Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday



Kelly’s Directory 1881

Woodborough is a parish and large straggling village 6½ miles north north-east of Nottingham, 3 miles north-west from Lowdham station and 141 miles from London, in the Southern Division of the County Wapentake of Thurgarton, Basford Union, Nottingham County Court district, Archdeaconry of Nottingham, rural deanery of Southwell, and diocese of Lincoln. The church of St Swithun is an edifice of stone consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a low tower containing four bells, dating from 1612 to 1680; there are remains of a good Norman doorway; and chancel is Decorated and the tower of Perpendicular date, the nave and aisles being in a later and debased style. The chancel retain very fine sedilia, an aumbry on the north side and on either side of the communion table are stone brackets with figures of Edward III and his queen. Some remains of the oaken rood screed still exist and a few specimens of ancient stained glass. The font is Norman; the church plate includes a chalice and alms dish dated 1676 and a flagon of 1802. The church yard is now closed; a small cemetery was opened in 1879 which has a lych gate but no chapel. Registers date-1547 for baptisms, 1573 for marriages and 1572 for burials and is in good condition. Living is a vicarage, gross yearly value £300 with 55a. of glebe in the gift of the Bishop of Manchester and held by Rev’d Frederick Goode-Slight, B.A. of St John’s College, Cambridge. Yearly value of the living was increased in 1875 from £118 to £300 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who have also bought the premises formerly used as a free school and have converted them into a vicarage. The free school has an income of £100 yearly left by the Rev’d M. Wood in 1706 with a house for the master. The Baptists, Primitive Methodists and Wesleyans have each a chapel. The poor have £3 10s. yearly. The people are employed in framework knitting. This was a Roman settlement. Woodborough Hall, seat of Mansfield Parkyns Esq., is a very ancient mansion situated on a pleasant lawn at the extreme end of the village. Principal landowners are J.B. Taylor, C. Seely, Mansfield Parkyns who is Lord of the Manor and Robert Howett Esq. The latter is proprietor of the large racehorse breeding and training establishment in the village where there are between 70 and 80 racehorses. Soil is clay and sand, subsoil clay and sand. Chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas. Area is 1869a. 0r. 31p. Rateable value £4152. 18s., population in 1881 was 889. Woodborough Dumble is 2½ miles west.

Post Office: John Foster, Postmaster. Letters arrive through Nottingham at 7.35 a.m., despatched at 6.10 p.m.

Nearest Money Order Office is at Epperstone. National school built at a cost of about £1600 for the accommodation of 300 children, P. Housley Master.

Carriers to Nottingham – William Ashmore and James Dunthorne, Weds & Sats.




Howett, Robert - The Manor House

James, Henry       

Slight, Rev’d Frederick Goode B.A. - Vicar

Parkyns, Mansfield - The Hall


Commercial   

Alvey, Charlotte Mrs - Market Gardener

Ashmore, William - New Inn

Baguley, John - Shoe maker

Baguley, Joseph - Shoe maker

Bish, Gervase - Market Gardener

Bish, John Junior - Market Gardener

Brett, Edward - Valuer

Chantrey, George - Farmer

Clay, William - Market Gardener

Donnelly, Mark - Framesmith

Dring, George - Farmer

Dunthorne, James - Carrier

Flinders, William Thorpe - Farmer

Foster, John - Shop keeper

Greenway, Thomas P. - Grazier

Hallam, Joseph - Blacksmith

Hancock, John - Farmer

Hancock, John - Grazier

Hardstaff, George - Co-operative Stores – salesman

Hartshorn, Francis - Butcher

Hill, William - Brick & tile maker (also at Saxondale)

Hogg, William Junior - Nag’s Head

Hogg, William - Tax collector

Howett, Robert - Farmer, landowner and race horse breeder

Leafe, Joseph - Beer retailer

Marriott, Joseph - Shopkeeper

North, William - Shopkeeper

Orme, William - Blacksmith

Patching, Maria Mrs - Grazier

Patching, William - Bricklayer

Pawson, Henry - Market Gardener               

Pollard, John - Punch Bowl and assistant overseer

Poole, John - Farm Bailiff

Poole, Joseph - Grazier

Reavill, William - Four Bells

Richardson, Anne Mrs - Shopkeeper

Richardson, John - Shopkeeper

Robinson, William - Shopkeeper

Skelton, Thomas - Trainer for R. Howett Esq

Southern, Joseph - Market Gardener

Tomlinson, Martha Mrs - Butcher

Turner, Charles - Carter

Turner, Eliza Mrs - Shopkeeper

Ward, Richard - Wheelwright

Weaver, Joseph - Coal dealer

Wood, Thomas - Farmer, Grimesmoor

Wood, William - Joiner

Wyld, Elizabeth Mrs - Day School


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