Saxilby History Group

Amongst the pieces of memorabilia we have in our archives is this Parish Magazine from March 1909. Printed by Ernest Stebbings of Saxilby, it features two pages of local advertisements. As many of you are aware, the Group has an extensive collection of photographs dating from the time, and I thought it may be possible to match a photo with the advertisement. Two of the adverts are for piano teachers.    Mr Scarborough of Lincoln was also St Botolph’s organist. I have searched both the 1901 and 1911 censuses for Mrs Gubbins and Portland House. A widow, she moved to Saxilby some time after 1901. I am unable to identify Portland House. By 1911 she is living with her widowed sister in cottages located on the Skellingthorpe Road by the side of the chemical works. She died in 1914, and is buried at St Botolph’s Church. There were two advertisers I could not locate. I can only find Robert Hardwick on the 1911 Census. He is living with his wife and five children on the High Street bet...

On Thursday 6 th June 2024 we marked the 80 th anniversary of D-Day. The History Group assisted village organisations with events on the day to commemorate the occasion. One of the fallen remembered on Saxilby’s war memorials is Ronald Arthur Britt. He was the son of Harry and Eleanor Britt, the Foss swing bridge keepers, and the husband of Catherine Britt of Galashiels. He was a private in the 2 nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment, which played a significant role in the events of D-Day landings. At the outbreak of the Second World War, the 2 nd Battalion was stationed in England. However, when the situation escalated in late 1939, they were deployed straight to France. After 9 months, the Battalion was evacuated from Dunkirk. Following this, they remained in Britain, primarily engaged in home defence duties and training exercises. On the 6 th of June 1944, the 2nd Battalion took part in the Normandy landings. They landed at Hermanville-sur-Mer, codenamed ‘Sword Beach.’ This ...

We were recently contacted by Paul Kidd of Hunstanton asking if we could provide any information on a postcard which had come into his possession. Not only did we supply him with Drinsey Nook’s interesting history, but he sent us the card for our collection. We may receive further enquiries from him, as he is a postcard collector with over 30,000 cards in his collection. Drinsey Nook, a small hamlet of a few houses, straddles the border of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. It sits on the banks of the Foss Navigation at the junction of the A57 Lincoln to Worksop Road and the A156 Lincoln to Gainsborough Road. The name is derived from the Danish ‘Drenges Eye,’ meaning ‘Dreng’s Island.’ Like ‘Saxilby’ (Saxulf’s Farmstead), the name would have been given by Danish settlers following the Viking invasions of eastern England in the 8th and 9th centuries. Vikings came from the whole of Scandinavia. They did not have horns on their helmets (a Victorian invention!). The name means ‘sea pirate.’ ...

Cycling became popular at the end of the 19th Century. However, before the invention of the safety bicycle in the 1880s, the pastime was an expensive hobby. A ‘penny-farthing’ cost £12 in 1880 (6 weeks wages), £800 today. One of the earlier photographs in our ‘John Wilson Collection’ shows members of a Lincoln cycle club photographed outside the Sun Hotel in 1885. A later photo, taken in 1895, shows a gathering of cyclists at the same spot with their safety bicycles. This was obviously a large gathering, as you can see, they were followed by a stage coach. It was reported at the Annual General Meeting of Lincoln Cycling Club in 1885 that the opening run in the previous year was in the form of a picnic at the Sun Inn, Saxilby. Rev. Canon Fowler defrayed the cost of the club being photographed, and the photos were sold for the benefit of the club. On August 4th, 1902 (Bank Holiday Monday), the Lincolnshire Echo reports - ‘Encouraged by the success of the sports organized a month ago, the...

Within our ‘John Wilson Collection’ of photos was this early postcard of Saxilby Scouts. It was badly worn and gave no indication as to the date. It could have been taken in the Ship Inn yard. And who was the mystery person inset? I was contacted by a friend of the Group, Colin Shields, who had been notified that a copy of this postcard was advertised for sale on eBay. It may have dated from 1914. A search of the British Newspaper Archive turned up trumps, with a detailed article appearing in the Retford and Worksop Herald on 10th November 1914 containing the very photograph and everyone’s names! Several of the Troop members have familiar surnames today, and I guess a few may be even your grandfathers. Please let me know, and I’ll let you have a copy. Standing (left to right): E Barnard, F Blades, W Robins, A White, A Jubb, W Marshall, H Norris, W Garnham, G Watson, W Ford, C Flemington, F Bonser, J Toyne, G Goodacre, P Smalley, G Poole, W Storey, H Watson, A Cavill, A Linton, A Goodba...

T he Big Freeze 1963 – Tractor on Ice In the winter of 1962-63, snow remained from Boxing Day until mid-March. Blizzards began in the last week of 1962 and built up drifts, about six metres deep in the West Country. Even city centres had 15cm of snow, which turned to slush, and when temperatures plunged, froze solid in ruts, bringing traffic to a halt. The long walk home from work in mid-February allowed for occasionally seeking refuge in a warm pub on the way, where the conversation was inevitably about the weather. Such a conversation was held in the ‘Anglers’ during February about how in previous years men had skated to Lincoln to work and that a horse and cart had been known to have travelled along the ice. This was this feat that landlord Ray Miles volunteered to repeat, but this time driving his 35cwt Fordson tractor from Saxilby to Pyewipe. It was originally planned to get onto the ice at the Lindsey & Kesteven Fertiliser Works. Unfortunately, this was not possible a...

Gervas Woodsend of Saxilby 1751 -1814 Impressive Family History Research The history of the Woodsend family was researched by Will Honeybourne of Sonoma, California, whose mother’s maiden name was Woodsend; his middle name is Gervase, and Gervas Woodsend is his 4x great grandfather. There have been many generations of Woodsends with the name Gervas(e). The family pronounces it in the old, anglicised way as “Jarvis”. I was interested to discover the source material used by Will in compiling this quite detailed history, as one of the source records, the Parish Vestry Records, was lost sometime in the early 1960s. The Vestry was the predecessor of the Parish Council and the Parochial Church Council before 1894. Fortunately, the Church Warden’s Accounts, commencing in 1551 and continuing until 1790 (with a break during the Civil War in the 1640s) are held by the Lincolnshire Archives. The original research was done in the late 1940s and ‘50s by Thomas Eadie Woodsend, who employed genealogi...