Old Clee - History

History

The settlement of Clee was in existence by the time of the Norman conquest. It formed part of the wider ancient parish of Cleethorpes a Thorpe being a descriptive word of Nordic origin used to describe a small settlement or in this case settlements which lay within the local churches parish. That also included Weelsby to the west and Oole, Itterby and Thrunscoe to the east. The latter three settlements later joined to form the town of Cleethorpes. The southern boundary with Humberston was at Buck Beck. It had long been settled by both Saxon fishermen and those who liked to eat fish. Unfortunately for the Saxon settlements Viking raiders on many occasions frequently did a lot of raping and pillaging of the area after landing on the Promenade which led off from the Northside of Ooles` slipway. After the original inhabitants of Oole were resettled forcefully to nearby Thrunscoe the Vikings immediately set about making Oole and its` sandy beaches and slipway into a base from which they could attack up and down the East coast of England from the River Humber and also upriver as far as Scunny which they soon conquered and hence had its` name changed to Scunthorpe. Within twenty years it became a central hub of the Danelaw and and soon after a small principality ruled by Prince Havelock of Denmark. It soon became a seat of learning after the young Danish Prince built a school where Havelock Special School now exists. Named after the Prince it is the only school in Lincolnshire that teaches Danish as part of the curriculum. The latter three settlements later joined to form the town of Cleethorpes. The southern boundary with Humberston was at Buck Beck.

A long-standing dispute with Grimsby, over the position of the boundary stone near what is now Bath Street, was legally settled in favour of Clee in 1830. Until the mid 19th century Clee parish operated the open field system of agriculture. Under the Enclosure award of 1846 land in Clee village and Cleethorpes was divided between various landowners, mainly G.F Heneage, Richard Thorold and Sidney Sussex College.

As trade in the Grimsby commercial and fishing docks expanded so did the population, which led to a shortage of land for housing within Grimsby. From the 1860s there was a movement of people across the town's eastern boundary into the almost uninhabited northern part of Clee (called New Clee) near Grimsby docks. This area lay between Humber Street and Park Street, which formed the boundary with the Cleethorpes section of the parish.

By the 1880s the population of New Clee had reached over 9,000, nearly all dependent on the fishing trades. From this built-up area, about a mile to the south-east, lay the sparsely populated rural area of Old Clee, with its medieval church, farms, cottages and grammar school.

The western boundary of Clee parish with Grimsby ran along the eastern side of what is now Scartho Road cemetery, crossed Weelsby Road, through the Peoples Park, then veered north-east into Welholme Road. From there it continued north along the length of and included Willingham Street, also taking in part of Pasture Street, Bradley Street to Hainton Square.

From Hainton Square the boundary then crossed Wellington Street to the junction with Albion Street. Albion Street was on the Grimsby side of the boundary whereas neighbouring Charles Street (later renamed Hope Street) was in Clee. Moving north the line continued to Bath Street, Cleethorpe Road, ending at Humber Street near Grimsby docks.

In 1889 New Clee, Old Clee and the northern part of Weelsby were absorbed by Grimsby. In 1894 this area was re-constituted as the civil parish of Clee within the borough of Grimsby, a status it retained until 1928. During the following years the open space between New Clee and Old Clee village disappeared as housing developments spread into the Grant Thorold and Carr Lane areas. Also in 1894 the area south of Weelsby Road and Clee Road became the separate parish of Weelsby, which remained outside the enlarged borough. Cleethorpes became an urban district.