The name Willoughby derives from a combination of Old English and Old Scandanavian Wilig+by, or "farmstead by the willow trees". It appeared in the 1086 Domesday Book as Wilgeby. ["A Dictionary of English Place-Names," A. D. Mills, Oxford University Press, 1991] http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/Willoughby/
"FRANCIS (WILLOUGHBY), LORD WILLOUGHBY OF PARHAM, brother and heir, was born 1613-14;Being opposed to the King's policies, he was appointed by Parliament Lord Lieutenant of Lidsey, within Lincolnshire, 5 March, and of the whole of that co., 26 March 1642, and sided with the Parliament on the outbreak of the Civil War. As Colonel of a Regiment of Horse, till 30 April 1644, he joined the Earl of Essex's army shortly after Edge Hill (23 October 1642) and held the chief command in Lincolnshire during 1643, being thanked by the House of Lords for his great service.
Having obtained meanwhile from the Earl of Carlisle, 17 February 1646/7, a
21 years' lease of the Caribbee Islands, with, 26 February, the post of Lieutenant
General thereof, he was now appointed, by Charles II, Governor of Barbados.
Arriving there, 29 April 1650, he held that island for the King against the
Parliament until 11 January 1651/2.
"http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=utzing&id=I080631
In the 12th and 13th centuries there were two separate families of Willoughby holding lands in Lincolnshire. One, from whom the Lords Willoughby descended, took its name from Willoughby in the Marsh, in Lindsey, and the other from Silk Willoughby, in Kesteven. Both families were tenants of the Gant fee. As to the latter, Robert de Willoughby gave land in Silk Willoughby to the Templars before 1185. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=utzing&id=I096507
WILLIAM DE WILLOUGHBY, whose parentage is unknown, held land in Sloothby, in Willoughby in the Marsh, in the time of King Richard. He witnessed charters at the end of the 12th and early in the 13th centuries, two being issued by Gilbert de Gant; appears in law-suits in 1200 and 1202.
SPILSBY is set between the beautiful hilly countryside of the wolds and the flatter country of fen and marsh. Spilsby is an idyllic rural market town which shows Lincolnshire at its best. The name Spilsby is thought to have originated from a Danish landowner called Spiller although some think that it is a corruption of 'Spellows-by'. The 'by' ending means 'a place to dwell' and is characteristic of many local Place names. According to the Domesday Book 'Spilsbei' belonged to the Bishop of Durham, passing by marriage to the Bec family in 1166 and again by marriage to Sir William de Willoughby in 1302. His son became the first Baron Willoughby d'Eresby.http://www.louth.org/torwolds/spilsby.html
In Spilsby Parish Church five monuments of this family, Willoughby de Eresby are to be seen.
"Richard Bertie, Esq., who married Catherine Willoughby, Baroness Willoughby, daughter and heir of William Willoughby, X Lord Willoughby, widow of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, K.G. He died in the 64th year of his age, on the 9th April 1582, having survived his Duchess two years, she deceasing on the 19th of September, 1580, leaving issue by him an only son, Peregrine Bertie, XI Lord Willoughby."http://www.baronage.co.uk/bphtm-02/moa-13.html
Willoughby,Warwickshire is a small parish on the Northamptonshire border. The scattered village is about three miles south east of Dunchurch. It appears in the Domesday Survey. The church of St.Nicholas dates from the sixteenth century.
In Lincolnshire there are entries for the villages of Scott Willoughby, Silk Willoughby, West Willoughby and Willoughby in the Marsh. Silk Willoughby and Scott Willoughby are different parishes, both near Sleaford.
Willoughby, Lincolnshire is both a village and a parish which lie about 3 and a half miles south of Alford and eight miles northwest of Spilsby.
Willoughby-on-the-Wolds, nestling cosily amid the woodland scenery on the Leicestershire border, carries us back in its history to Roman times. Upon the magnificent highways which the armies of the Caesars constructed in Britain were halting-places for the troops after a day’s journey, carefully marked in the Itineraries of Antoninus; but besides these important stations, there were others denoting the mid-day stages of the soldiery when upon the march. Most of them were fortified and constructed with the solidity for which the Romans were renowned. One of these intervening stages was Willoughby, or Vernometum, on the great Foss-road which runs from Bath to Lincoln. The antiquity of the spot is further proved by the entry in Domesday Book, and by the fact that its manors were assessed to the Danegeld. Among the owners of property here in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries were the Peverels, the Lovetots, Reginald de Colewyke, Sir William de Nowers, and a family taking its name from the village. Ralph Bugge, a merchant of Nottingham, and his successors also became possessed of lands at Willoughby by purchase and otherwise.http://www.globalspy.com/SirHughWilloughbyMargaret%20Freville.html