Woodborough’s Heritage

Woodborough, a Sherwood Forest Village, recorded in Domesday

Kelly’s Directory 1936

Woodborough is a parish and large straggling village 3½ miles north-west from Lowdham station on the Nottingham and Lincoln line of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway, 8½ miles from Southwell and 7½ north-north-east from Nottingham in the Broxtowe division of the county, wapentake of Thurgarton. Basford rural district, Nottingham petty sessional division and county court district, rural deanery of Gedling, archdeaconry of Nottingham and diocese of Southwell. The church of St Swithun is an edifice of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, south porch and a low embattled western tower with four pinnacles and containing 4 bells, dating from 1612 to 1680, and clock: there are remains of a good Norman doorway: the chancel is Decorated and the tower of Perpendicular date, the nave and aisles being in a later and debased style: the chancel retains 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 screen still exist and a few specimens of ancient stained glass: the east window is of stained glass, and also one in the south chancel, this latter having been erected in 1920 as a war memorial: the font is Norman: the church contains an interesting mediaeval veil hook and an ancient alter table given by a recorder of Newark to celebrate the end of the Civil War: The church plate includes a chalice and alms-dish, dated 1676, and a flagon of 1802: the church was restored during the period 1891-97, at a cost of £2600, and affords 200 sittings. In the churchyard, which is now closed for burials, is a cross of Cornish granite, erected by local subscription, in memory of the men connected with the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18.

The registers date - 1547 for baptisms, 1573 for marriages and 1572 for burials, and are in good condition. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £350, and residence, is in the gift of the Bishop of Southwell, and held since 1933 by the Rev’d Leslie Charles Rowan-Robinson, M.B., Ch.B. of Edinburgh University. The Baptist Chapel, built in 1832, has 200 sittings, and there are Methodist Chapels. A cemetery of 1 acre, which has a lych gate but no chapel, was formed in 1879. Edge's Charity of £2 13s. is distributed at Christmas to the poor and part of it to the male members of the choir of the parish church. Woodborough was a Roman settlement. Woodborough Hall, the seat of Hubert A. Dowson, Esq., is a very ancient mansion standing on a pleasant lawn at the extreme end of the village. The village feast, an ancient institution, is observed here on the first Sunday after the 2nd July. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are lords of the manor. The principal landowners are Lady Charnwood, the trustees of the late Lt.-Col. F.E. Seely, TD., DL., JP. and Charles Ernest Foster Esq. The soil is clay and sand; subsoil, clay and sand. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas; plums and strawberries are also largely grown. The area is 1945 acres; the population in 1931 was 661.

Post and telephone call office. Letters arrive through Nottingham. Epperstone is the nearest M.O. & T. office.

Carriers to Nottingham John Leafe & Son, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Private Residents

(for T.N's read telephone numbers).

Austin Henry - Wayside

Dowson Hubert A. - Woodborough Hall

Foster Charles Ernest - Woodborough Manor

Lidgett Albert - The Woodlands

Paulson Frederick - Thorneywood House

Rowan-Robinson Rev’d Leslie Charles M.B., Ch.B. Edin. (vicar, The Vicarage)

Commercial

(marked thus ° farm 150 acres or over)

Alvey Joseph - boot repairer

Baggaley Tom - farmer, Old Manor Farm

Bailey George - farmer, Bank Farm

Ball John Thomas - grocer T.N.6

Binch Herbert - market gardener

Bruce Maggie (Mrs) - grocer

Burton Albert Edward - market gardener, T.N.15

Chettle William - market gardener, Rosedene

Cook Joseph - market gardener

Desborough Walter - market gardener

Dring John George - farmer, Shelt Hill Farm

Dunthorne Arthur - market gardener

Dunthorne Frank - smallholder

Foster Arthur Evelyn - market gardener, T.N.30

° Foster Charles Ernest - farmer and landowner, Woodborough Manor, T.N.7

Foster James - market gardener, The Grange

Foster John Herbert - shopkeeper, Post Office, T.N.2

Glover Thomas & Sons Ltd., surgical hosiers

Hallam Wallace - farmer, Home Farm, T.N.3.

Harvey Henry - farmer, Mill Farm

Hogg Leonard - joiner

Kelk Bertie - boot repairer

Kirkham Allan - farmer, Bank Farm

Leafe John & Son - carriers

Marriott Harriett (Miss) - shopkeeper

Mawby Frederick Harris - pianoforte tuner

Milner William Harold - blacksmith

Nottingham Co-operative Society Ltd., T.N.43

Nurcombe Thomas Arthur - joiner

Parker William, Henry - butcher T.N.10

Poole Charles Ernest - farm bailiff to John Poole Esq., Park Farm.

Raynor Arron Hardy - dentist (attends Thursday 3-5 p.m.)

Richardson William - market gardener, Holmedale

Roe Cyril - poultry farmer, Foxwood House

Savidge Sidney Charles - carpenter

Shaw Arthur F - Nag's Head Public House, T.N.45

Small Frank Aug. - farmer

Spencer David - market gardener

Stanfield Albert Victor - farmer, Woodborough Wood

Stevenson Joseph - cowkeeper

Sutton John - farmer

Turtle John - farmer

Walker John Ernest - Four Bells Inn, T.N.14

Ward Herbert (Mrs) - market gardener

Wright Bernard - smallholder, Northdale

An omnibus service between Nottingham and Epperstone passes through here daily at frequent intervals.