(You will notice that the spelling of place names varies from those in use today.)

Caistor is a small improving market town, occupying a salubrious position, on a commanding western acclivity of the Wolds, 23 miles N.E. by N. of Lincoln, 9 miles E.S.E. of Brigg, 11 miles W.S.W. of Grimsby, 8½ miles N. of Market Rasen, and 15 miles S.S.E. of Barton. It is a polling place , and the head of a large union. It commands extensive prospects over the vale of the Ancholme and the western ridges of the Wolds, and its parish increased its population from 861 in 1801 to 1051 in 1811; 1253 in 1821; 1375 in 1831 and to 2166 in 1851 and contains 3220 acres of land, including the small hamlets of Hundon, (514 acres) Fonaby (628 acres) and Audelby (895 acres) extending from 1 to 2 miles N. and N.W. of the town; and Caistor Moor, extending 3 miles west, and enclosed under an act passed in 1798. About 3 miles W. by S. of Caistor is Moortown Station, on the rails between Market Rasen and New Holland. The parish has partly a sandy soil, but is generally fertile and well cultivated. The hill on which the town stands abounds in springs of excellent water. In an obscure situation, at the end of Duck street, adjoining the churchyard, is Syfer Spring , bursting with some violence through cavities of the grey stone rock, and falling in a small cascade. Another spring issues silently under the churchyard, and is supposed to possess the virtue of curing diseased eyes. The streams from these and from Pigeon well, Stott's well, and other springs, unite on the moor, and flow westward to Moortown or Riverhead, 3½ miles W.S.W. of the town, where a branch from the Ancholme navigation terminates. The market, held every Saturday, is of trifling consequence. Corn is sold at the Red Lion Inn. Here are three annual fairs for horned cattle, horses, and sheep, held on the Saturdays before Palm Sunday, and Whit Sunday, and the Saturday after October 11th; and on the preceding Fridays are shows of horses and sheep. The New fair , held Sept. 16th, was established in 1853. These fairs are attended by dealers from all parts of the county. Geo. Skipworth, Esq., of Moortown House, is lord of the manor of Caistor. The other principal owners are, the Earl of Yarborough, (owner of Audleby , and part of Fonaby ;) Rt. Owston, Esq., (owner of Hundon manor ;) Wm. Brooks, Esq., Wm. Wass, and Geo. Stamp, (owners of part of Fonaby ;) the Rev. C. Turner; and the Duke of St. Albans, lessee of the rectory lands.

Caistor Gas Works were erected in 1856, at a cost of £1400, raised in £10 shares; and a small Police Station was built here during the same year. The Mechanics' Institution , recently established, has a numerous list of members; and in the same building a subscription News-Room was opened in 1856, and has already 70 members. Caistor Ploughing Society has annual ploughing matches, and Mr Wm. Torr is its secretary. Caistor Association for the Protection of Felons has a long list of members, and George Marris, Esq., is its solicitor and treasurer.

CAISTOR UNION had 34,291 inhabitants in 1851, and extends over 183,164 acres of land. It comprises 76 parishes and townships, and its Workhouse is the altered and enlarged House of Industry , which was erected in 1802, on the west side of the town, for 54 parishes, which were united under Gilbert's Act. It has now room for 260 inmates. The total average expenditure of the 76 parishes during the three years preceding the formation of the Union in 1836, was £10,439. Their expenditure in 1838 was £5793; and for the half year ending March, 1856, £4628. The Board of Guardians meet on alternate Saturdays, and Geo. Skipworth, Esq., is the Chairman. Jph. H. Daubney, Esq., is the union clerk and superintendent registrar ; the Rev. H. Maclean, chaplain ; and Mr Jph. W. Law, registrar of marriages . Mr Robt. Witham is master , and Mrs Jane Sweet matron of the Workhouse. Robt. Birkett is the porter , and Fras. and Jane Wilson teachers of the schools . The Relieving Officers are, Mr Wm. Berry, for Grimsby District ; Mr Tobias Kirman, for Caistor District ; and Mr Geo. Hepworth, for Market Rasen District . The Registrars of Births and Deaths are, Mr H. M. Leppington, for Grimsby ; Mr John Gabbetis, for Caistor ; and Mr M.S. Barton, for Market Rasen District . The following is an enumeration of the 76 parishes in Caistor Union, arranged in three districts and shewing their population in 1851:-

Grimsby District:- Humberstone 259, Clee-with-Wheelsby 195, Cleethorpes-with-Thrunscoe 839, Great Grimsby 8860, Scartho 211, Waltham 782, Brigsley 137, Ashby-with-Fenby 244, Hawerby-with Beesby 85, Newton-le-Wold 179, East Ravendale 76, West Ravendale 59, Hatcliffe 147, Beelsby 176, Barnoldby-le-Beck 269, Irby-upon-Humber 253, Aylesby 172, Laceby 1001, Bradley 97, Little Coates 42, Great Coates 236, Healing 92, Stallingborough 516, Immingham 242, Habrough 368.

Caistor District:- Brocklesby 269, Keelby 859, Riby 247, Limber Magna 531, Bigby 270, Somerby 70, Searby-with-Owmby 289, Grassby 455, Caistor 2166, Clixby 51, Holton-le-Moor 190, South Kelsey 623, North Kelsey 916, Nettleton 524, Cabourn 165, Swallow 215, Cuxwold 68, Rothwell 265, Croxby 114, Thorganby 120, Swinhope 128, Thoresway 175, Normany-on-Wold 149, Claxby 262.

Market Rasen District:- Usselby 69, Walesby 331, Stainton-le-Vale 144, Kirmon-le-Mire 62, Tealby 861, North Willingham 234, Sixhills 175, East Torrington 113, Legsby 383, Lissington 224, Linwood 232, Buslingthorpe 51, Newton-by-Toft 71, Toft-next-Newton 77, West Rasen 275, Middle Rasen 948, Market Rasen 2110, Kirkby-cum-Osgodby 492, South Owersby 97, North Owersby 351, Thornton-le-Moor 108, Kingerby 108, Glentham 536, Bishop Norton 330, Atterby 134, Snitterby 283, Waddingham 834.

Total population 34,291.

The parishes of the three Union Districts are in the three County Court Districts of Great Grimsby, Caistor and Market Rasen.

Caistor County Court District comprises the parishes of Cabourn, Cuxwold, Rothwell, Swallow, Swinhope, Caistor, Holton-le-Moor, Claxby-by-Normanby, South and North Kelsey, Normanby-le-Wold, Croxby, Thoresway, Thorganby, Brocklesby, Great and Little Limber, Keelby, Riby, Bigby, Grassby, Searby-with-Owmby, Somerby, Nettleton, and Clixby. The court is held monthly in a building adjoining the George Inn. J.G.S. Smith Esq., is the judge , and Geo. Rt. F. Haddelsey Esq., is the clerk.

Caistor is a place of great antiquity, having been a Roman station, and traces of a fortress possessing the peculiarities of Roman masonry are still visible, and coins and other remains have often been found here. Its present name is derived from the Castrum which was built by Hengist, after defeating the Picts and Scots. This Saxon general is said to have obtained from Vortigern as much land here as he could encompass with the hide of an ox, which being cut into small strips, or thongs, extended round a very large plot of ground, on which he built a Castle, which was called by the Saxons Thuang , or Thong Castor , from the leathern thong which had measured Hengist's estate. On the Castle hill many bones have been dug up, and also a stone about eighteen inches broad and nine deep, on which was an imperfect inscription, which may be read thus:- " Cruci spolium, quod Egbert rex in honorem;" and is supposed to have been inscribed by Egbert, as a memorial of his victory over Wigloff, king of Mercia, in a great battle fought here in the year A.D.827, when he dedicated the spoils of his enemies to pious uses at the foot of the holy-rood or cross in Caistor church. The marriage between Vortigern and Rowena, daughter of Hengist, is said to have been celebrated here in A.D.453. This marriage placed the British monarch at the disposal of the wily Saxon, who was styled by contemporary bards dyvynawl vrych, - the freckled intruder. Roman coins of various emperors, Saxon beads, and other antiquities found here, are in the possession of Mr. Whitham.

The Church (St. Peter and St. Paul) is an ancient edifice of early English architecture, with some remains of Norman work in the lower stage of the tower. It is of the age of Henry III and stands in the area of the ancient fortress, and consists of a nave with aisles, a south transept, and a chancel, with a tower at the west end. Under an arch in the Hundon chapel, lies the effigy of Sir John de Hundon, who died about 1350. In the north wall is a cross-legged figure of Sir Wm. de Hundon, of the time of Edward I, and opposite it is the recumbent figure of a female. In the transept is a kneeling figure of Sir Edward Maddison, Kt. Who died in 1553. On the floor are two brasses of the Dusteby and Carrington families. Until it was discontinued in 1847, a singular ceremony took place annually in this church, by the performance of which certain lands in the parish of Broughton, near Brigg, were held. On Palm Sunday, a person from Broughton brought a large whip, called a gad whip, the stock of which was made of wood, tapered towards the top. He came to the north porch about the commencement of the first lesson, and cracked his whip at the door three times; after which, with ceremony, he wrapped the throng round the stock of the whip, and bound the whole together with whip cord, tying up with it some twigs of mountain ash; he then tied to the top of the whip-stock a small leathern purse, containing two shillings, (originally 24 silver pennies) and took the whole upon his shoulder into the Hundon choir, or chapel, where he stood in front of the reading desk until the commencement of the second lesson; he then waved the purse over the head of the clergyman, knelt down upon a cushion, and continued in that posture, with the purse suspended over the clergyman's head, till the end of the lesson, when he retired into the choir. After the service was concluded, he carried the whip and purse to the manor house of Hundon, where they were left. The chancel was restored a few years ago, and a new clock was fixed in the tower in 1854. The Vicarage of Caistor , with the curacies of Holton-le-Moor and Clixby annexed to it, are valued in K.B. at £7. 6s. 8d., and now at £300, in the incumbency of the Rev. H. Maclean, B.A., and in the patronage of the Prebendary of Caistor, (Rev. Dr. Hook, vicar of Leeds) who, in right of his prebend, is appropriator of the rectory. At the enclosure of the common, the tithes of Caistor were commuted for allotments of land - viz., 91 acres to the rectory and 80 acres to the vicarage; but the hamlets of Audleby, Fonaby, and Hundon, pay a yearly modus amounting to £52. 6s. 10½d. per annum for the rectorial, and £180 for the vicarial tithes. The Duke of St. Albans is lessee of the rectory lands etc.

The Wesleyan and Primitive Methodists and the Wesleyan Reformers have each a chapel here.

The Free School, which was thoroughly repaired at the cost of £200, raised by subscription, in 1838, was founded pursuant to the wills of the following donors, viz. Francis Rawlinson , rector of South Kelsey, who in 1630 bequeathed £400 to be vested in land, for the maintenance of a free grammar school in Caistor, provided the inhabitants would build a school house; and Wm. Hansard , of Buslingthorpe, who in 1627 left £250 to build the school and directed his executors to purchase lands of the yearly value of £45, and to pay £30 thereof to the master, and £15 to the usher. The £400 left by Mr Rawlinson was laid out in purchasing the rectorial tithes of Bilsby and Asserby, which, with about five acres of land, now produce about £180 per annum. Pursuant to Hansard's bequests, an estate of 42A. 1R. 17P. was purchased at Cumberworth, to which 24A. 3R. 30P. of common land was allotted at the enclosure in 1819, and is now let for about £100 per annum. The school is free for classical and religious instruction to all the boys of Caistor and the neighbouring parishes; but a small quarterage is charged for English, reading, writing and arithmetic. There is an Exhibition at Jesus College, Cambridge, for Caistor scholars. The Lord Chancellor is about to issue a new scheme for the future management of this school. At present the head master receives two-thirds and the usher one-third of the income, and the former has 12 boarders.

Here is also a Church Sunday and Day School , erected by Wm. Dixon, Esq., who in 1822 left the interest of £200 - one moiety for the support of the said school, and the remainder to be given in aid of the funds of a friendly society, which was dissolved some years ago.

In 1821, certain charity lands , belonging to the poor or Caistor, and derived from the bequests of Charles Wright, Edward Tooley, and Thos. Cousins, were sold for £430, which was applied in liquidating a debt on the House of Industry, now the Union Workhouse. The poor parishioners have also two yearly rent charges , viz., 40s. out of land at Keelby, left by Sir Wm. Thorold, in 1663; and 8s. out of land at Tealby, left by John Balding.

Caistor Matron Society has a numerous list of members, and was established many years ago by the ladies of the town and neighbourhood, for the purpose of promoting the moral and religious instruction of the poor, and supporting the National Day and Sunday Schools.

Here is a Savings Bank , established in 1818, and now having deposits amounting to about £25,000, and belonging to about 900 depositors.

Dr. John Barnard , a clergyman, distinguished for his learning, was a native of Caistor, and died at Newark in 1683.