	595

• In 1622, Dr. Robert MAPLETOFTE left scholarships for students of North Thoresby.
   
• The Public Elementary School was erected in 1856 and enlarged in 1877 and 1911.
   
• The children of the adjacent parishes of Grainsby and Waithe attended this school.
   
• North Thoresby Primary School 
   
• The North Thoresby Primary School is on High Street in North Thoresby, Grimsby, post code DN36 5PL, tele: (01472) 840295, fax: (01472) 840295.
   
• For more on researching school records, see our Schools Research page.