In Domesday called Aschebi, and in old writings Askeby, is a parish
adjoining to the north boundaries of that of Horncastle, from which town
the village is about two miles distant. In this parish is the manor of
Ashby Thorpe, now belonging to the devisees of the late Mr. Joseph
Rinder; but the possessor of that of Horncastle claims manorial rights
over the other parts of the parish. Previous to the dissolution of
monasteries in the reign of Henry the eighth, the abbey of Kirkstead had
a grange in this parish, which, in the fifth year of Edward the sixth,
was granted amongst other estates to William Cecil Lord Burghley, Lord
High Treasurer of England; and now forms part of the Ashby Thorpe estate.
The church consists of a tower, a nave with a north aisle, and a chancel.
{42b} The benefice is a curacy, in the presentation of the Bishop of
Carlisle.