The settlement of Owmby, while not suffering any sharp or permanent decline, appears from crude population figures to have been rather larger in the period up to the 14th century than thereafter until the 19th century. This may be reflected in the large area of old enclosures mapped in 1796, of which the contemporary and later village occupies only a part. Although earthworks are recorded on aerial photographs at the east and west ends of the settlement it is doubtful whether enough survives to allow an understanding of its plan form and development. The basic axis of the settlement is east to west and the present road north to Normanby is a post-enclosure intrusion. {1} Paul Everson and David Stocker discuss the development of this village during the medieval period from the time of Domesday Book (1086) in their work on early Romanesque church towers in Lincolnshire. {3}