Owston Ferry is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Barton ...

, England. It is situated on the west bank of the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

, and north from

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

. It had a total resident population of 1,128 in 2001 including Kelfield. This increased to 1,328 at the 2011 census. Sometimes referred to as Owston or Ferry, the village forms part of the

Isle of Axholme The Isle of Axholme is a geographical area in England: a part of North Lincolnshire that adjoins South Yorkshire. It is located between the towns of Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, both of which are in the traditional West Riding of Lindsey, and D ...

. It is bounded to the west by the A161 road and the village of

Haxey Haxey is a town and civil parish on the Isle of Axholme in North Lincolnshire, England. It is directly south of Epworth, south-west of Scunthorpe, north-west of Gainsborough, east of Doncaster and north-west of Lincoln, with a population of 4, ...

. The River Trent is directly to the east. To the north, beyond a number of hamlets and villages, lies the

River Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the ...

West Butterwick West Butterwick is a village and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. It lies in the Isle of Axholme, approximately north-east from Epworth and 4 miles north from Owston Ferry, on the western bank of the River Trent opposite its ne ...

was originally a part of the

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

of Owston.

History

The name "Owston" is thought to derive from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

"austr+tun", meaning "east farmstead", a view shared by other sources which outline that it specifically implied the "farmstead east of Haxey". The name "Owston" is shared by at least two other settlements within the United Kingdom. In the 1086 ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' it is listed as "Ostone",

Owston Ferry Castle Owston Ferry Castle (also known as Kinnard's Ferry Castle) was in the village of Owston Ferry, some to the north of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire. It is thought that the original castle on this site was erected soon after the Norman Conquest but ...

, also known as Kinnard's Ferry Castle, was a

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

fortification from the 12th century. It lay on the site of an earlier,

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

castrum In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a po ...

. It was dismantled by order of

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

in 1175–1176 following the

Revolt of 1173–1174 The Revolt of 1173–1174 was a rebellion against King Henry II of England by three of his sons, his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their rebel supporters. The revolt ended in failure after eighteen months; Henry's rebellious family members had ...

. Owston Ferry

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church is dedicated to St Martin. The church register dates from 1603.''Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire with the port of Hull'' 1885, pp. 593–594. In 1885 ''Kelly's'' reported the existence of

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

and

Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834). In the United States, the Primiti ...

chapels, a rope-walk, boatbuilding yard, several corn mills, and the manufacture of sacking and

sail cloth A sail is a tensile structure—which is made from fabric or other membrane materials—that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, Windsurfing, windsurfers, ice boats, and even land sailing, sail-powered l ...

. The parish was of . Wheat, barley, potatoes, beans and grass were grown.

Governance

As part of the provisions of the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, Owston Ferry formed part of the Boothferry district of the county of

Humberside Humberside () was a non-metropolitan and ceremonial county in Northern England from 1 April 1974 until 1 April 1996. It was composed of land from either side of the Humber Estuary, created from portions of the East Riding of Yorkshire, West ...

, having previously lain within the

Parts of Lindsey The Parts of Lindsey are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it. The district's name origina ...

from the historic county boundaries of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. Since 1996 however, Owston Ferry has formed part of the

unitary authority area A unitary authority is a local government, local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the ...

Assessment as nuclear site

In 2009, a specific area of land in Owston Ferry was highlighted in a study by W. S. Atkins for the Department of Energy on alternative sites for a nuclear power plant as a potentially suitable site "worthy of further consideration". (It had featured in a 1970s

CEGB The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s. It was established on 1 Januar ...

list of possible sites for such plant.) By 2010, the department had issued another document saying it had given the matter further consideration; it had concluded that, although the site nominally met its "strategic site assessment criteria" for new nuclear power sites, it was not a credible site for deployment of new nuclear by the end of 2025 – adding that anyway, no firm had expressed any interest in building such plant there.

Geography

Owston Ferry stands on flat ground by the

at (53.495228°, -0.785656°), north-northwest of London. The closest motorway to Owston Ferry is the M180. Robin Hood Airport is to the west, in

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. The civil parish of Owston Ferry includes the village of Owston Ferry and some smaller places, including West Ferry, Gunthorpe, Heckdyke and Melwood.

Education

Owston Ferry contains one primary school, St Martin's Church of England Primary School.

Notable people

Philippa Foot Philippa Ruth Foot (; née Bosanquet; 3 October 1920 – 3 October 2010) was an English philosopher and one of the founders of contemporary virtue ethics, who was inspired by the ethics of Aristotle. Along with Judith Jarvis Thomson, she is cre ...

, philosopher and inventor of the branch of

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

known as "trolleyology", which means thinking about the

trolley problem The trolley problem is a series of thought experiments in ethics and psychology, involving stylized ethical dilemmas of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number. The series usually begins with a scenario in which a runaway tram or ...

, was born in Owston Ferry on 3 October 1920, and died on 3 October 2010 in Oxford, aged 90. * Epworth-born

Alexander Kilham Alexander Kilham (20 July 176220 December 1798) was an English Methodist minister. Early life He was born to parents Simon and Elizabeth Kilham at Epworth, Lincolnshire, possibly at a former farm, now known as Prospect House, otherwise 79 High S ...

, founder of the

Methodist New Connexion The Methodist New Connexion, also known as Kilhamite Methodism, was a Protestant nonconformist church. It was formed in 1797 by secession from the Wesleyan Methodists, and merged in 1907 with the Bible Christian Church and the United Methodist F ...

, worked in Owston Ferry during his teens.

References

External links

*
"Owston Ferry"

Genuki GENUKI is a genealogy web portal, run as a charitable trust. It "provides a virtual reference library of genealogical information of particular relevance to the UK and Ireland". It gives access to a large collection of information, with the emphas ...

.org.uk
The Parishes of the Isle of Axholme: Owston Ferry
Isle of Axholme Family History Society
Isle of Axholme
TheAxholmeInformer.net {{Lincolnshire, state=collapsed Villages in the Borough of North Lincolnshire Civil parishes in Lincolnshire