Our Parish

Great Humby is a hamlet in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of Ropsley and Humby, 6 miles (9.7 km) east from Grantham, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east from Ropsley and 3 miles (4.8 km) south from the A52. Little Humby, a larger hamlet, is 720 yards (658.4 m) to the north.

 

In the Domesday account Humby was written as "Humbi". It had 1 villager, 1 smallholder and 15 freemen. In 1086 it was in the manor of Old Somerby, the lord of the manor being Rainald, and the Tenant-in-Chief, Walter of Aincourt. Before 1232 the manor had been in possession of Thomas de Somerby, after which it passed to William de Paris, and later to Sir William Brownlow (d.1666). Earthworks of the manor's deserted medieval village and hall, with moats and fish ponds, are evident today.

 

Chapel of St Anne, Great Gunby

The 1885 Kelly's Directory recorded that Great Humby was a chapelry, the chapel consisting of a nave only. Previous to that date it was a private chapel of the Brownlow family, the former possessors of the nearby hall; foundations of that hall still existed in 1885. The chapel was restored in 1874 at the expense of J. Murgatroyd, the chief landowner. English Heritage  gives the date of St Anne's chapel restoration, to an ashlar building with bellcote, as 1876, following a rebuild in 1682 during the life of Sir William Brownlow. An even earlier chapel at Great Humby was extant in 1470. Next to the chapel stood Great Humby Hall. Built in the 13th century it became a larger hall by the 17th, the probable date it was pulled down.