Tracing your Family Tree?

We do have regular enquiries from people researching their family tree. You may find it helpful (and save yourself a lot of time in the process) by reading through these notes on what information parish churches can (and cannot) provide.

By law, ancient registers, etc. are kept in an archive, not in the parish Church. 

 This means that it is unlikely that you will find registers containing entries pre-1900 still in the possession of any parish church, and in many instances on-site archives may only go back to the 1970's, or even later.

Arrangements may be made to view such records as we have or to conduct a search on your behalf,  but a fee is payable  (currently £34 per hour or part thereof (£17 for baptisms) where an approximate date and name can be given.   

Generally speaking, historic registers and other records are kept in conditions which are suited to their preservation. In this part of the world they are deposited with the Lincolnshire Archive,

 http://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/archives/ 

which is open to the general public for research as follows:

Tuesdays to Fridays:  9am-4 pm
Saturdays: 9am-4pm (on the first Saturday of every month only).  

Closed Sundays, Mondays and Bank Holidays.

Please note that the latest times for requesting to view original documents on the same day is 1.5 hours before the closing time or 12 noon on the Saturdays the archive is open.

Postal address:
St Rumbold Street, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN2 5AB UK.

Enquiries: lincolnshire_archive@lincolnshire.gov.uk

The Vestry Book, which records attendance at the annual Parish Vestry meeting, dates back to the nineteenth century and includes names of members of the Vestry whose duty it was to elect constables and the like.  It is not a continuous record (1864-1911, and 1945-present).

It is unlikely greatly to help in genealogical research, but it can be made available for study under supervision by prior arrangement. An hourly fee will be charged, and written application should be made to:

The Parish Administrator, The Vicarage, Beck Hill, Barton-upon-Humber, North Lincolnshire, DN18 5EY. or by email to bartonstmary@gmail.com

Please give at least a month’s notice. We will do our best to fit in with arranged travel plans, but cannot guarantee to be able to do so. We cannot make arrangements by telephone. Under some circumstances we may be able to conduct a search on your behalf, but an hourly fee will be charged (see below).

The churchyards at St. Mary’s and St. Peter’s (currently in the guardianship of English Heritage) were both closed to burials in the mid 1800’s. The St. Peter’s Churchyard Extension was open for about 20 years from the mid-1840’s to the late 1800’s, with sporadic burials throughout the early years of the 20th Century, and a very few into the 1960's.  

From the 1850's an ever-increasing number of burials took place at the Barrow Road Cemetery, where all burials (including those of cremated remains) now  happen in Barton-upon-Humber and which is administered by the Local Authority (North Lincolnshire). 

A small number of monuments and grave markers are still present in the St. Mary’s burial ground, and some monuments, mainly to significant local families, are to be found in both churches. Monuments in the St. Peter’s burial ground were cleared in the late 1960’s and only a cursory record made. The St. Peter’s extension has not been cleared, but is quite overgrown in its southern half.

The Village Churchyards are still open for burials, and records of burials are kept, though the further back we go, the less complete those records are, and some will have been deposited with the Lincolnshire Archive (see above). 

There are no municipal cemeteries in any of the five villages.

Findagrave.com and similar websites may be helpful in tracking down where family members are buried.

There are no war memorials in St. Mary’s. (The general war memorial is to be found in Barrow Road Cemetery adjacent to the roadside.)  There is a list of those who served (including those who were killed) in the Great War in St Chad's Chapel (NW corner of the Church) There is also a war memorial in St Peter's at the E end of the S aisle (English Heritage opening times and charges apply).

South Ferriby's war memorial is in the Churchyard to the W of the entrance.  

At Horkstow and Saxby, the war memorials are inside the Churches, although at Saxby on the E side of the road at the bottom of Saxby Hill you will find a monument to which the names of Saxby's war dead have been added. 

Bonby's war memorial is in St Andrew's Churchyard on the E side of the path to the Church and a few metres beyond the Lych Gate. 

At Worlaby the war memorial is at the junction of Top Road and Main Street.

In the nineteenth century there were flourishing chapels of a number of denominations in the area, and a significant number of baptisms, weddings and funerals took place in them. Most of these are now closed for worship or even demolished. 

If you have reason to believe there is a family connection with one of these old places of worship  (e.g. the Methodist chapels in the villages, or the Congregational/URC Church in Chapel Lane, Barton), we suggest that you contact the relevant denomination's national body to find out what is done with their records.

A series of books on local history has been published which may give useful information in locating disappeared houses, farms and businesses. These are available from (among other places) Baysgarth House museum and from the Ropewalk Arts Centre. There is a permanent exhibition in Baysgarth House which may contain useful general information, and a local history section in the local library in Baysgarth Park. Much local history material is held by Scunthorpe Museum and Library.