population of Eaton as 350 (from the 1831 census). He was admitted in October 1814. There was no curator so he did the duties himself. There was only one church which was capable of accommodating the entire population. The "Glebe House unfit, being a mere cottage and very damp" was occupied by Richard Palmer who rented part of the land, paying £10.4.0 for the lodgings. The annual income of the benefice was stated as £83.6.2, no tithes or corn rents or dividends and any other income. The surplice and other fees amounted to nine or ten shillings. This was a poor living, as the incumbent states: "I expect a decrease of Income in future but cannot speak as to the amount of that decrease because the lands are said to be too high let at present and poor rates are increasing." Source: Articles of Inquiry. Ecclesiastical Revenues Commission: Diocese of Lincoln. Article no. 2348. Iron ore Iron ore was quarried in the parish between 1884 and 1965. A mineral branch, known as the Eaton Branch, was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1884 to transport the ore. Its terminus was to the north of the Belvoir Road. Its nearest point to the village was a bridge passing under Stathern Road. The first ore was carried to a railway wharf to the north of that bridge by a narrow-gauge tramway in horse-drawn wagons. The horses on that line were replaced by steam locomotives in 1890. The railway never had a passenger service but occasionally freight other than iron ore was carried. The first ore was dug to the west of this railway to the north of the Stathern Road close to the bridge. The quarries at the northern end of the Eaton Branch were owned by the Waltham Iron Ore Company, a subsidiary of the Staveley Coal and Iron Company. Ore was transported from these quarries to the Eaton Branch by the narrow-gauge Waltham Iron Ore Tramway, starting in 1884. One of the locomotives that worked on this tramway is preserved at the Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum. More quarries were opened over the years. The quarries later surrounded the village and except as noted below they were connected with the Great Northern branch railway at various points by standard or narrow gauge tramway. One group of quarries used a tramway that connected to an aerial ropeway which ran to