__NOTOC__ Keadby is a small village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of

Keadby with Althorpe __NOTOC__ Keadby is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Keadby with Althorpe, in the North Lincolnshire district, in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated just off the A18, west of Scu ...

, in the

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lincolnshire, England. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 167,446. T ...

district, in the ceremonial county of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England. It is situated just off the A18, west of

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

, and on the west bank of the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

. The civil parish of Keadby with Althorpe had a population at the 2011 census of 1,930.

History

The place-name 'Keadby' is first attested in 1185, where it appears as ''Ketebi'' in the ''Records of the Templars in England''. The name means "Keti's by", 'Keti' being an Old Danish name and 'by' meaning a village or homestead in Old Scandinavian. Keadby's economic significance lies in that it was chosen as the destination for the

Stainforth and Keadby Canal The Stainforth and Keadby Canal is a navigable canal in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England. It connects the River Don Navigation at Bramwith to the River Trent at Keadby, by way of Stainforth, South Yorkshire, Stainforth, Thorne, Sout ...

, opened in 1802. The canal is now mostly a leisure waterway for pleasure boaters, with Keadby being at the "end of the line". There is a lock between the canal and the tidal

. At Keadby are the Keadby Power Stations, and 'Port Services', a small port for inward-bound timber and scrap metal. The village was served by the

South Yorkshire Railway The South Yorkshire Railway was a railway company with lines in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Initially promoted as the South Yorkshire Coal Railway in 1845, the railway was enabled by the South Yorkshire, Doncaster and Goole Railway Ac ...

. A

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

served the village until the late 1870s-80s. When it was closed, another station opened at

Althorpe Althorpe is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Keadby with Althorpe, in the North Lincolnshire district, in the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It is west of Scunthorpe and the same distance south-east ...

instead. This is the closest one to the village. In 1951 the parish of Keadby had a population of 627. On 1 April 1958 the parish was abolished and merged with

to form "Keadby with Althorpe".

King George V Bridge

The King George V Bridge (also known as Keadby Lifting Bridge) provides a crossing for twin rail lines, a road and a pedestrian walkway over the Trent, connecting the

Isle of Axholme The Isle of Axholme is an area of Lincolnshire, England, adjoining South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is located between Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, both of which are in the traditional West Riding of Lindsey, and Doncast ...

and the rest of

. The bridge opened on 21 May 1916, at which time the 3,000-ton lifting span was Europe's heaviest

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

. The lifting span was fixed in position in 1955 and no longer opens.

Moveable bridges

The King George V Bridge is not the only

moveable bridge A moveable bridge, or movable bridge, is a bridge that moves to allow passage for boats or barges. In American English, the term is synonymous with , and the latter is the common term, but drawbridge can be limited to the narrower, historical ...

in the vicinity of Keadby. There are canal locks at the point where the Stainforth and Keadby Canal connects with the River Trent in Keadby. On the canal, just before these locks, the B1392 road crosses the canal over the Keadby Swing Bridge. Approximately farther along the canal, a railway line crosses the canal over the Keadby Sliding Bridge, also known as Vazon Sliding Railway Bridge. This is an unusual

retractable bridge A retractable bridge is a type of moveable bridge in which the deck can be rolled or slid backwards to open a gap while traffic crosses, usually a ship on a waterway. This type is sometimes referred to as a thrust bridge. Retractable bridges d ...

that can be rolled out of the line of the canal to allow boats through. Just beyond the sliding bridge is a small manually operated

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...

References

External links

*
Isle of Axholme website

Friends of Althorpe and Keadby Primary SchoolPathe newsreel of flooding (unknown date) & bridgePathe newsreel of the King George V bridge being lifted
{{Authority control Villages in the Borough of North Lincolnshire Road-rail bridges Former civil parishes in Lincolnshire Isle of Axholme