Visit Eastoft Places

Welcome to Visit Eastoft Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Eastoft

  

Eastoft Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Eastoft

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Eastoft history

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Specialists note the oldest mentions for Eastoft (Lincolnshire and West Riding of Yorkshire) Eschetoft around 1170, Esketoft around 1200 and Esktoft 13th century and suggest an Old Scandinavian origin, with the name formed from eski “ash-tree” and toft (< Old Norse topt) "a homestead, the site of a house and its out-buildings", sometimes toft may also signify "a settlement site and its accompanying land". On this basis, it would mean "Homestead, house or curtilage where ash trees are growing". The difficulty to articulate the group /skt/ and the attraction of the common word East- explain the final evolution Eastoft. On this basis, it was finally understood as "Homestead with enclosure to the east of Crowle. Toft is sometimes associated with tree names. Similar place names in Normandy include Ectot-l'Auber and Ectot-lès-Baons (Eschetoth, Esketoth 1074). from eski "ash-tree" and toft. Eshetoftes, YWR, Eshetoftes 1158–67. < OE æsċ "ash-tree", is the Anglo-Scandinavian version of this place name. The earliest known record of Eastoft dates from 1164, when there was a dispute between the Vicar of Adlingfleet and the abbot of Selby. Both claimed rights to the tithes from Reedness and Eastoft, and the dispute was settled when the Archbishop of York intervened, and ruled that the vicar of Adlingfleet should receive the tithes during his lifetime, but that he should make a payment of 40 shillings each year to the Abbey at Selby. Eastoft became a separate parish on 25 September 1855, when it was created from parts of Adlingfleet and Crowle. In 1900 Kelly's Directory noted that although it was a single ecclesiastical parish, it was still two civil parishes, known as Eastoft, Yorkshire and Eastoft, Lincolnshire. The area of the parish was listed as 1,327 acres (537 ha) in Yorkshire and 1,312 acres (531 ha) in Lincolnshire. At the time, the church, the school and the vicarage were all in Yorkshire, and there were two halls. William Coulman was a Justice of the Peace and lived in Eastoft Hall, Yorkshire, while William Halkon lived at Eastoft Hall, Lincolnshire. The plantation next to Halkon's residence had once housed a chapel of ease and a burial ground, but all traces of them had gone by 1900. The River Don used to run directly through the middle of the village, on its route to its confluence with the River Trent near Adlingfleet. However, in 1626, Cornelius Vermuyden began the drainage of Hatfield Chase, and re-routed the river northwards from Stainforth to join the River Aire. He also re-routed the River Idle and the River Torne, both of which joined it at Sandtoft and contributed to its flow. Parts of the original course are marked on modern maps, one to the south-west and the other to the north-east of the village, and their orientation points to the presence of several large meanders in the vicinity. Before the drainage, the quality of the soil was poorer than soils on the higher areas of the Isle of Axholme. Land in Epworth, Haxey and Owston Ferry could be used for growing crops every year, but in Crowle and Eastoft, crops were normally grown for three years, and the land was left fallow for the fourth. The Paupers Drain to the south of Eastoft predates the works of Vermuyden. Following his work, there was social unrest, which was not finally resolved until 1717. After that, some improvements to the drainage of the area were made, including a new sewer, which crossed the Pauper's Drain, and was designed to remove water from Eastoft, Crowle and Luddington. It drained into the River Trent through a sluice at Keadby, but the sluice failed in 1761, resulting in devastating floods. Between 1903 and 1965, the village was served by Eastoft railway station on the Fockerby branch of the Axholme Joint Railway, although passenger services ended in 1933. The station was by the main road over 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north of the village, and the first sod was cut on 22 September 1898 by William Halkon of Eastoft Hall, the chairman of the directors, on land which was part of Boltgate Farm and belonged to Mr. Bramhill. Following the ceremony, toasts were made in the farmhouse. One of the contractors' locomotives used in the building of the line was named Halkon, after the chairman, and was used to convey a special train when the North Eastern Railway inspected the line, before taking it over from the original company. At the time, only Eastoft station was finished, and was cited as an example of how the others should be completed. The final train carrying passengers was chartered by North Axholme Secondary School and ran on 1 April 1965, four days before closure. The opening of the crossing gates over the A161 road at Eastoft was featured in television coverage of the event.

Eastoft landmarks

The Anglican parish church, dedicated to St Bartholomew, was built in 1855 to the designs of J. Pearson, Esq., and is a Grade II listed structure. The village also has a Methodist church, which was built by the Bishop of Sheffield in 1869. Eastoft Hall is another Grade II-listed building, built on Eastoft High Street in 1789. A post office-cum-corner shop closed in 2008, as part of cutbacks which involved the closure of 42 post offices.

Eastoft geography / climate

The village is a linear settlement along the A161 between Crowle and Goole. It comprises more than 2,600 acres (11 km) and for the most part is little above sea-level. The parish is drained by a network of drainage ditches, which feed into the Adlingfleet Drain and Pauper’s Drain.

You can visit Eastoft places with Walkfo Eastoft to hear history at Eastoft’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Eastoft has 2 places to visit in our interactive Eastoft map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Eastoft, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Eastoft places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Eastoft & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 2 audio facts unique to Eastoft places in an interactive Eastoft map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Eastoft Places Map
2 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Eastoft historic spots	Eastoft tourist destinations	Eastoft plaques	Eastoft geographic features
Walkfo Eastoft tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Eastoft

  

Best Eastoft places to visit

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Eastoft has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Eastoft’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Eastoft’s information audio spots:

Luddington, Lincolnshire Luddington is on the Isle of Axholme in North Lincolnshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 419. It is 6 miles (10 km) north-west from Scunthorpe, 6 miles south-east from Goole.

Visit Eastoft plaques