England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Ulceby by Barton St Nicholas

The Parish

The parish of Ulceby by Barton, the suffix required to distinguish this Ulceby from that near Alford, lies in the extreme northeast of Lincolnshire roughly 7 miles southeast of the town of Barton upon Humber. Ulceby sits about a half mile north of the A180 road which links Grimsby with the A15 Humber Bridge approach roads. Ulceby is a rather linear village built along the parallel running A1077 for around 3/4s of a mile, there are northerly and southerly extensions and a small settlement, Ulceby Skitter, has grown up to the east around the village's railway station. At the time of this transcript much of the parish would have been marshy ground, Ulceby Carr (indicating woodland on wet ground lies to the northeast), instead of the usual arable dominated farming economy Ulceby would have had substantial pastures intermixed with cereals only on drier ground. Modern developments abound around the village, the railway line from Gainsborough to Barton upon Humber, Immingham and Grimsby passes through the parish with Ulceby receiving a station, whilst the A180 has been upgraded to a fast dual-carriageway highway connecting the ports of Immingham and Grimsby to the motorway network. Ulceby is drained northwards by Skitter Beck which merges to become East Halton Beck before reaching the outer Humber Estuary. Ulceby rises from around 10 metres above the sea at Ulceby Skitter to 30 metres at its western end by the church, land gently rises westwards breaching the 60 metre contour in a few places near the Humber Bridge approach road. By Lincolnshire standard Ulceby parish was towards the larger end of the scale covering almost 3,800 acres and supporting a population of around 800 parishioners. In Domesday Book Ulceby was recorded with 55 households, large enough to place it amongst the top 20% of settlements by population at that time, the manor was shared 4 ways with the largest holding sitting with on Erneis de Buron, its assets of 16 ploughs, meadows and a half share in a mill indicate a mid-sized rural farming community similar to today.

The Church

St Nicholas' church sits towards the western end of the village, south of the A1077 and accessed by Church Lane. The church has its earliest fabric from the 13th century Early English Gothic period with its chancel arch showing keeled responds and parts of the complicated western tower also being from the 13th century. Building of the main body and completion of the tower continued into the early 14th century with the Decorated style of that half century being evident in the nave in particular. The later Perpendicular era saw insertion of the clerestory to improve internal lighting and completion of the recessed spire atop the tower. It was the Victorian era, however, that saw major change to the church, Pevsner records no fewer than 7 interventions in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Work commenced in 1852 with a typical Victorian restoration, the northern porch was added in 1856, the southern in 1876, in 1879 the southern aisle was extended whilst in 1885 both tower and spire were restored, 2 years later in 1887 the chancel was virtually rebuilt and finally in 1928 the top 15 feet of the spire was also rebuilt. That sequence of events prompted the wry comment that the church was "much pulled about". Church Lane has ample width for safe on-street parking outside the churchyard which is unfenced with bordering trees enclosing a smaller space at the heart which has just enough space for the photographer to encompass the church's height in a landscape image.