South Ferriby dates back at least to Roman times when there was a major settlement. It is known locally as one of the 'Low Villages' at the bottom of a chalk escarpment, where the chalk meets the clay to give, before piped water, (the village was one of the first to have piped water with houses plumbing into the supply which was put down to supply steam ships) to the a plentiful water supply. It also marks the point where the Lincolnshire Wolds meet the Humber Estuary and was, as the name suggests, the southern end of an ancient ferry over the Humber to North Ferriby. The entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 records a church, a mill and two ferries. To sustain two ferries suggests that a prosperous trading community must have been flourishing at the time.