Caistor, Castor, or Caster, Lincolnshire
Historical Description
Caistor, Castor, or Caster, a union and a market-town, a township, and a parish, in Lincolnshire. The town stands on the side of a hill, on the Wolds, one of the highest situations in the county, 3 miles ENE of Moortown station on the M.S. & L.R., and 9 SE of Glanford Brigg. It was called by the ancient Britons Caer-Egarry, and by the Saxons Thong-Ceastre. A Roman station of great importance, being one of the nine chief stations in its country, was on its site, and a castle was built at it by the Saxon Hengist Rowena, the daughter of Hengist, was betrothed here to Vortigem; and Egbert, in 827, here subdued Wiglof, king of Mercia. The town presents a pleasant appearance, and is well watered by four springs, called the Cypher Well, the Pigeon Spring, Stot's Well, and the Spa. It has a head post office, and is the head of a county court district and a seat of petty sessions. The land around Caistor is fertile and well cultivated, and iron ore of good quality is found. At Hundon there is an establishment for fish-hatching, which has achieved considerable success. There are two banks in the town and several good inns. There is also a public hall in the High Street, which was erected in 1887, and a reading-room opened in 1879. The market day is Saturday, and fairs for horses, oxen, and sheep are held on the Fridays and Saturdays before Palm Sunday and Whit Sunday, September 16, and the Friday and Saturday after October 11. The grammar school was founded in 1630 by Francis Rawlinson, rector of South Kelsey, as a free school, and has about £275 a year from endowment. The parish includes the hamlets of Audleby, Fonaby, and Hundon, and the chapelries of Clixby and Holton-le-Moor. Acreage, 3304; population of the civil parish, 1788; of the ecclesiastical, 1990. The living is a vicarage, united with those of Clixby and Holton-le-Moor, in the diocese of Lincoln; net yearly value, £150 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Lincoln. The church stands on the site of the ancient castle, has Saxon, Norman, and Early English features and a fine tower, contains a brass of 1460, and was restored in 1862. There are ancient stone monuments of the Knights of Hundon and the Maddison family. There are also Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Lincolnshire | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Caistor St. Peter and St. Paul | |
Poor Law union | Caistor | |
Wapentake | Yarborough |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast, in conjunction with the Lincolnshire Archives, have the following parish records online for Caistor:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1584-1911 | 1755-1778 | 1584-1911 | 1584-1907 |
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Caistor, Castor, or Caster from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Caistor, or Castor (St. Peter and St. Paul))
Maps
Online maps of Caistor, Castor, or Caster are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Lincolnshire papers online:
- Grantham Journal
- Grimsby Daily Telegraph
- Lincolnshire Chronicle
- Lincolnshire Echo
- Lincolnshire Free Press
- Louth and North Lincolnshire Advertiser
- Stamford Mercury
Villages, Hamlets, &c
FonabyHimdon