Bilsby is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the main A1111 road between Alford and Sutton-on-Sea, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Alford. Thurlby and Asserby are hamlets within Bilsby parish. The censuses showed a parish population of 538 in 2001 and 487 in 2011, with an estimate of 489 in 2019.[1]
History
Bilsby appears in the 1086 Domesday Book with 18 households.[2] Its name may derive from the Norse goddess Bil.[3]
Bilsby Parish Church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, is a Grade II* Listed Building,[7] dating from the 15th century. It was extensively repaired in 1841.[8] The building is stuccoed, with an 18th-century stone tower with brick battlements. The pulpit stem is the bole of a tree, with steps cut from another.[9] A memorial slab in the chancel commemorates Sir John Byllesby (died 1640), a prominent figure in his day. His descendant, Major H. M. Byllesby (US Air Service), largely aided a restoration of the church in 1918.[8]
Built about 1740, Bilsby House is a mansion in Georgian style on the site of an older moated, castellated house,[8] reputedly the residence of the Bilsby, sometimes spelt Billesby, family.[10] This family appears to have left the original mansion in 1616.[11]
Bilsby windmill was built in 1861 and later extended. It operated until 1932.[12] Although disused and missing its cap, the tower of the mill still stands as a Grade II listed building.[13]
Thurlby and Asserby
Thurlby is mentioned in the Domesday Book as a settlement of 18 households.[14] Today it is a hamlet in the parish of Bilsby, but in medieval times it was a parish in its own right, with a church dedicated to St Mary, of which no trace remains.[15]
Earthworks have confirmed that the hamlet of Asserby is smaller today than in medieval times. Unlike Thurlby, it is not mentioned in Domesday and did not have its own church.[16]
