The name
Referred to as Gunnesse in 1199 translated the name means 'headland of a man called Gunni'.
More information can be found in:
- Cameron, Keith. The Place-Names of Lincolnshire.
- Eminson, T.B.F. Place and River Names of the West Riding of Lindsey, Lincolnshire.
- Mills, A.D. A Dictionary of English Place Names.
The place
The village of Gunness is located on the side of the River Trent at the east end of Keadby Bridge. The parish church of St Barnabus was erected in the 1950s, the previous church building being described in the 1868 edition of Kelly's post Office Directory of Lincolnshire as "a small plain building, consisting of nave and chancel, with a belfry containing one bell".
Population history
| Year |
Population |
|
1911 |
92 |
|
1921 |
102 |
|
1931 |
751 |
|
1941 |
N/A |
|
1951 |
751 |
|
1961 |
767 |
|
1971 |
1180 |
|
1981 |
1930 |
|
1991 |
2495 |
(Note: No data available before 1911).
Entry from Kelly's Trade Directory for 1900
GUNHOUSE (or GUNNESS) is a township and small village, pleasantly situated on the
East bank of the river Trent, its name from forming a ness or promontory in the river Trent: it has a station about half a mile distant on the South Yorkshire branch of the Great Central (late M.S. and L.) railway, and is 4 ½ miles east by rail from Crowle, 18 north from Gainsborough and 175 from London; it was formerly a chapelry in the parish of West Halton, but was united with Burringham and formed into an ecclesicatical parish Oct. 15, 1861, from the civil parishes of Bottesford, Frodingham and Crosby, and is in the North Lindsey division of the county, parts of Lindsey, north division of Manley, wapentake, union of Glanford, Brigg, county court district of Brigg, petty sessional division of Scunthorpe, rural deanery of Manlake, archdeaconry of Stow and diocese of Lincoln. The railway crosses the Trent here by a bridge. The church (dedication unknown) is a small and plain edifice of brick in cement, in the Pointed style, consisting of a chancel, nave, south porch and a belfry containing one bell: there are 60 sittings. The register dates from the year 1851. The living is a rectory, with Burringham annexed, joint net yearly value £327, including one acre of glebe, with residence, built in 1866, in the gift of the Bishop of Norwich, and held since 1890 by the Rev. Johnson Fowell Swann B.A. of Caius College, Cambridge. The Weslyan Methodist chapel here was built in 1824, and the Primitive Methodist chapel, in Gunhouse Lane, in 1883. Here is a wharf for the shipment of iron ore, which is brought by railway from Frodingham, and at Neap is a staithe, or landing place, on the river Trent, for farm produce. Mrs. Schofield, Maltby Hall, Rotherham, is the lady of the manor and the principal landowner, but there are many small owners. The soil is alluvial; subsoil, warp. The chief crops are wheat, clover, oats and potatoes. The area of the ecclesiastical parish is 2,808 acres, of the township, 509 acres of land, 62 of tidal water and 18 of foreshore; rateable value, £588; the population is 1891 was 78 in the township and in the ecclesiastical parish of Gunhouse-cum-Burringham, 707.
Holdings in North Lincolnshire Local Studies Library
- Russell, Eleanor and Rex, C. Landscape changes in South Humberside: The enclosures of thirty-seven parishes. 1982.
References in the Star Newspaper Index
- Shortage of drinking water LS 02.08. 1913 5b.
- Sloop sinks on the River Trent near Neap House LS 14.02. 1925 5c.
- Aeroplanes landing to refuel at Gunness Wharf SFS 10.01. 1931 7b.
- Dedication of new buildings a C of E school SFS 08.07. 1933 4a.
- Dispute of slaughterhouse in village SFS 22.04. 1939 10b.
- New church consecrated SFS 28.02. 1953 13b.