After the last Ice Age Luddington was covered by
Lake Humber, until about 9,000 BC. When the melt water lake finally disappeared the Luddington area became dry, surrounded by wetlands, on a branch of the
River Don. Luddington was amongst the last of a chain of islands in the marshlands of the Isle of Axholme, stretching from Epworth northwards. The site of St Oswald's pre-
conquest church sits on an island separated from the rest of the village and River Don, in a circular enclosure, suggesting it might have been a ritual site well into the first millennium. At the time of the
Domesday survey in 1086, Luddington was the most northerly of the parishes on the Isle of Axholme, and was a river island. The
River Trent was to the east, the River Don to the west and north, and the Meredyke drain to the south. On 1 April 1983 the parish was abolished and merged with
Haldenby to form "Luddington & Haldenby".
Middle Ages The origin of the name Luddington is pure
Old English suggesting that it was an Anglo-Saxon settlement or estate belonging to "Luda"; however the area was populated before the English settlement of the 5th century. Nearby
Crowle developed as a market town, leaving Luddington, like Haldenby (a nearby
deserted medieval village) as way stops on the river. The River Don was an important transport link between the Humber and the Yorkshire hinterland. The Northern Isle of Axholme has two other deserted Medieval settlements, Haldenby and
Waterton, both close to Luddington.
Late Medieval decline The Isle of Axholme as a whole went into decline in the late Medieval period. Climate change during the
Little Ice Age saw the advance of marshlands, the dying of woodlands (which became
bog oak) and the reduction of pasture. The river trade went into decline, partly because it silted, and partly because of the development of
Hull, which took trade away from inland settlements. The
Black Death also had an effect. When
Vermuyden drained the Isle he removed productive marshland and the River Don.
Victorian revival Controlled flooding of the Isle (
warping) improved the fertility of the soil. Steam pumps made the drainage of the Northern Isle effective. This led to a growth in farming in the area and an increase in population. Luddington farmers developed crops, particularly potatoes, to feed the urban market. The need for labour was partly met by the migration of Irish workers to Luddington, following the
Irish Famine of the 1840s. Providence Row, a collection of earth floor cottages, housed Irish labourers into the 1930s.
Post-Second World War Two
public houses that existed in Luddington closed: The Friendship in 1974, and The Blue Bell in 1994. The village post office closed at the turn of the 21st century, and the remaining public house, The Lincolnshire Arms, closed recently. In 2006 the village hosted the Luddstock music festival. ==Geography==