Gunby and Stainby is a civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. According to the 2001 Census it had a population of 141,[1] falling to 136 at the 2011 census.[2] It includes the hamlets of Gunby and Stainby.

Gunby and Stainby
The bridge at Stainby where the Ironstone trains passed under the railway
Gunby and Stainby is located in Lincolnshire
Gunby and Stainby
Gunby and Stainby
Location within Lincolnshire
Population136 (2011 census)
Civil parish
  • Gunby and Stainby
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
List of places
UK
England
Lincolnshire
52°47′N 0°39′W / 52.79°N 0.65°W / 52.79; -0.65

For administrative purposes parish affairs are handled by the combined Colsterworth District parishes council.[3]

History edit

The parish was formed on 1 April 1931 from "Gunby" and "Stainby" parishes.[4]

Geography edit

 
Stainby Warren, near Gunby

The only major road is the A151 Buckminster road which crosses the parish from west to east. The northern boundary lies some way north of, and very roughly parallel to this road.

The parish extends a considerable distance to the west of the villages, as far as the Lincolnshire-Leicestershire border, which forms the western edge. Out here all is farmland, over former Ironstone workings. The eastern extent reaches not quite as far as the A1 because the River Witham forms the boundary. The South is delineated by nothing more substantial than the ancient fieldlines dividing the parish from North Witham.

The land to the east, between Stainby and Gunby, is gently undulating around 125m above sea level. To the west, the contours are only about 10m higher. There is little woodland, Stainby Warren is perhaps the largest.

Stainby and Gunby are each founded around minor streams that flow from west to east into the River Witham, flowing north toward Colsterworth.[5]

Geology edit

The bedrock is mostly Jurassic sedimentary Ooidal ironstones of the Northampton Sand Formation. East of Gunby Road, Stainby and south of Gunby village it is Jurassic sedimentary limestone, of the lower Lincolnshire limestone series. The small streambed south of the Buckminster road is of Sedimentary Whitby mudstones, also dating back to the Jurassic.[5][6]

Ironstone mining edit

The west of the parish was the site of Buckminster Quarries, site of extensive ironstone mining for around a hundred years. Operations ceased in 1972. A series of industrial railways linked to the High Dyke Branch with an end-on junction at Stainby. There is now little trace of the Ironstone workings.[7][8][9]

Community edit

Bus route 28 (Grantham-South Witham) serves both Stainby and Gunby at times to suit schoolchildren attending schools in Grantham.[10]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Gunby and Stainby" (PDF). Parish profiles. Lincolnshire research observatory. Retrieved 8 September 2013.
  2. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Colsterworth and District Parishes". Lincolnshire Parish Councils ; South Kesteven. Lincolnshire county council. Retrieved 8 September 2013. Colsterworth and District Parish Council is a combined council consisting of the civil parishes of Colsterworth, (which includes the hamlet of Woolsthorpe By Colsterworth), Gunby and Stainby and recently North Witham, (which includes Lobthorpe).
  4. ^ "Relationships and changes Gunby and Stainby CP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  5. ^ a b Grantham: Bottesford & Colsterworth (Map) (A1 ed.). 1:25 000. OS Explorer. Ordnance survey of Great Britain. 3 January 2006. § 247. ISBN 9780319238332.
  6. ^ "Geoelogy of Britain viewer". British geological Survey. Retrieved 13 September 2013. zoom to the location, and click to identify the strata
  7. ^ "Mining pictures". Colsterworth parish council. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  8. ^ "Buckminster Iron Quarry". Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  9. ^ Tonks, Eric (1991). The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands Part 8: South Lincolnshire. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. ISBN 1-870-754-093.
  10. ^ "Centrebus 28" (PDF). Lincolnshire county council. Retrieved 14 September 2013.

External links edit