Worksop

The Manor of Worksop

The Manor of Worksop forms a separate constablewick, and comprises the greater part of the town, the Manor House and Park, Worksop Lodge, and the scattered dwellings of Ratcliffe, Ratcliffe Grange, harness Grove, Darfould and Sloswick, on the borders of Derbyshire, two miles west of the town. The Duke of Newcastle is sole proprietor, and lord of the manor, purchased in 1842 from his Grace the Duke of Norfolk, for the sum of £375,000. But Radford, the largest township of constablewick of the parish, contains several manors and hamlets belonging to different lords, viz. Clumber and Hardwick Grange, the property of the Duke of Newcastle; Rayton or Ryton, on the north side of the rivulet of that name, two miles east by north of Worksop, belonged to the late Francis Thornhaugh Foljambe Esq.; and Kilton, a large manor, extending northwards from the canal near Worksop to Carlton, and Hodsock, of which the Duke of Newcastle is lord, and also owner of all the land, except the neat mansions and estates of Forest Hill and Forest Farm, distant about two miles north of Worksop. His Grace the Duke of Newcastle is also lord and owner of the Manor of Radford, which includes the parish church, all the eastern part of the town, and the hamlet of Manton, distant one and a half miles to the west.

Before the Norman Conquest, Worksop, or Wirchesop, was the property of Elsi, a Saxon nobleman, but he was obliged to yield it to the Conqueror's favourite, Roger de Busli, whose man Roger became his feudal tenant, and was succeeded by William de Lovetot, lord of Sheffield and Hallamshire, who founded the abbey in Radford, and built a castle here on the west side of the town, upon a circular hill, which is still called Castle Hill, and is enclosed with a trench, except on the north side, where its precipitous bank is defended by the River Ryton. Of the castle nothing now remains, but its site is marked by a small plantation.

After many generations, the estates of the Lovetots were conveyed in marriage with their heiress, Matilda de Lovetot, to the family of Furnival, and from them they passed to the Nevills, and afterwards to the Talbots, who first became, on that account, barons of Furnival, afterwards Earls and Dukes of Shrewsbury, though now extinct as a dukedom. However, the earldom, in a junior branch, John, the first Earl of Shrewsbury, was a man of great military prowess, and became such a terror to France as to be extremely useful to Henry the Fifth in his wars with that country. He became so much attached to Worksop as to build here an immense mansion, with a magnificence in full accord with the splendour of his family. This, however, was unfortunately burnt down in 1761, and it is much to be regretted, as it was a beautiful specimen of old fashioned elegance. The Talbot estates being divided amongst co-heiresses, this portion came to the Howards, earls of Arundel, and now Dukes of Norfolk, and for twelve successions was held by that noble family, as tenants in chief to the crown. It is now possessed by his Grace the Duke of Newcastle.

The historian of Worksop, who had to devote his best energies to give a faithful description of this noble House and Park, with its most noble possessions, is now spared that labour. For the late duke of Newcastle purchased in 1839 the whole of the Norfolk estates in Worksop, and has taken down the Manor House, excepting part of the shell and some of the outbuildings, and divided the Park (which was eight miles in circumference) partly into accommodation land, a considerable portion of which is let to the tradesmen of Worksop. This park, which comprised 1,100 acres, once formed a part of the great forest of Sherwood, and contained many large trees, one of which, Evelyn, in his Sylva, says, was 180 feet from the extreme ends of the opposite branches, covering more than half an acre of ground. The House was justly celebrated for its beauty and architectural skill, and the visitor was struck with astonishment, when told what he saw was only the fifth part of the original design. The ancient structure, which contained about 500 rooms, was burnt down by an accidental fire in 1761, and it was estimated that the loss sustained in paintings, antique statues (many of which were of the old Arundelian collection, and discovered in digging the foundations of some houses in the Strand, in London, on the site of Arundel House), and in the library, must have amounted to £100,000.

White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853

[Last updated: Monday 2nd January 1998 - Clive Henly]