Goulceby is first mentioned in the Domesday Book. The name is thought to derive from the Old Norse personal name 'Kolkr' with the Old Danish 'by', meaning 'Kolkr's farmstead'. Land there was owned by Ivo Taillebois, who had '3 carucates of land (assessed) to the geld. There is land for 3 teams. 16 sokemen and 2 villeins have 6 teams there, and 1 mill rendering 4 shillings, and there is a priest, and a church, and 120 acres of meadow'. {1}{2} The Lay Subsidy of 1334 lists the settlement's wealth together with nearby Asterby as £3 0s 0d, roughly average for its wapentake (Gartree). {3} The Poll Tax returns of 1377 also list Goulceby together with Asterby, and recorded 105 people paying the tax. {4} The Diocesan Return of 1563 lists Goulceby separately from Asterby, and recorded 27 households in the parish. {5} By the late 17th/early 18th century, there were 27 families in the parish, rising to 35 families. {6} Notable residents of the village in 1856 are listed in White's Directory. 379 souls were recorded as being in the parish at this time. {7} Earthworks remains of medieval settlement activity have been identified at Goulceby on aerial photographs examined as part of the National Mapping Programme. The earthworks included the remains of boundaries of former crofts to the north of Shop Lane (PRN 44919a - TF 2555 7936). {8} Further earthworks of probable medieval settlement activity can be discerned to the west of Watery Lane (PRN 44919b - TF 2526 7937). The earthworks appear to include the remains of building platforms and boundaries, marking the positions of former tofts. {9}