Nottinghamshire Contents

Radcliffe On Trent and Lamcote

Radcliffe On Trent is a large and well-built village and parish, six miles east by south of Nottingham, remarkable for its very romantic scenery, being situated upon a lofty cliff on the south bank of the Trent, from which it has its name, and which affords it some extensive and beautiful prospects over the vale, watered by that broad and meandering river. It contains 259 houses. 1,273 inhabitants and about 1,873 acres of fertile land, which was enclosed in 1788, when the tithes were exonerated by an allotment of 100 acres to the impropriator, and 40 acres to the vicar.

Earl Manvers is proprietor of nearly all the land, and lord of the manor. He is also patron of the vicarage, which is valued in the King's books at £4 12s 6d, now at £198, and has received two augmentaions from Queen Anne's Bounty, with which 26 acres of land have been purchased. the church, which was anciently appropriated to Thurgarton Priory, is dedicated to St Mary, and was thoroughly repaired, with the addition of a gallery and 195 free seats, in 1829, by subscription and a gift from the Society for Building and Enlarging Churches, and in 1852 it was repewed and a new stone pulpit and reading desk added at a cost of £300, raised by subscription. It has a nave and chancel, with a tower and four bells and had, lying in a niche, "a wooden figure of Stephen Radcliffe, said to be the founder", which the loyal inhabitants dressed to represent Bonaparte, and was burnt on the news of one of the Peninsular victories. The Rev. Robert Burgess M.A. is the incumbent, and resides in the vicarage house, besides which here are several other modern mansions. The feast is on the Sunday after September 19th. The Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists each have a chapel here. The former was erected, at a cost of £1,200, in 1839. It will accommodate about 500, and underneath is a large schoolroom capable of holding 400 children.

The late Dowager Countess Manvers for many years supported a school here, for the education of 21 poor boys and girls. In 1834, Miss Ann Parr, of Radcliffe, left £300, the interest of which is paid to a schoolmaster to teach 20 poor children the art of reading and writing. In 1714, the benefactions belonging to the poor of this parish amounted to £33, and were laid out in the purchase of 2a 16p of land, which was augmented at the enclosure with an allotment of 2a 3r 6p, and is now let for £13 per annum, half of which is distributed by the churchwardens at Christmas, and the rest is dispensed at various times amongst the sick parishioners.

At the south-west extremity of the village stands the manor of Lamcote, which is mostly in the parish of Holme Pierrepont. After the Conquest, Radcliffe was held of William Peveril by Predgis and Ulviet, except a portion of it which was held of the fee of Walter D'Ayncourt. It subsequently passed to the Hotot, Basely, Hoveringham, Radcliffe, Rosel, and other families. The Pierreponts had possessions here as early as Edward III and have since, by purchase &c., become possessed of the whole manor, some portions of which were granted by its early proprietors to the kinghts of St John of Jerusalem, and others to the abbeys of Newstead, in this county, and Dale in Derbyshire.

The Ambergate, Nottingham and Boston Railway Company have a neat station here, and there are 3 up and 3 down trains on the week days, and 2 each way on Sundays, besides 2 goods trains daily. Mr John Bird is the station master.

White's Directory of Nottinghamshire 1853

[Last updated: Tuesday 8th July 1997 - Clive Henly]

© Copyright C.R.G. Henly 1997