The name
As the name suggests South Ferriby is defined as 'The farmstead or village beside the ferry'. It is South in contrast to North Ferriby which is located on the opposite bank of the River Humber.
More information can be found in:
- Cameron, Keith. The Place-Names of Lincolnshire.
- Mills, A.D. A Dictionary of English Place Names.
The place
South Ferriby is located on the south bank of the River Humber at the northern end of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Since before the Doomsday Book South Ferriby has been the site of a ferry crossing between the north and south banks of the River Humber. The entry in the Doomsday Book records a church, mill and two ferries. This suggests that to sustain both ferries a prosperous trading community must have flourished.
A number of springs in and around South Ferriby such as The Horse Pond and Cadwell meant that the village was one of the first in the country to have its own piped water supply. This arrangement that existed until 1952 when mains water arrived. To the west of the village is the hamlet of Ferriby Sluice where the Old and New Rivers Ancholme meet the Humber through a sluice completed in 1844 by Sir John Rennie.
Population history
| Year |
Population |
|
1801 |
280 |
|
1811 |
420 |
|
1821 |
453 |
|
1831 |
500 |
|
1841 |
542 |
|
1851 |
580 |
|
1861 |
573 |
|
1871 |
721 |
|
1881 |
733 |
|
1891 |
638 |
|
1901 |
738 |
|
1911 |
725 |
|
1921 |
736 |
|
1931 |
701 |
|
1941 |
N/A |
|
1951 |
696 |
|
1961 |
663 |
|
1971 |
607 |
|
1981 |
619 |
|
1991 |
614 |
Entry from Kelly's Trade Directory for 1900
South Ferriby is a parish and pretty and well-built village, on the south bank of the Humber, 3 miles west from Barton Station on the Great Central (late M S and L) railway and 7 west from New Holland, in the North Lindsey division of the county, parts of Lindsey, north division of Yarborough wapentake, Glanford Brigg union, Barton-on-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 Nicholas, which is but the mutilated remnant of a much larger church, is a singular structure, consisting of nave, south transept, north porch and an embattled tower, with pinnacles, at the south-east angle, containing 3 bells: over the porch is an ancient semicircular stone, on which is a sculptured a figure of St Nicholas, vested in alb and mitre, and holding a pastoral staff in his left hand; and on either side are symbolical figures of the sun and moon; in 1869 the church was repewed and restored at a cost of £350, and in 1889 was again restored and a sacrarium built at a cost of £1,092, by the Right Rev. Bishop Tozer D.D. then rector: there are 200 sittings. The register dates from the year 1538. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £230, including 127 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln, and held since 1889 by the Rev. James Spawforth. From ecclesiastical records it appears that the parish was formerly divided into North and South Ferriby. There is a church estate, consisting of 15 acres and 5 cottages, held in trust by the rector and church wardens and R N Sutton-Nelthorpe esq. of Scawby, the Rev. R C W Ekins, vicar of Horkstow, W K Waddingham esq. of Elsham and W Walker esq. of Hull, the product of which is to be expended in the maintenance of the church and the services thereof. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist Chapels. The temperance Hall is a structure of brick, erected in 1882, at a cost of £130. There is also a large reading room, erected in 1884, by R N Sutton-Nelthorpe esq. at a cost of £200. Brick and tile making is extensively carried on here. There is a quarry of chalk and stone. Ferriby Hall, a mansion of brick, is now in the occupation of William Tombleson esq. The principal landowners are Robert Nassau Sutton-Nelthorpe esq. of Scawby, who is lord of the manor, William Kitchen Waddingham esq. of Elsham, and the rector. The soil is chalky; subsoil, chalk. The chief crops are wheat, turnips and barley. The area is1,594 acres of land, 20 of water, 441 tidal water and 365 of foreshore; rateable value, £2,902; the population in1891 was 638.
FERRIBY SLUICE, 1 mile west, is a hamlet in this parish, on the bank of the river Humber and the Wear Dyke. A lecture hall has been erected here by M Clark esq. of Winteringham Hall, at a cost of £100.
Sexton and Parish Clerk, H. Grassby.
Post, M. O. & T. O., Express delivery, Parcel Post, S.B. & Annuity & Insurance Office. _George Dent, postmaster. Letters are received from Hull, arrive at 7.45 am; dispatched at 5.20pm. Wall box at Ferriby Sluice, cleared at 4.15pm.
Elementary School (mixed), rebuilt & enlarged in 1872, at a cost of £100, for 180 children; average attendance, 133; Edwin Shrigley, master.
Water Conveyance.- A steam packet daily to Hull from the sluice, Thursday & Sunday excepted; the Hull & Goole Steam Packet Co. are the proprietors.
Holdings in North Lincolnshire Local Studies Library
- Newsletter for the parishes of Saxby All Saints, South Ferriby and Horkstow.
Jan 1982- incomplete file.
- Roth, Bernard. A find of ancient British Coins at South Ferriby, near Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. [in] British Numismatic Journal. Vol3.1906.pp1-15.
- Andrew, G.C. History of South Ferriby. 1968.
- Rugby Cement. South Ferriby Works: minerals98. The winning of chalk and clay on the North Lincolnshire Wolds. 1998.
- Ellis, S. and Crowther, D.R. (eds.) Humber perspectives, a region through the ages.
Hull: Hull University Press, 1990.
References in the Star Newspaper Index
- Steam passenger boat to be used between Brigg and Ferriby LLS 30.03.1895 page 4e.
- Destruction caused by storms LS 05.01.1895 page 5e.
- Roman pottery found near Ferriby Hall LLS 21.05.1904 page 8c.
- Article on history of South Ferriby SFS 11.10.1930 page 10a .
- Roman Well discovered SFS 10.01.1934 page 1c page 3c.
- Spring tides cause flooding and erosion along Humber bank SFS 06.04.1935 page 1c.