Place:Skirbeck, Lincolnshire, England

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Skirbeck is a suburb and former civil parish in the Borough of Boston in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Skirbeck is a long v-shaped formation wrapped around the south and east side of Boston parish. It has been incorporated into the Borough of Boston since 1932. It is in the Pilgrim ward of the Boston Borough Council. Skirbeck includes the hamlet and former civil parish of Skirbeck Quarter which was on the west side of the River Witham and was a separate parish from 1866 to 1932.

Contrary to what is said in this introductory section, the last sentence of the "History" section states that Skirbeck was divided between Boston and Fishtoft in 1932.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

That name originates from the words "skirn" and "bekkr" meaning "clear stream". Skirbeck appears in two entries in the Domesday Book of 1086, when it was recorded as consisting of a total of 42 households and had two churches and two fisheries.

St Leonards Hospital for ten poor people, was founded around 1220 and was held by the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem from about 1230. It was later united with the Preceptory at Maltby. In 1542 it was granted to Charles Duke of Suffolk, and may have continued as an almshouse. It appears to have been located on the west side of the Maud Foster Drain, opposite the present Hospital Bridge. An old house known as Jerusalem House may have been built of material from the hospital, however this has been disputed by the St Leonards Trust who believe the present bedehouses stand on the site of the original hospital.

The parish church is set by the bank of the River Witham, and is thought to predate the foundation of St Botolph's Church in Boston. Dedicated to Saint Nicholas it is a Grade II* listed building dating from the 13th century. It was restored between 1869 and 1875 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, and in 1899 a restoration of the western tower took place. Between 1933 and 1935 a chancel by LT Moore was added.

The Grade II* listed Hussey Tower was a 14- and 15th-century brick tower with an octagonal turret, originally known as Benyington Tower. It was sold to Boston Corporation and dismantled after 1545 when it was forfeited by Lord Hussey.

Boston Workhouse was built in 1837 by George Gilbert Scott. It was built near the site of the medieval hospital of St John. The Grade II listed front range of the workhouse still exists, but the rear ranges were demolished in 1980.

Boston House of correction was in Skirbeck Quarter and was erected in 1809. From 1826 it was only used to hold prisoners for trial, and after 1837 Boston borough gaol became available and Skirbeck House of correction closed. In 1849 it was converted into a lock-up.

Holy Trinity Grade II listed church in Skirbeck Quarter, which was a chapel of ease to Skirbeck, was built 1846–48 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. In 1988 it was added to by John Webster of Leeds.

Saint Thomas Church in Skirbeck Quarter started as a classroom of the original school building in 1866, and in 1885 became a "tin tabernacle". Need for a permanent brick building was recognised and the church was begun in 1909 and completed in 1912. It was built by Temple Moore and is a Grade II listed building.

Research Tips for the Boston, Lincolnshire, Area

From 1889 until 1974 Lincolnshire was divided into three administrative counties: Parts of Holland (in the southeast), Parts of Kesteven and Parts of Lindsey (further north and/or west). These formal names do not fit with modern grammatical usage, but that is what they were named, nonetheless.

The southern part of Lincolnshire, particularly the Parts of Holland, is very low-lying and land had to be drained for agriculture to be successful. These areas are named "The Fens".

Fenland is a feature of the Boston Rural District and Horncastle Rural District areas. Fenlands tended to be extraparochial until the mid 1850s, but were then identified with names and given the title "civil parish". Many were abolished in 1906, and became parts of larger neighbouring parishes. As a result, Wikipedia no longer provides articles on some of these small low-populated areas.

Sources

• OS New Popular One-Inch Map, Sheet 114, provided online by A Vision of Britain, is an early 20th century map covering the east part of Lincolnshire from Boston to Skegness. It does not list all the fen settlements, but does list all the towns and hamlets. Degrees of longitude and latitude are given along its sides. The map magnifies to a very high scale.

• Normally, A Vision of Britain would also be suggested as a source for parish boundary maps for the area. Unfortunately, this website has made an error in its map indexing and the sub-heading "Boundary Maps" repeats the maps given under "Topographic Maps". It is not possible to view outlines of the parishes located in this area.

• The National Library of Scotland [1] [1] also provides a large number of maps for all the counties and districts of England as well as those of Scotland. Their map indices for England only cover modern placenames, but they do allow the user to view a parish in relation to its neighbours. These maps are very easy to read.

• FindMyPast, a pay website, now has a large collection of Lincolnshire baptisms, banns, marriages and burials now available to search by name, year, place and parent's names.

• GENUKI's page on Lincolnshire's Archive Service gives addresses, phone numbers, webpages for all archive offices, museums and libraries in Lincolnshire which may store old records and also presents a list entitled "Hints for the new researcher" which may include details of which you are not aware. These suggestions are becoming more and more outdated.

• GENUKI also has pages of information on individual parishes, particularly ecclesiastical parishes. The author may just come up with morsels of information not supplied in other internet-available sources.

• Deceased Online, a pay website, now has records for 11 cemeteries and two crematoria in Lincolnshire. This includes Grimsby's Scartho Road cemetery, Scartho Road crematorium, and Cleethorpes cemetery, council records for the City of Lincoln and Gainsborough, and church records from the UK's National Archives for St Michael's in Stamford, and St Mark's in Lincoln, dating back to 1707.