A Brief History of Arksey - Part One

Top Left to right, Arksey Church, Cooke memorial, Almshouses.
Bottom left to right, High Street, Old Post Office, Arksey Hall.

Ancient Arksey

Arksey is a village with a rich seam of history running right through it. From the Norman church, to seventeenth century buildings, a lost railway station and many stories of the past, Arksey has it all.

This two-part introduction to the history of Arksey will take you on a chronological journey through the centuries, from the earliest settlements, right up to the present.

Throughout this post there are links to more in-depth articles that will expand aspects of the history even further.

Contents of Part One

• Before Arksey
• Topography
• The Origin of the Name 'Arksey'
• The Arksey Surname
• Early Arksey
• The Domesday Book
• Arksey in the Domesday Book
• Medieval Arksey
• The Manor
• Lords of the Manor
• Manorial Residences
• Poll Tax 1379
• Archaeological dig
• Arksey Church
• Arksey's Oldest Building
• The Wider Area
• Villages and Hamlets Near Arksey
• Bentley
• Stockbridge
• Almholme
• Shaftholme
• Tilts
• Barnby Dun
• Early Modern Arksey
• Plague in Tudor Times
• The Cooke Family
• The Almshouses
• The Endowed School
• The Cooke's Move On
• Arksey in the Seventeenth Century
• The Hearth Tax
• Surviving Buildings
• Number One High Street
• Two Cottages on High Street
• White House Farm
• Arksey Hall
• Vicarages
• Arksey in the Eighteenth Century
• Time of Great Mortality
• Introduction of Enclosure

Before Arksey

Topography

Before Arksey there was marshland, lots of it. In fact, two thousand years ago the land downstream of the river Don was pretty inhospitable. There were vast expanses of peat moorland, broken up by scattered woodland which was prone to severe flooding in the winter. Up to five hundred acres could be under water for months at a time. Small islands of sand, gravel and pebble beds raised the land in places and peasant farmers retrieved these islands as farmland and small settlements.

Evidence of early settlers is scarce, but it seems there may have been people living in the area in pre-historic times. This Bronze Age accessory cup was found at Arksey and is now on show at Doncaster Museum.

Bronze Age Accessory Cup

The proximity of a Roman highway in the area has led to some finds from this era in Bentley and Adwick le Street. The presence of a Roman Road undoubtedly led to many settlements springing up along its route. Roads provided good communication and trade links as well as providing a boundary for communities.

The Origin of the Name 'Arksey'

The centre of Arksey is on a high knoll and would have appeared as an island for much of the year when the surrounding land was covered in water. This led to the creation of a place-name made up of two elements:

1. 'Ark', from an Old English personal name, Arcil' or its Old Norse equivalent, 'Arkil', 'Arkel' (from Arnketill).
2. 'Sey', from the Old English 'Sei(a)' a water-meadow, or an island surrounded by water.

Put together this translates as 'the water-meadow of Arcil, or Arnketill'.

As with any place-name of great age, variants in spelling have occurred many times over the centuries. Depending on the ability to spell of the person recording the name in documents etc, these variants crop up with some regularity, especially in the parish records, where several variants can appear in the same year. As a general rule though, certain variants can be attributed to certain periods in time. Here are some examples of variants and roughly when they were used. 

• 1086 - Archeseia,  (Domesday Book)
• 1184 - Arkesia
• 1230 - Arkese, Arkesia, Arkeseye, Arkesay,  (Yorkshire Deeds)
• 1266 - Arkexea, (Register of Archbishop Giffard)
• 1300 - Arkeshey
• 1347 - Arksay 
• 1428 - Arkessey 
• 1569 - Arksay, Arksaye, (Parish Registers)
• 1588 - Arxsey
• 1602 - Arksey, (Parish Registers)

The Arksey Surname

Yes, Arksey is used as a surname to this day. Locational in origin, it would have been used to describe where someone came from when identifying an individual; for example Walter de Arkesay, 'Walter of Arksey', which is a recorded name from the Northumberland Assize Rolls of 1297. Over time the name became hereditary, in what we now term surnames.

The spelling of the surname seems to have gone through the same transitions as the village name, with such examples being found as: Archesia, Archesei, Archeseia, Arksesey, Arksaye etc. Before finally ending up as Arksey.

It is most likely that the surname originated in the village before moving to other locations. A large concentration of Arksey's seem to have moved to East Yorkshire, especially around the Hull area. Others moved overseas to Canada, the US, Australia, and can now be found worldwide.

Families named Arksey are rarely found near the village now. There was a 'B Arksey' in the phone book for 1984, who lived at the Wittsend Caravan Park, and a couple of others in the Doncaster area in the 2000's, but most seem to be scattered elsewhere now. 

Early Arksey

It used to be thought that a settlement existed at Arksey no earlier than the 10th century, however, archaeological finds suggest the origin of the village could be as early as Romano-British. A small amount of Romano-British pottery, building material and glass was discovered during a dig on land opposite the vicarage in 2004, prior to a new housing development being built on Station Road (more on this below).  

The first recorded mention of Arksey comes in the Domesday Book of 1086, however it is entirely possible an earlier, possibly Saxon settlement existed before the Norman Conquest. The theory that there may have been a Saxon church before the Normans built All Saints, is contained in some archaeological evidence (see Arksey Church, below).

The Normans arrived in Britain in 1066 following Duke William of Normandy's victory at the Battle of Hastings. Several years of fighting hostile natives followed, and this led to the devastating 'harrying of the north', which had long lasting effects on the prosperity of the area.

The Domesday Book

In the year 1085 King William ordered a survey of all his lands in England. He sent commissioners to every shire, town and village in the year 1086 to record the number of households, economic resources, land owners and tax payable to the king. The resulting book is known as the Domesday Book.

Image of the Domesday Book

Arksey in the Domesday Book

Arksey was in the Hundred of Osgodcross, in the county of Yorkshire in 1086. Osgodcross no longer exists as a location, but at the time of Domesday forty one places were listed in the Hundred (a Hundred was a county division). The Domesday Book was written in Latin, which has been translated. It is a written list of the village's assets and some of the terms used are not familiar to us today.

Page from the Domesday Book containing the entry for Arksey
(highlighted in the red box) 

Cropped and enlarged image of the entry for Arksey in the Domesday Book

Here is the translation, with an explanation below:

In Arksey (Archeseia), Godric had 2 carucates of land 6 bovates to the geld, where there could be 2 ploughs. Roger has now half a plough there; and 5 villans and 6 bordars with 5 1/2 ploughs. Woodland pasture 7 furlongs long and 2 broad. TRE worth 40s; now 20s. 

The entry above tells us that: 

Godric had 2 carucates of land 6 bovates to the geld, where there could be 2 ploughs.

Godric was the Lord in 1066 (at the time of the Conquest), and at that time he held 2 carucates of land in Arksey. A carucate was roughly 120 acres, but this could vary widely. The carucates were sub-divided into eighths and were known as 'bovates', they were based on the area a single ox could plough in a year. The geld was the tax payable by the Lord to the Crown. The two ploughs would consist of two plough teams, each made up of eight oxen.

Continuing:

Roger has now half a plough there; and 5 villans and 6 bordars with 5 1/2 ploughs. 

This tells us that:

Roger de Bully (Roger of Bully, later referred to as Roger de Busli) was the Tenant-in-chief as well as the Lord in 1086. He owned half a plough team (four oxen) in 1086. Households in the village totalled eleven, and they were made up of five villans (villagers), who were small-scale landholders, each holding around thirty acres of land each and oxen for ploughing. There were six bordars, who were smallholders or cottagers, who each owned around five acres of land. They generally had a share of the villagers plough teams. The village had five and a half plough teams in 1086.

Finally:

Woodland pasture 7 furlongs long and 2 broad. TRE worth 40s; now 20s.

This tells us:

Woodland pasture of 7.2 furlongs is recorded. This was usually quantified by the number of pigs it supported. TRE (Tempora Regis Eduardis, the time of King Edward the Confessor) tells us that the total value of the estate in 1066 was two pounds, while in 1086 it had lost half its value and was worth one pound. This valuation helped the Crown calculate how much tax the Lord should be charged. Many northern estates lost value following the Conquest, and some were wiped out entirely. 

So in summary, in 1066, Godric held around 240 acres of land in Arksey, of which tax was payable on six eighths of each carucate. It was also thought that Godric owned two plough teams. In 1086 Roger de Bully held half a plough team in Arksey. There were eleven households in Arksey, holding five and half plough teams between them. There were 7.2 furlongs of woodland pasture, and the taxable value of the estate had dropped by half in twenty years, from two pounds to one pound.

This presents a picture of Arksey in 1086 as a small village of eleven households, each with land to raise crops and livestock. Nearby woodland pasture would be where the pigs were raised. No church is mentioned, and although we could assume there was no church at that time, it is entirely possible an unused, or ruined Saxon church existed, as there are indications to support the theory of an earlier Saxon church.

Medieval Arksey

The Manor

Both Arksey and its neighbouring village Bentley, which grew up at roughly the same time as Arksey, were held together in one manor, The Manor of Bentley with Arksey.

In England all land was owned by the King, this land was then divided into manors which would be held by the Lord. Manors usually consisted of one or two villages.

Within the manor the Lord controlled part of the land for the benefit of his household and dependents, this was called Demesne land. 

Dependent land was worked by villeins (peasant farmers legally tied to the Lord of the Manor). The villeins usually rented small houses from the Lord and were required to work on the demesne land, provide services or provide a share of their output. The villein was a bonded tenant who could not leave without the Lord's consent.

Free peasant land was land rented out without the same obligations as the dependant land, however it did come under the jurisdiction and custom of the Lord.

Lords of the Manor

The Manor of Bentley with Arksey has a long and complex list of Lords with the land changing hands many times over the centuries. As mentioned earlier, the first Norman Lord was Roger de Busli, he died without heir in 1099, so the land passed back to the crown and to William I's son Robert de Belleme (1052 - 1113) third Earl of Shewsbury, and brother of William II. 

Other families to hold the manor include the following:

• Newmarch(e)
• Tibetot
• Scrope
• Wyndham
• Cooke

The Cooke's were the last Lords of the Manor and held land in the area the longest of any other family. Buying the manor in around 1654, it wasn't until the 1890's that all their land was eventually sold. The Cooke's were baronets of Wheatley and had a long association with the village of Arksey, right up to the late 20th century, and the Cooke Charity is still a going concern to this day.

For more these subjects go to Manorial Families and Landowners, and Cooke Family History. 

Cooke coat of arms

Manorial Residences

Usually, a typical medieval manor would consist of a manor house, church with a parsonage, and a village, all surrounded by farmland, pasture, woodland and a water source. The manor of Bentley with Arksey is a little different in this respect. 

The centre of Arksey consisted of the church, the villagers cottages and farmland. Bentley had no church, just cottages and farmland, although Arksey had a larger amount of farmland available. Arksey Hall wasn't built until the Tudor period, and as far as anyone is aware, no Lords of the Manor have ever resided there.

Moat Hills, site of the Newmarch residence

The Newmarch family is thought to have built a large residence at Moat Hills, which was between Bentley and Arksey (sited off the present Arksey Lane and Millfield Road) in the fourteenth century. The earthwork visible today consists of a large double enclosure moated site and is thought to have been in existence by 1379. The residence was later used by the Cooke family until 1683, when they had a magnificent hall built at Wheatley, over the river from Arksey and Bentley.

Moat Hills is not to be confused with the Round About Moat in Arksey, which is believed to be the remains of a medieval moated domestic dwelling.

For more on this go to Moated Sites.  

Poll Tax 1379

A new poll tax (also called Subsidy Rolls) introduced in 1379 meant that everyone over the age of sixteen was counted. An estimate of the population of Arksey and Bentley can be worked out from this. Going on the theory that families consisted of 3.85 persons, the total population of Bentley and Arksey combined was around 250 people. The tax was charged at four pennies, but for those of trade it was higher, usually six pennies. In Bentley traders mentioned include a 'Smyth', 'Chapmen' (peddlars), and a 'Taillour'. Traders were few in the manor as goods could be bought at nearby Doncaster.

It is probably safe to assume that most medieval housing in Arksey was clustered close to the church. Remains of long, narrow plots of land on High Street can be seen on old maps. These could possibly be old burgage plots. Usually consisting of a dwelling on a long, narrow piece of land which fronted on to the village street, these plots were rented from the lord.

These possible plots have been traced out on this map of 1903, and although this is only a personal theory, it does seem possible that these old boundaries have survived almost intact. 

Also shown on the map (ringed in red) are the old Westcroft Cottages on Station Road, which definitely was a site of medieval housing. 

Possible remains of burgage plots on High Street, and Westcroft Cottages on Station Road,
another medieval site. Map 1903

Archaeological Dig

We know that the site of Westcroft Cottages was used in medieval times due to an archaeological survey carried out there in 2004. The evaluation was made prior to the building of new houses by Swan Homes. 

General view of the dig site in 2004, looking west. The old school can be seen in the centre background. The vicarage is just visible on the far right.

As mentioned earlier, this dig produced a small amount of Romano-British material, but most of the finds dated from the 12th to the 16th centuries.

Cattle remains 

Seven trenches were dug, which revealed signs of domestic and industrial occupation, including smelting and smithing. The remains of domestic animals such as cows, a pig and a dog were also found - some buried intact. A large ditch was found, measuring 2m deep at the south west edge of the site; biological deposits showed this to have been water filled. Among other features were four wells, post-holes, pits and gullies. A post-medieval wall was also found.

A post-medieval wall

Smaller finds included a large amount of iron and copper-alloy objects. Items such as a button, strap end and buckles were found, along with knife fragments, a small bell and a lead spindle-whorl. 

It is thought the layout was comprised of plots of land behind buildings on an old street frontage. No structures were found, but are thought to lie under the modern road (Station Road). So basically, what the archaeologists uncovered were the backyards of these properties.

To read the full evaluation go to the NAA website.

Arksey Church

Arksey's Oldest Building

The church of All Saints is Arksey's oldest building and Grade I listed. It was begun about 1150 by the Newmarch family. Just why they chose the centre of a poor medieval village to build such a church probably has more to do with what was already there than anything else. As mentioned before, there are indications that point to an earlier church. Firstly, the Normans were renowned for building churches on sites of pre-existing ones; also there is thought to be archaeological evidence in the stone work of the church. The lower chancel walls are crudely built and there are four large, reddish stones thought to originate from a Saxon tower. Then there is the name of the church; originally it was called All Hallows, which was a popular dedication in the late Anglo-Saxon. 'Hallows' refers to saints, and so the name was later changed to All Saints.

Arksey church in the early 1900's

The church is cruciform in design (shaped like a cross), and 80% of the original building is thought to survive. Later additions included the north and south chapels, north and south aisles, and the porch, all completed by the end of the fifteenth century. The tower, which was originally shorter than that of today, was raised to the current height between 1180 and 1220, with the spire being added later.

A full history and examination of the church can be found in the article All Saints Church History

   

The Wider Area

Villages and Hamlets Near Arksey

As land was cleared and drained new settlements began to appear, such as Almholme, Shaftholme, Tilts and Stockbridge. These hamlets joined the larger villages of Bentley, Arksey and Barnby Dun. Let us briefly look at each place in turn.

1772 map showing the Arksey area

Bentley

Arksey's nearest, and largest neighbour, Bentley first appears as an entry in the Domesday Book. Whether the village's history stretches back to Romano-British times like Arksey isn't known. Some Roman coins have been found there but nothing of Anglo-Saxon origin exists. 

The place-name of Bentley went through similar transitions to that of Arksey. The name is derived from the Old English beonet, meaning 'bent' (a wiry grass) and the Old English leah (meaning clearing), which when put together gives us Beonetleah. In the Domesday Book the name appears as Beneslaie.

Bentley Bridge 1910

Of the two villages, Arksey had the greater amount of agricultural land and was generally favoured over Bentley. It wasn't until the twentieth century that Bentley took over as the dominant village. Bentley Colliery brought growth, housing and people to the once semi rural village and it grew into the township we see today.

For much more on the history of Bentley, go to sister site Bentley Village, A History. 

Stockbridge

The tiny hamlet of Stockbridge lies just south west of Arksey and consist of just a handful of properties, mainly old farms. The settlement first appears in the Pipe Rolls (medieval financial records) of 1166 as Stochebrige. 

The name is derived from the Old English stocc, 'tree trunk or log', and brycg 'bridge' and means 'Bridge made of logs'.

Stockbridge Farm

For a full history of Stockbridge go to Local Hamlets Part Four - Stockbridge. 

    

Almholme

North east of Arksey lies the hamlet of Almholme. Five properties make up the hamlet, all originated as farms.

1854 map of Almholme

Almholme first appears in the Yorkshire Deeds (a land registry) in 1232 where it is recorded as Almholm. This name, like many others in the area went through many transitions before ending up as the Almholme we know today.

The name is derived from almr, holmr, and means 'Water-meadow growing with elms'.

For a full history of Amholme go to Local Hamlets Part Three - Almholme.

Shaftholme

North west of Arksey lies Shaftholme, another farming hamlet. 

1928 map of Shaftholme

The name of Shaftholme first appears in the Poll Tax of 1379 as Schaftholm. The name means 'Water-meadow marked by a pole' or 'one where poles were obtained'. This probably came about because poles were often used as markers in marshland. 

Shaftholme has an interesting history, it was once home to railway workers and one of the farms served as a public house - The Drum & Monkey - for a time.

For a full history of Shaftholme go to Local Hamlets Part One - Shaftholme.

Tilts

Tilts is a tiny hamlet tucked away down a lane north west of Shaftholme.

Map of Tilts in 1931

Tilts first appears as part of an area called Langthwaite with Tilts in the eleventh century when the area was held by Nigel Fossard. 

The name is thought to be derived from the Old French 'de Til'. 

Tilts is notable for its moated farm, thought to be the remains of a medieval moated manor dating between 1250 and 1350.

Tilts is also known for it's old brick kiln in the mid nineteenth century.

For a full history of Tilts go to Local Hamlets Part Two - Tilts. 

Barnby Dun

The large village of Barnby Dun lies just over three miles north east of Arksey. Notable for its proximity to the River Dun Navigation (canal), the village has a rich history stretching back at least as far as the early 11th century, when the settlement was named Barnabi.

The canal at Barnby Dun

The name Barnby Dun appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Barnebi, and by 1282 this had changed to Barneby. By 1285 the 'Dun' element had been added to the name and it became Barneby super Don; 'Don' became 'Dun' over time.

The name itself is from a Scandinavian personal name Barni, and means 'The farm of Barni'.

Note: As a history of Barnby Dun would require its own blog, it does not form part of this project.

Early Modern Arksey

Plague in Tudor Times

The end of the 15th century saw the end of the medieval era and the advent of the Early Modern period. Times were changing in Arksey too; a turbulent few centuries passed with the manor frequently changing hands, and this was coming to an end with the rise of the Cooke family, who would hold lands here for the next three hundred years or so.

One of the things most associated with Tudor England is plague. It was one of the most feared diseases of the time and no town in the country was immune from its effects it seems.

Plague seemed to be a term used for any pandemic of unknown origin, but the best known is the Black Death, otherwise known as the 'pestilence'. The Black Death was a disease spread by flea-bitten rats and characterized by buboes (swollen lymph glands) and other horrific symptoms which ultimately led to a rapid death.

Plague came to Arksey in 1582 when a Thirsk man was found collapsed at Amersall on the North Road. Following his death he was buried in Arksey churchyard, but the disease he brought with him resulted in high mortality rates for Aksey in the following months, and also spread to to the wider population of Doncaster.

Depiction of The Black Death

Another plague hit Doncaster in 1605 which lasted more than a year, but didn't affect the villages of Arksey and Bentley as severely as the previous one. Arksey parish registers, which began in 1557 list many of these plague victims and also describe other diseases and causes of death among the populace.

Growth in population carried on until 1630, but then deaths outnumbered births for the next fifty years; this included the years of the Civil War, with 1643, 1658, 1670 and 1680 being the years when deaths were twice to four times greater than births.

For more on plague and other diseases from the church registers, go to How We Died.  

The Cooke Family

Originally from 15th century Almholme, the Cooke family began buying land in the area and subsequently climbed the social ladder. In 1504 Edward Cooke became Mayor of Doncaster and the family's social status was secured. In 1654 the Cooke's bought the manor of Bentley and Arksey and moved into the old Newmarch manor house at Moat Hills. They bought the manor of Wheatley in 1658 and had a magnificent house built there called Wheatley Hall.

Wheatley Hall

The family was awarded a baronetcy in 1661 for loyalty to the crown during the Civil War, and it was the first baronet, Sir George Cooke who carried out a bequest left by his late brother Bryan for the building of the Almshouses and Endowed School at Arksey.

For more on the Cooke family go to Cooke Family History.

For more on the hall go to Wheatley Hall.

The Almshouses

Almshouses porch 1895

The Grade II listed Almshouses were built in 1660 for the poor widows of Arksey and consisted of twelve dwellings built around a quadrangle, with an ornate stone gateway which, according to the inscription, was rebuilt in 1736. The original building had a thatched roof, but was later replaced with slates and then again with tiles. 

The Almshouses. Photo courtesy of Ian Barber

The Almshouses remained occupied until the early 1990's, and after some years of lying empty and derelict were totally renovated in the late 1990's. The property now has six, larger dwellings for the elderly and disabled of the parish.   

For more on this go to The Almshouses.    

The Endowed School

The Endowed School was built on land adjoining the Almshouses in 1683. A stipend of £40 was also provided for a schoolmaster. 

The Endowed School in 1895

The school continued to be used as such for almost three hundred years, but by 1970 pupil numbers had outgrown the size of the school and a new one was built in a different part of the village. The building has latterly been used as a youth club, shop, and now has a tea rooms in part of the building. The old school building and the wall surrounding it are both Grade II listed.

A schoolmaster's house was built in the 18th century, just over the road on the present Station Road. The house was lived in by various school masters and their families for generations. 

The schoolmaster's houses seen on the right of this 1970's aerial photo

The last occupants were Michael Price and his mother, the son and widow of the late Rev. J. Pierce Price. Michael eventually moved out and went to lodge elsewhere, leaving the house to fall into disrepair, and then ruin. It was demolished prior to a new development being constructed in 2005.

For more on this go to Educating Arksey.

The Cooke's Move On

The Cooke's continued their close association with Arksey and the Cooke Charity. When the Almshouses were renovated in the late 1990's the baronet at the time, Sir David Cooke (1935 - 2017), visited Arksey to accept the keys to the properties with charity trustees.

As landowners, the Cooke's made huge profits from land sales in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for railway and colliery purposes. 

In 1911 the 10th baronet, Sir William Henry Charles Wemyss Cooke (1872 - 1964) moved out of Wheatley Hall and the Doncaster area entirely. The Hall was briefly used as a golf club, but centuries of flooding had undermined the building and the crumbling mansion was pulled down in the 1930's.

  

Bust to Sir George Cooke in Arksey church

Later generations of the Cooke family moved south, until Sir David Cooke (the 12th baronet) moved to Edinburgh for his final years. 

Sir David died in 2017 and was interred in the Cooke family vault in Arksey church.

Sir David died without a male heir, so the baronetcy has now passed to the Cooke-Yarborough branch of the family.

For more on this go to Cooke Family History.

Arksey in the Seventeenth Century

The Hearth Tax

The best way of estimating the number of households in any village is to look at data gathered at the time of censuses or when new taxes were introduced, such as the Poll Tax of 1379. In 1662 a Hearth Tax was introduced and in basic terms, this was calculated according to the number of hearths in a property, the assumption being that larger properties would have more hearths and therefore have to pay more tax. 

In Bentley and Arksey an indication of the number of houses and their sizes can be gained from the returns. In 1662 one hundred and twenty six properties are listed for the villages of Bentley, Arksey and the surrounding hamlets, where there were four in Shaftholme, seven in Stockbridge, eleven in Almholme, one at Bridge Foot and a parsonage. 

The largest was a house at Bridge Foot which had nine hearths. Bridge Hall was once home to the Wilbore family, and this house stood at the Bentley end of what is now St George's Bridge, just where Willow Bridge caravan park is.

Bridge Hall

Of the one hundred other houses in the villages there was an assortment of sizes as listed below:   

• 1 with 8 hearths
• 3 with 7 hearths
• 1 with 6 hearths
• 4 with 5 hearths
• 9 with 4 hearths
• 13 with 3 hearths
• 21 with 2 hearths
• 48 with 1 hearth 

The population for both villages totalled about four hundred and eighty five, which showed they had grown considerably since the Poll Tax of 1379.

Surviving Buildings

Quite a lot of stone cottages were built in the seventeenth century in Arksey, most of which were centred on High Street. The  rows of cottages in the photo below were built side-on to the road, forming 'yards' between them. Two of these yards were known as Taylor's Yard and Ottley's Yard. 

Sadly, the majority of them succumbed to so much flooding at various times that they had to be demolished. Most of the cottages were gone by the end of the 1950's, and only photographs of them remain. 

Cottages on High Street, photographed from the church tower in the early 20th century.

Number One High Street

Some cottages however did survive, for instance, one cottage next to the Almshouses. This cottage was built in 1620 and used to be known as 'The Carpenters Arms' inn. The building is said to contain the remains of an old barrel store and there is also a story that a tunnel connects the cottage with the church.

Cottage built in 1620, pictured during the floods of 1932

The same cottage pictured in 2008

Two Cottages on High Street

Two other cottages on High Street dating from 1667 survive, and another next to them which is probably of a similar age also survives. 

A pair of cottages dating from 1667 on High Street, Grade II listed.
Photographed in 2008.
 

Another old cottage on High Street.
Photographed in 2008.

White House Farm

This half-timbered farm house on Almholme Lane lies just opposite the side boundary wall of Arksey Hall. Unable to find a date for this building, it appears very old and could be of similar date to number one High Street, which was built in 1620. 

Early inhabitants are almost impossible to find, but it was the home of Wilfred Thornton from around 1946. 

White House Farm, date unknown.
Photo courtesy of John Hufton

Although no longer used as a farm, the outbuilding have been converted and incorporated into the house, and it is now a private dwelling.

White House Farm pictured in 2009

Arksey Hall

The current building dates from the early nineteenth century but is built around an earlier core. A fireplace within the building bears the date 1653, but the building could have Tudor origins.

Lords of the manor never used Arksey Hall as their home, but it was used as the residence of the local squire. 

Early in its history it was the home of General Robert Portington, who fought as a Royalist during the Civil War. He was famously hunted down by Cromwell's men and hid in his haylofts. He escaped with wounds when the soldiers thrust their swords into the hay where he hid. Eventually he was picked up  and taken prisoner in Hull. His death came in 1660 when he was bitten by a monkey following his release. He was buried in the chancel of Arksey church.

Arksey Hall

The Chadwick family occupied the hall from 1839 to 1910. William Chadwick succeeded his father William snr as squire in 1888. The family owned land locally and some of it was sold off for railway building.

Following the departure of the Chadwicks the hall was divided into two dwellings and part of it was used as commercial premises, while the other part became a private residence.

Arksey Hall in 1992 during conversion into a care home

Latterly the hall has been used as a care home for the elderly and a specialist care home for adults with complex needs.

For more on the Hall and General Portington go to Arksey Hall.

Vicarages

The old vicarage on Ings Lane is thought to date from the sixteenth century, but could even be of Tudor origin. This should not to be confused with the later vicarage next to the church. The old vicarage was the original residence of Arksey vicars. 

The Old Vicarage pictured in 2009

The other vicarage was built in 1834/5 and is Grade II listed. The building ceased to be used as a vicarage in the early twenty first century and is now a private family home.

The vicarage next to the church

For more on this go to All Saints Church History.

Arksey in the Eighteenth Century

Time of Great Mortality

During the early part of the eighteenth century births in Arksey and Bentley outnumbered deaths, for the most part, and from 1760 onward fertility increased, with births in the 1770's and 1780's being a third higher than deaths. However, there was one exception when in the late 1720's mortality spiked. In the years 1727 to 1730 one hundred and fifty eight burials took place at Arksey church, which compares to thirty five burials in the previous three years. A special note appears in the parish register of 1729:

'The greatest mortality that ever can be remembered or made out to be in the Parish of Arksey.'

Written in ink of a different colour to the rest of the records, it is signed Chas Herring (Charles Herring was parish clerk at the time).
The parish records do not record causes of death during this period but this mortality crisis seems to have been a nationwide event. Evidence from over four hundred parish registers show that death rates were up one hundred percent on the previous three years.

Arksey Parish Registers (printed version)

The cause of this mortality spike doesn't seem to come down to one single factor. A poor harvest in 1728 caused food shortages, and a population weakened from lack of food would succumb to all kinds of infectious diseases. Other parishes recorded 'suffocating coughs', 'inflammatory fevers', 'agues' and 'pluraisy'. Agues were chills and sweats, and 'pluraisy' (pleurisy) was inflammation of the lungs, so influenza could have played a part in the cause.

Introduction of Enclosure

The eighteenth century brought a change in the way land was farmed. For centuries owner-occupiers and tenants had farmed in strips of land in huge common fields. The gradual change from this practice to a more efficient method of enclosing holdings in small fenced or hedged 'closes' was first carried out by the lords of the manor, however, in the first half of the eighteenth century a huge number of acts of enclosure were passed.

Example of an Enclosure map (not Arksey)

The acts for enclosing land at Bentley and Arksey started in 1759 and concerned the lands immediately north of the river Don, in an area known as 'Bentley and Arksey Ings'. The straight roads across the common were laid out at this time and were named Arksey Common Lane, Mastall Lane and Ings Lane. This land was prone to flooding due to work carried out in the 1720's to the 1740's on the Don Navigation to make it accessible for larger cargo vessels.

At the same time as the land was being enclosed many small roads and footpaths were 'stopped up and discontinued' to allow for new field boundaries. Drains were also altered and improved.

Without a doubt Enclosure was the biggest change in agriculture in centuries and the effect on the local population would have been immense. The change would have swept away certain rights from the villagers, rights that they would have depended on for their subsidence.

Enclosure would prove to be just the first phase in a time of change for the people of Arksey. A new industrial age was dawning and the local people would have to adapt to this progress. Life in rural Arksey and Bentley was about to change and would never be the same again.

Continue reading in A Brief History of Arksey - Part Two.  


First written 2013, updated 2016, re-written and updated 2019.