The Buildings
The Church
The Church was built in 1175 -1200, it was probably developed from a small aisleless Norman nave and Chancel. The first addition being the north chapel in the thirteenth century. The alter like so many faces east, towards the Holy Lands. The nave was probably re-built or readdressed in the fourteenth century whilst the north Aisle and the West tower were added in the fifteenth century. There are several items of interest, of which the most important is the late fourteenth century roof of the nave which is of an unusual design. Of the original fabric there still remains the South doorway and a semicircular headed window, visible on the south wall of the chancel. It is possible that the two semi circular sedillia are also part of the original church. The church has a number of tombs as mentioned in earlier chapters. One I have not mentioned forms part of a step to the vestry, another is found under the alter reredos, the third is the Washington tomb and the fourth the Fitzwilliam tomb.
During the eighteenth century there was some work done on the fabric of the church, we know this because of a plumber’s mark on the lead on the roof of the tower it is dated 1730, and the lead removed from the valley between the chancel and the north chapel roof in the summer of 1962 also bore a mark of 1736 with the name Anthoni Are who was one of the Sequestrators during a vacancy.
The oak roof in the chancel was erected in 1962.
The present vestry which has been since 1943 houses two trap doors. Under these trap doors are tunnels. There are many rumours as to the purpose of these tunnels , some say they go not very far , just far enough for the clergy to escape from the reformers. Some say they go all the way to Hampole Priory. We do know that there is a network of tunnels underground but what their purpose is, suggestions please.
Before the sinking of Brodsworth Colliery, Adwick’s parish stretched all the way to Woodlands, at that time there was only one residence, there, Woodlands Hall. In 1913 Adwick split it’s parish with the new church dedicated to all the saints, due to a rapid increase in the population of this area. Hampole was the first site excavated for coal but it did not prove worthy enough of placing a colliery there so Woodlands got it instead , just think what may have happened if it had been Hampole Colliery and not Brodsworth the whole geographic area would have spun on its head.
The pews, the pulpit and the organ can all be dated to the nineteenth century.
Adwick Hall
Adwick Hall was built in the 16th century by the Washington family and it remained their home for over one hundred years, until it was seiged and confiscated by Cromwell’s commissioners. The elder Darcy Washington only recovered it by paying a heavy fine, like so many Royalist supporters had to do. In 1712 the Washington family ran heavily into debt and sold out to Sir George Cooke.
From 1712 to 1794 there is no data regarding Adwick Hall, but 1n 1794, from reading the parish registers referring to the baptism of Jane the daughter of George Wroughton esquire of Adwick Hall and his wife Diana, born 1794. Adwick Hall is owned by George Wroughton and subsequently his family.
In 1827 Adwick Hall was leased between Diana Wroughton of Punsbrook Lodge in the County of Hants, (widow of George Wroughton, late of Adwick Hall) and the Rev. Peter Inchbald of Bawtry in the County of Yorkshire. The lease of the Hall together with servants, governors, household goods and everything else on the premises was leased to him for fourteen years for the sum of £200. By this time Adwick Hall was being run as a ladies boarding school by Miss Simpson. Peter Inchbald also into debt and the lease was taken over by his son, also called Peter in 1838, Mrs Wroughton made a note of who was living there and an inventory of the rooms of the Hall, this is great for the historian as it gives a mental picture of the interior of Adwick Hall.
Tenants Rooms
Dr Inchbald Hall
Wm Gill Passage
Wm Wild Dining Room
Wm Footit Breakfast Room
Thomas Stevens Servants Hall
Jonathon Shaw Passage Rear
John Bottomly Store Room
John Dobson Wash House
Wm Clark Front Staircase
Joseph Stones Best Bedroom
Joseph Varley Blue Room
A Hetherington Bedroom
Wm Heald Jnr Bedroom
Turnpike Keeper Bedroom
Bedroom
Passage
Garrett Passage
Nobody knows for sure when Adwick Hall was demolished, but that the Thellusson family bought all the mansions in Brodsworth, Woodlands and Adwick, had them all pulled down and a new one built at Brodsworth. The old schoolhouse and school are said to have been built out of the stone from the ruins. This no longer exists so we have no proof of this claim.
Adwick Hall
Forrester’s Arms
Taking into account the information from the census of 1851, there is a publican named there, Richard Clark. The Forrester’s Arms was built at the very start of the 20th Century around 1901/02, however there had been a public house (tavern) on the same land for many years prior to that, a little like the Woodlands Hotel at Woodlands. The original tavern was set a little further back The marble work on the floor by the same craftsmen who did the work on Carcroft picture house, they were Italian prisoners of war from World War I.
FORESTER’S ARMS – ADWICK-LE-STREET
Opened 1822 (as The Plough)
Changed name 1891
Rebuilt 1905
Altered 1909 and Nov 2001
Dates Landlords
Opening to 1830 Thomas Wild(e) Married to Jane. Died 28/3.1838 age 76. Jane died 23/3/1837 age 75?
1830 to 1841 Robert Tyas
1841 to June 1851 Robert Clarke
June 1851 to 1861 Richard Clarke
1861 to 1866 Wilham Askham
1866 to 1871 William Crowcroft
1871 to Dec 1879 George Bisby (Died)
Dec 1879 to 20/03/1882 Jane Bisby (George’s Widow) née Wild and the first Landlord’s daughter.
20/03/1882 to 06/12/1890 Thomas Wild (Died Oct.1890 - buried Oct.17th 1890). Married to Mary Ann Badger (Died late1886 - buried Jan.2nd 1887).
06/12/1890 to 1895 William Richardson (Thomas Wild’s Son-in-Law. Married to Alice Wild 1884).
1895 to 1902 William Stacey (Died)
1902 to 1903 John Stacey (Ill health) (Son)
1903 to Jan 1907 Mary Stacey (William’s Widow) (Died)
Jan 1907 to Feb 1907 John Stacey (Son) (Died)
Feb 1907 to Dec 1907 George Stacey (Brother)
Dec 1907 to 1915 John Slater
1915 to 1917 Walter Shawforth
1917 to 1922 Thomas Joan Jackson
1922 to 25/05/1932 Horace Ramsden
Information by kind permission of Wren2 (multiply)
Schools
As far back as 1587 there was a school master in the village that was George Milner who was an assistant to Robert Parkyn. There is a reference of another schoolmaster in the village in 1580, this man was Richard Comin, the date of this entry august 23rd 1580. There is very little information regarding schools or schooling until the minutes of a parish meeting in 1833 when it was unanimously resolved that a school with a school house be forthwith erected for the use of the parish, and Dr Inchbald, Mr Workman and Captain Elmsall were deputed to form a small committee. A government enquiry, known as the Kerry Report, gave the population as 382 there were 2 daily schools 1 having 19 males and 9 females partly supported by an endowment of £10 per annum for the instruction of 10 poor children of this parish, this was a bequest made by the Rev.Wm Hedges, another school of 5 males and 21 females paid for by their parents and also the boarding school, this one being Inchbalds school with 12 males. The school benefiting from Hedges charity was the national school est. 1833 on a plot of land east of the present church yard close to the road. This small building continued as a school for over the next 30 years until the announcement by Cannon Ware about building his school in 1868. Adwick Park Junior and infants school was to be the next school to be built at the latter end of the nineteenth century. This school underwent a another name change in the 1970’s to Adwick Park Middle School, now it is called Adwick Park Junior School.
Percy Jackson’s Grammar School was built in the 1940’s, Later to become Adwick Comprehensive school, The it underwent another name change to Adwick High School, Then dropped the High, to become Adwick School., Now to disassociate itself with all ties that are Adwick it is called The North Doncaster Technical College
The Art Deco Percy Jackson Grammar School was built in the late 1930s & opened for instruction on 9th October 1939.The official opening was delayed due to the outbreak of WW2. During the War it provided a safe haven to evacuee children from the Riley High School in Hull & other parts of the country. The children grew veg. in the school field & went to Summer camps to help farmers with their crops. It was eventually opened by Sir Fred Clarke on 23rd October 1943. Percy Jacksons merged with Adwick High School to form a comprehensive called Adwick School in 1968 after more buildings had been added lower down the school field. It was later renamed North Doncaster Technology College, Outwood College & finally Outwood Academy Adwick. Sadly it is planned to demolish the school in 2013 after a new building is erected for the Academy. An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery was found when the new North Ridge Community school was built close by in 2008.
In 1682 Joshua Brooke was presented to the benefice and in the words of a local historian “…..Joshua Brooke, being the incumbent, having his income considerably enlarged by the addition of this benefice built at his own expense the present parsonage-house, from the foundation of the previous parsonage, “subsequently it was enlarged by Rev. TM Symonds and finally acquired by the local authority in 1952 for the use of a town hall, this being after the new Rectory was built in 1950.”
From the 1851 Census returns Adwick’s properties were as follows, seventy-six households, The Red House Farm and the Red House Inn. The population was 442 of which 11 were visitors.
The Old Rectory gets repaired
We know that during the incumbency of Rev TM Symonds, 1844-47, extensive work was carried out on the fabric. The evidence for this is the letters and receipts unearthed by historians.
In August 1844 a receipt written by John Reasbeck was made out to the Rev. Symonds for the sum of £200 for the work done at the rectory and in December that year a further £200 was paid out, £100 for the masons and £100 for the joiners and carpenters. The following is a breakdown of cost.
Masons and Bricklaying £200-3-6
Plumbers £240-7-6
Plasterers £ 85-0-0
Painters £ 15-3-6
Total £601-4-6
There are letters referring to the mortgage to be raised by the said rector dated 30th may 1844, Plans and letters were sent to the Archbishop of York. The Archbishop consented, provided there was a appointment of a nominee to be patron when he signs the mortgage would be refunded.
A Patron was found on the 13th July 1844, Edmund and Robert Baxter of Doncaster made a bond to the most Revd. Edward Lord Archbishop of York to the sum of £1202-9-0. The letter states…
…”…the condition of the obligation is such that if the Edmund Baxter shall so do justly and truly pay and account for the sum of £505-4-6 or to be received by him from the govt bounty of Queen Anne, for the augmentation of the maintenance of the poor clergy to whom a mortgage hath been, or is, intended to be made and executed.”
Signed
Edward Ebor
The Most Revd. Archbishop of York
The work was completed and all work done and paid for in full. An affidavit of William Hurst of Doncaster, Architect and Surveyor, stated that the work was don and the money required was a correct estimate.
In a total acreage of 1,614 acres the Thellusson trustees held 684 acres, Diana Wroughton held 269 acres, Wm Workman, 184 acres and Ann Waterton 160 acres. This was information taken from the tithe commutation map of 1844. The church yard was much smaller, owned by the township were; three basic cottages and gardens, Pinfold cottage, Bell String Acre, Pigstye, Pinder’s acre, the Old Methodist chapel, the new one was built in 1887,the carpenters shop, the old tithe barn, Adwick Hall and its grounds.
The Church Institute
This was a gift from Rev. Edmund de Courcey Ireland. When the Institute was built it did not quite have the appearance it has today, the back and upper room were living quarters, the upper being two bedrooms. The houses alongside the institute, St Laurence’s Terrace. were also built by the same man
The Woodlands
The Woodlands, now the Park Club, must have been a very attractive site to travellers on the Great North Road 150 years or more ago.
The Hall and Park were built by Thomas Bradford, a member of the Doncaster Corporation around 1780. In 1795 he sold the Woodlands to a Capt. Christopher Waterton, who owned an estate in Demerara, presumably a sugar plantation. The Watertons could not have resided in Adwick very long for in the early 1800’s the occupants were the Greaves Elmsall family who rented the property from them.
Col. Elmsall, as a memorial tablet in the chancel states, fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He and his wife, Hannah, de Cardenel Elmsall had five children baptized at Adwick between 1825 and 1831. In 1837 they presented the church with an organ which was installed in the West gallery. In 1848 Woodlands was bought from the Watertons. Col. Elmsall died in 1851 and is buried near the church porch. His wife died 3 years later and the stained glass windows of the two Marys were given in her memory. One of the sons, Mansfield, occupied the hall until 1860 when it passed into the hands of Thomas Walker Esquire, in 1875, he generously paid for the building of the present porch, encasing the ancient south wall, the nave windows to St Laurence and St Stephen, and the tiling of the floor of the church. So the Church owes much to the former owners of the Woodlands.
The Blocked North Door
The North facing wall at the Hampole side of the church once had a door as did many other churches of this age. It has been blocked up now for many years. Most medieval churches followed suit and had theirs blocked also with the exception of Owston church.
Near the north door stood the old font until a new one was placed in it’s present position in 1835. It is not certain when the door at Adwick was blocked in, but many were done so deliberately at the time of the reformation. They were associated with a baptismal practice which was condemned as superstitious. During the baptism babies were exorcised. As well as using words, the priest symbolically blew on the infant and the North door was left open to aid the Devil’s flight. The doors were blocked to prevent this practice continuing.
Since the North was always considered as the Devils side, no burials no burials ever took place there in medieval times. Most of the older graves are to the south side of Adwick Church.
The custom of exorcism at baptism began when many new Christians were converted from pagan cults and spirit worship. Entry into the church was marked by driving away the power the former religious beliefs might hold over the candidates. Following the exorcism, the candidates, both infants and adults would be immersed three times in water, crossed in the name of the trinity, robed in a white baptismal gown, and anointed with oil by the bishop. What we know as confirmation was part of baptism and it has simply become a separate rite when Bishops could no longer be present at all baptisms.
