Parish Councils came into being with the Local Government Act of 1894 which separated civil and church functions. The name can cause confusion. It’s the Parochial Church Council that deals with the affairs of the church while Pinchbeck Parish Council is concerned with village matters.
The first meeting of the of the Parish Council was held in the National School Room, East Pinchbeck on Monday 31st December 1894 at 7:00pm. It was decided that Pinchbeck would be divided into two electoral wards, with eight councillors elected to represent the East Ward and seven councillors elected to represent the West Ward.
The make-up of the Parish Council has then remained the same until the May 2019 elections, when the Boundary Commission determined that Pinchbeck Parish Council East and West Wards would be changed into two newly formed wards; Pinchbeck Parish Ward and Crossgate Ward. There are now 13 councillors elected to represent the Pinchbeck Parish Ward and 2 councillors elected to represent the Crossgate Ward.
Over this time, the Parish has grown from 2,822 residents, as recorded in the census of 1891, to 5,455 in the 2011 census. It will be interesting to see how the population will have grown from the 2021 census, given the level of new housing developments that will have been completed in the parish.
Throughout history the size of parish has changed, as can be seen with these changes below:
- In 1544, Pinchbeck was split into eight divisions from west to east, with Fen End, Bathe Rowe, Money Brigg and Croswithand (north of the River Glen) and Miln Grene, Crosgate, Church End and Rotten Rowe (south of the River Glen).
- In August 1882, this parish was enlarged when it gained the Star Lode Drove and adjacent parcels from Cowbit Civil Parish.
- In March 1887, this parish was reduced in size when it gave Cowbit Wash to Cowbit Civil Parish and Deeping Road allotments to Spalding Civil Parish, but it gained the Forty Foot Bank from Spalding Civil Parish.
- In April 1932, this parish was reduced by 535 acres given over to Spalding Civil Parish in return for 1 acre in that parish. This was unpopular and the Parish Council objected to Holland County Council’s plan to transfer the area south of Vernatt’s drain and a large area of Pode Hole
An exert from the Kelly’s Directory of Lincolnshire, 1896, describes the parish as follows:
- The soil is a good rich loam; subsoil clay. The chief crops are wheat, potatoes, mangolds, beans, peas and market garden produce, and much land is pasture. The area of the civil parish is 14,337 acres of land and 123 of water.
The full digital copy of the Kelly’s Directory of Lincolnshire, 1896 can be viewed on the University of Leicester website here and the specific pages for Pinchbeck (429 and 430) can be downloaded here.
Today the parish covers an area of 5,571.52 hectares (13,767.54 acres) and extends from the Forty Foot Drain in the West to the Vernatt’s Bridge at Surfleet Seas End in the East, and Beech Bank in the North and Cuckoo Bridge in the South.