History
South Ferriby dates back at least to Roman times when there was a major settlement. It is known locally as one of the 'Low Villages' at the bottom of a chalk escarpment, where the chalk meets the clay to give, before piped water, a plentiful water supply. It also marks the point where the Lincolnshire Wolds meet the Humber Estuary and was, as the name suggests, the southern end of an ancient ferry over the Humber to North Ferriby. The entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 records a church, a mill and two ferries. To sustain two ferries suggests that a prosperous trading community must have been flourishing at the time.
South Ferriby was once two villages, Ferriby Sluice with its strong connection to brick manufacture and other activities on the River Ancholme and South Ferriby with two farms that are still operational. The village has a general store with post office, garage, primary school and two public houses: the Nelthorpe Arms, named after the family who at the beginning of the 19th century owned over half the village (and still have major holdings today) and down by the Sluice, the Hope and Anchor which looks out over the Humber with Read's Island and its wildlife.
The parish church, dedicated to St Nicholas, appears to be the remnant of a much larger church; it is a structure consisting of nave, south transept, north porch and an embattled tower with pinnacles at the south-east corner containing 3 bells. Over the porch is an ancient semicircular stone, on which is a sculptured figure of St Nicholas, vested in alb and mitre and holding a pastoral staff in his left hand and on either side are symbolical figures of the Sun and Moon. It is thought that the unusual north-south alignment of the current church is a legacy of a rebuild following a landslip that claimed much of the earlier building originally aligned on the traditional east-west axis.
Ferriby Hall is now a nursing home but was a private house in 1945. In 1953 some contents of the house were lent to Hull Museum on permanent loan.
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