According to Mills', Saxby probably either derives its name from a "farmstead or village of a man called Saksi", an
Old Scandinavian person name, or from "Saksar" (
Saxons). The village appears in the
Domesday Book of 1086 as
Saxebi, in the Yarborough
Hundred of the
North Riding of Lindsey. It comprised 10 households, with 8
villagers, 2
freemen, 3 fisheries, and 7½
ploughlands. The lords in 1066 were Siward and Thorgisl. By 1086 the land had passed to Roger as
Lord of the Manor, with
Ivo Taillebois as
Tenant-in-chief. In 1885 ''
Kelly's Directory'' noted Saxby as a "small but very pleasant village", north-west of
Elsham railway station and near the
Ancholme navigation. Parish population in 1881 was 337. It describes the parish land as producing chiefly wheat, oats and barley, with "good" pasture, and being half of "fine chalk subsoil and highly fertile" and half, at Saxby
Carrs, consisting of "clay subsoil, of rather black nature". The village contained a post office, six farmers, a blacksmith, wheelwright, bricklayer, miller – at Saxby Mill – and a
Co-operative society.
Carriers from Worlaby to Barton and Brigg passed through the village daily. Noted was a
National School for 90 pupils, with an average attendance of 60, which was supported by the trustees of the late John Hope Barton. By 1905 a joiner, builder, shoemaker and a carrier were further trades in the village, and a reading room, opened in 1882, was noted, with Henry John Hope Barton esq.
J.P. of Saxby Hall, son of John Hope Barton, as lord of the manor and landowner. The National School had become a Public
Elementary School. A drinking fountain had been erected at the centre of the village in 1897 to commemorate the
Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and in memory of a Frederick Horsley. Parish area had risen to which included of water. Population by 1901 had dropped to 291. In 1913 Saxby's Henry John Hope Barton became
High Sheriff of Lincolnshire. By 1921 village population had dropped to 278, and in 1933 there were six farmers, one of whom was at Saxby Mill, a joiner, grocer, boot repairer, carrier and blacksmith. From Karl Wood's 1932 sketch of Saxby Mill, its known at this time Saxby Mill no longer had sails. Parish area was , with of water. In July 1906
folk song collectors
Percy Grainger and
Lucy Broadwood collected the song "Died of Love", or "A brisk young Lad he courted me", from a Saxby
bailiff,
Joseph Taylor. The song was noted in Broadwood's
English Traditional Carols and Songs, published in 1908, although the first verse was altered to suit perceived public taste. Grainger later supplied a piano accompaniment to the song, using Taylor's melody, which was published in 1912. "Died of Love" was the base for Grainger's "Rufford Park Poachers" in his
Lincolnshire Posy suite. ==Landmarks==