Alford in 1839

Alford is in the hundred of Calceworth, in the parts of Lindsey, 140 miles from London by Boston and Spilsby, and near the head of a small stream which flows into the sea. The parish contains 1,410 acres, with a population, in 1831, of 1,784, about one-fourth agricultural. The town consists chiefly of one street. The church is an insignificant building. There are one or two dissenting meeting-houses. The market is on Tuesday. The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelry of Rigsby, in the archdeaconry of Lincoln, of the clear yearly value of £122. There were, to 1833, an endowed grammar-school, with 24 boys ; a national school, with 128 children ; and five other day and boarding schools, with 190 children.