West Butterwick Local History Pack

• The name
• The place
• Population history
• Entry from Kelly's Trade Directory for 1900.
• Holdings in North Lincolnshire Local Studies Library.
• References in the Star Newspaper Index.
• Related websites.

The name

Located on opposite sides of the River Trent the East and West prefixes to the village's names are easily explained. The meaning of Butterwick is suggested as 'dairy farm where butter is made'.

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

West Butterwick is located on the western bank of the River Trent opposite East Butterwick four miles north east of Epworth.

Population history

Entry from Kelly's Trade Directory for 1900

WEST BUTTERWICK is a parish formed May, 1845 from Owston parish, and a village on the West bank of the river Trent, in the Isle of Axholme, 3 miles south from Althorpe station on the Great Central (late M.S. and L.) railway, 4 ½ east-by-north from Epworth and 12 north from Gainsborough, West Lindsey division of the county, parts of Lindsey, western division of Manley wapentake, Epworth petty sessional division, union and county court district of Gainsborough, rural deanery of Axholme, archdeaconry of Stow and diocese of Lincoln. There is a ferry to East Butterwick, which is situated on the opposite side of the Trent. The Trent is navigated by the Hull and Gainsborough steam packets, which call here daily. The church of St. Mary, erected in 1841, is a plain structure in white brick in the Gothic style, consisting of nave and a western tower, with octagonal stair turret, pinnacles and brick spire, and containing one bell: in 1879 the interior was refitted and reseated at a cost of about £160: there are sitting for 200 persons. The separate register of this parish dates only from the year 1845, except that of baptisms, which dates from 1825; the earlier registers are included in those of Owston. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £279, including 26 acres of glebe, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of Owston, and held since 1885 by the Rev. John Benniworth Shelley, of the University of London. A burial ground of about three-quarters of a acre, adjoining the churchyard, was given by the late Sir Robert Sheffield bart. in 1875. There is a Weslyan chapel, built in 1836, a Primitive Methodist chapel, and a General Baptist chapel, the latter having an endowment of about £35 per year arising from land: part of the income is for the relief of the poor belonging to the chapel. The parish has £16 yearly from the rent of land, left in the hands of the parish council, which sum is expended in coal and distributed equally to every householder in the parish. The trustees of the late Alfred Parkin esq. are lords of the manor and Sir Berkeley Digby George Sheffield bart. of Normanby Park, is the chief landowner. The chief crops are potatoes, wheat, oats, beans and celery. The soil is deep loam; subsoil, warp and peat. A large pumping engine is stationed here for draining the land. The area is 2,391 acres of land, 3 of water, 121 of tidal water and 20 of foreshore. Rateable value, £3,397; the population 1891 was 667.

Holdings in North Lincolnshire Local Studies Library

• Stonehouse, W.B. History and Topography of the Isle of Axholme. pp263 - 283.

References in the Star Newspaper Index

• Telephone connection with Burringham complete LLS 23.03. 1895 4e.
• Red Lion (Beerhouse) closed LS 15.01. 1916 6c.
• Large amount of land sold in the village LS 13.06. 1925 7d.
• Ancient burial ground found in school yard SFS 29.10. 1938 10a.

Related websites

• West Butterwick (Isle of Axholme Family History Society).