Wrawby 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.

The name

The name of Wrawby is first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Waragebi and has had many variant spellings including Wraghebi, Wrakebi and Wraby with Wrawby in use from the 15th centrury. The name is thought to derive from the Old Danish meaning "Wraghi's farmstead or village". 

More information can be found in:

• Cameron, Keith. The Place-Names of Lincolnshire.

• Mills, A.D. A Dictionary of English Place Names.

The place

The village of Wrawby is located two miles to the east of Brigg and is perhaps most famous for its postmill.

The mill, high on the Lincolnshire Wolds, is the last postmill in the north of England. It was built around the year 1760 on the site of an earlier mill and was until 1910 part of the Elwes estate when it was sold to a Mr R Andrew. It continued working until 1940 when the loss of a sail brought the mill to a standstill. By 1961 the mill was ready to collapse when it was saved by a locally formed Preservation Society. The restored mill was re-opened in 1965 and ground its first bag of corn in 25 years.

Population history

Entry from Kelly's Trade Directory for 1900

Wrawby is a parish, township and pleasant village, seated on an eminence from which there is a fine view of the town of Brigg, and is 1.5 miles north-east therefrom, in the North Lindsey division of the county, parts of Lindsey, southern division of the wapentake of Yarborough, Brigg petty sessional division and county court district, union of Glanford Brigg, rural deanery of Yarborough No. 1, archdeaconry of Stow and diocese of Lincoln. The church of St. Mary is an ancient building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, north and south porches and an embattled western tower, with pinnacles, containing 3 bells: the tower is Early English, the nave Gothic of late and debased character: in the chancel, rebuilt about 1800, is an altar tomb belonging to the Tyrwhitt family, and between it and the north aisle is a hagioscope: the doorway leading to the rood loft remains, and in the windows linger some fragments of ancient stained glass: the north porch was erected in 1887 at a cost of £105, to commemorate the 50th year of residence of the Rev. John Rowland West M.A. late vicar (1837-93), and in 1891 the roof of the chancel was decorated in colour: there are 400 sittings. The register dates from the year 1675; the earlier registers, together with the vicarage, were destroyed by fire in 1713. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £246, with 200 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of Clare College, Cambridge, and held since 1894 by the Rev. George William Rowntree M.A. of that college. Here are Weslyan and Primitive Methodist chapels. A Cemetery of four acres was formed in 1857 with two mortuary chapels; it is under control of the Burial Board. There is a parish reading room, supported by £5 a year left by the late T. Tapling esq. and subscriptions. Mrs Helen Tripp's charity amounts to £2 15s yearly, of which one-third is paid to the vicar for preaching a sermon yearly on St. Thomas's day (21st December) and two-thirds for the poor. Valentine Dudley Hycary-Elwes esq. of Great Billing Hall, Northamptonshire, who is lord of the manor, the Earl of Yarborough P.C. and Clare College, Cambridge, are the principal landowners. The soil is light loam; subsoil gravel and clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley and oats. The area of the parish is 3,037 acres; rateable value, £6,082; the population in 1891 of Wrawby civil parish was 709, and of the ecclesiastical 687. By an Order of the County Council of the parts of Lindsey, confirmed by Local Government Board Order 26,921, which came into operation March 25th 1892, the part of Wrawby included in Brigg Urban District was added to Brigg civil parish.

Holdings in North Lincolnshire Local Studies Library

• Wrawby Cum Brigg : Enclosures. Russell, R - The Enclosures of Market Rasen 1779-1781 and of Wrawby cum Brigg 1800-1805. Barton WEA. 1969.

References in the Star Newspaper Index

• German unexploded bomb found SFS 20.9.1924 7b.
• Conservative party garden party held here - speech by Captain M.H. Hunter M.P. SFS 5.8.1933 8d-e.
• Skeleton found in old chapel LS 14.8.1915 2d.
• Major accident on the railway, at the Junction - 9 killed LLS 22.10.1898 2a.
• Schools closed due to Scarlet Fever epidemic LLS 27.12.1902 5e.

For further information about Wrawby try the Wrawby website.