The name
In 1086 the Doomsday Book refers to Horkstow as Horchetou and the village goes through many spellings such as Orkestowe, Horkystow and Horkestoo before becoming the Horkstow we know today. It is thought that the first part of the word Horkstow relates to hurk 'a temporary shelter for young lambs, made of hurdles wattled with straw' or 'to crouch, to cower'. From this it is suggested that the hork element of the villages name refers to a shelter and that the full definition of the villages name might be 'a shelter for animals or people'.
More information can be found in:
- Cameron, Keith The Place-Names of Lincolnshire.
- Mills, A.D. A Dictionary of English Place Names.
The place
One of a number of villages on the northwestern edge of the Wolds with the Old and New River Ancholme close at hand. The parish church of St Maurice is a mediaeval building with a 13th century tower restored in the 19th century.
A Roman mosaic pavement found in Horkstow in the 1790's portraying a chariot race and Orpheus taming the beast is held by the British museum.
Horkstow Bridge is a fine example of an early suspension bridge and one of a handful in Britain to have remained as originally designed. Situated 1 mile upstream from Ferriby Sluice it was completed in 1836 as part of the River Ancholme Drainage Scheme by Sir John Rennie.
Population history
| Year |
Population |
|
1801 |
144 |
|
1811 |
157 |
|
1821 |
200 |
|
1831 |
240 |
|
1841 |
228 |
|
1851 |
251 |
|
1861 |
245 |
|
1871 |
250 |
|
1881 |
274 |
|
1891 |
243 |
|
1901 |
193 |
|
1911 |
207 |
|
1921 |
196 |
|
1931 |
198 |
|
1941 |
N/A |
|
1951 |
192 |
|
1961 |
158 |
|
1971 |
117 |
|
1981 |
100 |
|
1991 |
90 |
Entry from Kelly's Trade Directory for 1900
Horkstow is a parish and pleasant village, extending to the navigable river Ancholme, over which is a suspension bridge; it is 4 miles south-west from Barton station on the branch of the Great Central (late M. S. and L.) railway and 9 north from Brigg, in the North Lindsey division of the county, parts of Lindsey, North division of Yarborough Wapentake, Glanford Brigg union, Barton-upon- Humber petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Yarborough No.1, archdeaconry of Stow and diocese of Lincoln. The church of St Maurice is an ancient edifice of brick and stone, partly in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles, north porch and a small western tower containing 3 bells: the interior was partially restored in 1868, at a cost of £450, and the exterior of the nave and the tower in 1895, at a cost of £500: in the church is a handsome tablet to the late Admiral Shirley, fifth son of the late Earl Ferrers: there are 190 sittings. The register dates from the year 1556. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £150, with residence, in the gift of the Earl of Yarborough, and held since 1897 by the Rev. Robert Charles Warre Ekins. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. In 1796 fragments of the tessellated pavement of a long narrow room, divided into three compartments, were found in a field near, one of these having a most singular representation of a Roman chariot race; other portions contained mutilated figures of the "Fates", attended by genii, Nerieids and tritons; Roman coins have also been found. The Earl of Yarborough P.C. who is lord of the manor, and Calthrop Johnstone Calthrop esq. of Horkstow Hall, are the principal landowners. The soil is chalk and marl; subsoil, chalk and clay. The chief crops are wheat, oats, barley and pasture. The area is 2,119 acres of land and 19 of water; rateable value, £2,7111; the population in 1891 was 243.
Post Office. - Mrs. Ann R. Hodlin, sub-postmistress. Letters from Hull, which arrive 8.10am; dispatched 4.55pm. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid. The nearest money order and telegraph office is at South Ferriby, 1mile distant
National School (mixed), built in 1858, by the Earl of Yarborough, at a cost of £150, for 60 children; average attendance, 43; Mrs Emily Vine, mistress
Carriers. - Richard Hoodlass, to Brigg, Tues. Thurs. and Sat.; William Green, to Barton, Mon. Wed. Fri. and Sat.; William Trippett and others, to Hull, Tues. and Fri.
Holdings in North Lincolnshire Local Studies Library
- Labrum, E.A. (ed.) Civil Engineering Heritage Eastern and Central England. 1994.
- Fraser-Brunner, Pamela. Pictures in stone: some thoughts on Roman mosaic pavements. [in] Appleby- Frodingham News, vol12, no1. Spring 1959 pp61-66; illus. 1959.
- Morgan, Thomas. Romano-British mosaic pavements. 1886.
- Leahy, Kevin and Williams, David. North Lincolnshire: a pictorial History. 1996.
- Wiley, Derek. Georgian Green. Poems written in Horkstow in 1992. 1992.
References in the Star Newspaper Index
- Horkstow : Village affairs A-G SFS 19.03.1976 page 12.
- Wesleyan Methodist Chapel re-opened after renovation LLS 12.08.1905 page4f.
- Roman pavement [found 1796] to be removed to British museum LS 30.04.1927 page6c.