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BRIGG, or GLANFORD BRIGG, is a neat, well-built, and thriving market town, on the navigable river Ancholme, in a broad level vale of rich and well-drained marshes and cars, bounded on the east and west by the woody and highly cultivated acclivities of the Wolds. It is a distant 10 miles S. by W. of Barton, 9 miles W.N.W. of Caistor, 24 miles N. by E. of Lincoln, 16 miles S.S.W. of Hull, and 10 miles S. of the Humber, from which the Ancholme is navigable to Bishop Bridge, 10 miles above Brigg, and 5 miles from Market Rasen; and by a branch cut to Moorton, 3, 1/2 miles from Caistor. The township and chapelry of Brigg is in the parish and manor of Wrawby, and contains nearly 2000 acres of land. Its population amounted, in 1801, to 1327; in 1811, to 1361; in 1821, to 1674; in 1831, to 1780; in 1841, to 1816; but the town extends into three other parishes, and its total number of inhabitants is about 2300, of whom about 430 are on the west side of the river, in Broughton and Scawby parishes, and about 60 in the eastern suburb, which is Bigby parish. The etymology of Glanford is unknown, but it may perhaps be a corruption of Clamford, from the clamps, or planks of timber, laid down in ancient times across the ford and its swampy approaches, where a good road and strong stone bridge were subsequently constructed. It is in some legal documents and other writings called Glamford Briggs. After the erection of the bridge, the town obtained the name of Brigg. It was formerly only a small fishing hamlet; but since the improvement and the extension of the Ancholme navigation, and the drainage of the cars and marshes in the vale of that river, about the commencement of the present century, it has been continually increasing in trade, commerce, buildings, and population. The navigation was considerably improved in 1826, so as to admit vessels of 60 tons burden as high as Bishop Bridge.
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