Belleau, Lincolnshire
Historical Description
Belleau, a village and a parish in Lincolnshire. The village stands 1 mile W from Aby station on the G.N.R., and 4½ miles NW by N of Alford. The parish includes also the township and chapelry of Claythorpe; and its post town is Alford, which is the money order office; telegraph office, Aby railway station. Acreage, 704; population of the civil parish, 74; of the ecclesiastical, with Claythorpe and Aby, 470. The name Belleau is derived from some fine springs of water arising from chalk rocks. Ruins exist of a large mansion, formerly a seat of the Lords Willoughby de Eresby, and afterwards of the Earls of Lindsay. The lands were given in the time of Cromwell to Sir Henry Vane. The living is a rectory, united with Aby and Claythorpe, in the diocese of Lincoln; joint gross yearly value, £320 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Ancaster. The church is an ancient edifice, with a small tower; contains a fine effigy of a crusader, and was very thoroughly restored in 1862.
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 | Belleau St. John the Baptist | |
Hundred | Calceworth | |
Poor Law union | Louth |
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 Belleau:
Baptisms | Banns | Marriages | Burials |
---|---|---|---|
1697-1910 | 1768-1769 | 1698-1837 | 1698-1911 |
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 Belleau from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Belleau (St. John the Baptist))
Maps
Online maps of Belleau 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