Local Hamlets Part Three - Almholme

White House Farm at Almholme

Almholme

There are many hamlets in the north Doncaster area, mostly made up of farming communities. They usually consist of a few farms and maybe a few houses, but usually there are no public amenities and are often without a bus service. 

Arksey has four satellite hamlets, Shaftholme, Tilts, Almholme and Stockbridge. All these places came under the enumeration district of Bentley-with-Arksey, along with some others which satellite Bentley.

This third in a series of four articles focuses on Almholme; Shaftholme being part one, while Tilts is part two, and Stockbridge is part four, see bottom of page for links.

Contents

• Locating Almholme
• Old Roads and Old Maps
• Early History
• Early Inhabitants
• Notable People and Families
• Robert Cooke
• John Revell
• Richard Adwicke Gent.
• The Addeman Family
• The Crawshaw Family
• Properties and Later Inhabitants
• Census Returns
• Electoral Registers
• The Massarella Family

Locating Almholme

Almholme aerial view, Google Earth

Almholme lies just over a mile north east of Arksey, and can be reached by leaving Arksey via Almholme Lane and following its entire length up and into Almholme. The main road past Almholme is called Fordstead Lane, which leads to the Lift Bridge at the edge of Barnby Dun.

Almholme consists of a triangle of lanes, two of which are called Almholme Lane. They join up with Common Lane which heads south east out of the hamlet.

Common Lane eventually leads back to Arksey and also joins up with other straight lanes across Arksey Ings. These lanes were set out at the time of Enclosure in 1759.

For more on the Acts of Enclosure go to A Brief History of Arksey - Part One.

Modern map showing Almholme in relation to its surroundings

Old Roads and Old Maps

Map of Almholme 1854

Comparing this 1854 map (above) with the modern aerial photo (also above) shows that little has changed in the past 160 years, in fact, the village seems to have stood still in all that time. With the exception of the odd modern farm building and alterations to some properties, Almholme still retains its charm of yesteryear.

More apparent are the changes in road layouts around Almholme. For instance, it used to be quite a long journey to reach Barnby Dun from Almholme as Fordstead Lane didn't exist until the 1950's.

Almholme to Barnby Dun route c.1895

This 1895 map (above) shows the possible* route you had to take to reach Barnby Dun (in red). Using the old 'Enclosure' lanes, the route passed close to the River Don before crossing Grumble Hurst Drain via Grumble Hurst Bridge, then headed north east to the swing bridge at Barnby Dun. 

Almholme to Barnby Dun route c.1961

By 1959 Fordstead Lane had been built, so there now existed a more direct route to Barnby Dun (in red, above) which crossed fields to the north of Almholme.

The roads (or lanes) to Arksey and Shaftholme were more straightforward. Almholme Lane is still the main thoroughfare between Arksey and Almholme, and of course Shaftholme could be reached via Arksey too, but there was also a more direct route.

Almhome to Arksey and Shaftholme c.1895

Shaftholme could be reached by taking Carr Gap Lane and Riddings Lane, which looped round the edges of several fields. The lane is still there today, the full length of it now being called The Balk, and used by farm vehicles only.

*This is my interpretation of the route only, if you know better please get in touch.

Early History

Almholme is one of several hamlets north of the old manor of Bentley with Arksey which lie in previously uninhabited marsh lands.

Better drainage came with land reclamation and woodland clearances, allowing small islands to be settled in the medieval period. Among these islands was 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'.

As with other place names in the vicinity Almholme is recorded over time with a variety of spelling variations, such as:

• Almholm (e) - 1232 -7, 1535, 1595
• Almeholm (e) - 1232 - 7, 1453, 1551
• Albeholm - 1285
• Tomholm - 1379
• Awmholme - 1575
• Allneholmes - 1672

Early Inhabitants

It is unclear how many properties existed in Almholme in the early years, however it is possible to get some idea of how many families lived there in the latter half of the sixteenth century from the parish records.

Almholme people attended Arksey church for their regular services and it was also the church they were baptised, married in and buried at.

1569 is the year when place-names were first included in the entries for burials; and along with baptism entries from 1590, a picture of the inhabitants of Almholme can be gained. The surnames with one or more entries in the parish registers between 1569 and 1600 are as follows:

• Bradford
• Burton
• Cottingham (a servant in the Saile household)
• Crawshey (later 'Crawshaw')
• Crowser
• Healey
• Mascall
• Mawger
• Ranie
• Sayle (Saile)
• Ussher (Usher)
• Walker
• Whitacres (Whitaker)

From this list we can determine that there were about a dozen households which compares favourably with the Hearth Tax records of 1672, which lists eleven properties.

Notable People and Families

Despite the tiny size of Almholme it did have its share of interesting people and families. Whether through links to interesting historic events, noble families, or just long associations with the place, they are worth noting here.

Robert Cooke

Although almost nothing is known about Robert Cooke himself, he is the first recorded ancestor of the Cooke Baronets of Wheatley. 

Whether Robert was born at Almholme or not is not recorded, but he did live in the hamlet in the fifteenth century. His son Edward set up home at Arksey Hall and was Mayor of Doncaster between 1504 and 1508. Edward had two sons, William and Lawrence.

Lawrence Cooke became head of the Carmelite Priory in Doncaster and was famously embroiled in the Pilgrimage of Grace of 1536, which ultimately led to his imprisonment in the Tower of London and execution at Tyburn in 1540.  

William Cooke remained in the Doncaster area, and it was his Grandson Bryan Cooke Esq. who after being fined heavily in 1647 for supporting the Royalist cause in the Civil War, was eventually pardoned. His son George was awarded a baronetcy in 1661 for his father's loyalty to the crown. It was George Cooke who built the Almshouses and Endowed School in Arksey, and also bought the manor of Wheatley.  

The Cooke family arms

  

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

For more on the Pilgimage of Grace go to At The Foot Of The Bridge on sister site Bentley Village, A History.

John Revell

John Revell found himself in trouble during the Civil War. Originally of Arksey, Revell rented a dwelling house and land in Almholme from Sir Thomas Ingram, Kt. in the 1640's.

In 1646, while living at Almholme he found himself up before a Parliamentary Committee accused of raising forces against Parliament. He was charged with taking it upon himself to be a chief constable, contrary to order of law. It is said he then used his 'powers' to force men into battle. He also executed several warrants for raising money, provisions and arms against Parliament.

Revell took an 'oath of covenant', pledging not to take up arms against Parliament again, but was seized of lands in Aston and Norton, Derbyshire, and also of his wife's lands in Castleford. He was also fined £96.

It is very likely that Revell had his lands returned to him at the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

Richard Adwicke Gent.

The name 'Adwicke' first occurs in Arksey in 1252. This Adwicke was described as an 'outlander', coming from 'somewhere else'. 

Between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries Adwickes established themselves as tenant farmers in the Arksey area, but also as far away as Tickhill and Beverley. 

By the 1600's the Adwickes were regarded as minor gentry. Richard Adwicke of Almholme (1632 - 1672) being one such member of the Adwicke family to be regarded as a 'Gentleman'. Richard was a Yeoman farmer, meaning he owned the land he farmed. He was married to Elizabeth Bright of Sheffield in 1655 and they had seven children, the last one being born just two months after Richard's death. 

There were a few other branches of the Adwicke family scattered across the Arksey and Bentley areas, but trying to understand all the relationships is quite impossible from parish registers alone. 

Just on a parting note from this story though, there was a John Adwicke of Arksey who's daughter Theodosia (1669 - 1714) married Robert Seaton (1638 - 1716) in 1669. He built Grimethorpe Hall in 1670 for their family home. The Hall, on Brierley Road, Grimethope still stands. Although derelict, there is an ongoing campaign to save the building from being demolished.

For more on Grimethorpe Hall go to Save Grimethorpe Hall.

350 year old Grimethorpe Hall near Barnsley

The Addeman Family

The Addeman family (sometimes spelled Addiman) arrived in Almholme around 1626 with the arrival of Peter and Elizabeth Addiman. This farming family produced an impressive line of descendants who would go on to populate Shaftholme, Arksey and Bentley. 

The Almholme Addemans remained in the village until the 1840's, after which the entire family left the country for a new life in Ontario, Canada.

A genealogical history of the Almholme Addemans, including a family tree is available on request. Email arkvillhistory@yahoo.co.uk or use the contact form.

The Crawshaw Family

Crawshaws have lived in the Arksey area for centuries. They first appear as far back as the 1560's in the parish registers.

The greatest concentration of them seems to have been in Almholme where they were Yeoman farmers. 

The family is too complex to trace a full history of them, but one gravestone in Arksey churchyard tells a tragic story of one branch of the Almholme Crawshaws.

Grave of Robert and Ann Crawshaw's children

Robert and Ann Crawshaw lived in Almholme in the mid to late 1700's. Robert was a Yeoman farmer of some importance and regarded locally as a 'Gentleman'. 

He was born in Almholme in 1743 to another Yeoman farmer, Daniel Crawshaw and his wife Jane Tirwhitt (the Tirwhitt's being an important farming family in the area too).

Robert married his wife Ann Holme in Campsall on the 23rd of April 1776 and they made their home in Almholme.

The couple had eight children: 

1. Ann b.1777
2. Robert b.1778
3. Jane b.1780
4. Mary b.1783
5. Elizabeth b.1784
6. Sarah b.1787
7. Ann b.1789
8. Daniel b.1798

The year 1784 was a very tough year for the family as they suddenly lost their three eldest children in the same month of that year.

First to be taken was Ann on the fourth of June; she is aged at three years on the grave but as the only baptism listed for Ann is in 1777, it would suggest she was actually seven years old.

The next to be taken was Jane, who died on the tenth of June, she was five years old.

Nine days later, on the nineteenth of June their son Robert also died, aged seven.

What disease took these children so quickly can only be guessed at. Nothing is listed in the parish registers and there doesn't seem to be a high mortality rate among the population at that time, which might have suggested an outbreak of cholera for instance. Whether it was smallpox, whooping cough or some other childhood disease, it was a miracle that their baby sister Mary, who was around eighteen months old at the time, was spared.

The tragedy didn't end there for the family; six years later in 1800, their daughter Elizabeth died on the sixth of June of consumption, she was fifteen years old. Then just two years later, the couple's only surviving son Daniel died of unknown cause on May the eighteenth, he was eight years old.

In the space of eight years Robert and Ann had lost five of their eight children. The three surviving girls, Mary, Sarah and the second Ann (names were often re-used following the death of an older child), all went on to marry and probably have children of their own.

Robert Crawshaw died on the third of August 1799 at the age of fifty five. His widow Ann lived to the great age of ninety three, dying on the twelfth of April 1840.

The Crawshaw graves are to be found by the vicar's door at Arksey church (see below). There are three attributed to the Crawshaws and one to Nathan Workman who was related to them through marriage.   

Three of the above are Crawshaw graves

Properties and Later Inhabitants

Census Returns

The census returns give a real insight into the population of Almholme. Beginning in 1841 you get a real sense of just how many households there were, the family dynamics and the occupations of everyone living there.

1891 census of Almholme

Throughout most of the nineteenth century there were up to sixteen properties occupied at each census. It is quite tricky to work out from the census forms, but it appears that there were up to four farms in Almholme, all employing farm hands and servants. A number of cottages provided accommodation for the farm workers and their families.

Population numbers varied little during this time, mostly there were between sixty and seventy individuals (including children) resident in the village, rising to eighty five in 1861. By 1911 numbers were steady at seventy four.

Being a farming community the majority of occupations from 1841 to 1911 were as you would expect, farm related. From agricultural labourers to dairy maids, to handlers of livestock, they made up the backbone of the community. Some other occupations reflected other industry in the area too, like brick making, coal mining and the railways. Children were mostly classed as 'scholars' and would have walked the mile into Arksey every day for their lessons at the Endowed School.

Electoral Registers

1945 electoral register for Bentley with Arksey

To find out about Almholme residents after 1911, which was the last census to be released, we have to look at the electoral registers. These are useful as the properties listed are mostly named (from 1945 on), so we can determine who lived in each property. Unlike the census records though, it is impossible to count the population as a whole because children are not included, only those of voting age were named.

Below is an example of the properties and residents named in the 1945 electoral register:

Low Farm - Walter, Gertrude and Raymond Poskitt 

White House Farm - John, Mary, Alma and William Nicholson 

Almholme Cottage - Fred, Margaret and Harriet Undy

Farm Cottage - William and Winifred Abbott 

Almholme Grange - John and Elizabeth Massarella, also  Tom and Annie Rushworth

Farm Cottage - Florence Mack, also Margaret Walker

Those in un-named properties are as follows:

George Hewitt 

Elizabeth Wadsworth  

George H, Laura and George Senior

This 1904 map shows the locations of each farm

A few of the residents changed over the years, but many remained. Here is a list of residents in the last electoral register available to view online, that of 1962.

Low Farm - Frederick and Norah Taylor 

White House Farm - Stephen and Doris Dusi 

White Cottage, Fred and Harriet Undy 

Almholme Grange - John, Elizabeth and Penelope

Massarella, also John Doyle

Farm Cottage - Lilian Haigh

Farm Cottage - Charles and Margaret Balmforth 

Farm Cottage - Richard and Shirley Elden 

Almholme House - Arthur, Amy, Arthur and Jean Annis 

Farm Cottage - Joseph, William and Winifred Abbott

And in the un-named properties:

George Hewitt

Elizabeth Wadsworth

White House Farm and Cottages c.1950's

The photo above shows White House Farm in the 1950's. Adjacent to the farm were the Farm Cottages (as listed above). The photo was kindly donated by Russell Haigh whose Grandparents, Ernest and Lilian lived in one of the cottages.

 

Almholme House

The Massarella Family

Those with a sharp eye may have noticed the Massarella name among the above registers of electors. This Doncaster family famed for their ice cream first came to the UK from Italy in 1864. 

One branch of the family lived in Bentley where the ice cream business was based, while others lived in Almholme.

Massarella's ice cream vans in the 1960's

Andrew and Dorothy Massarella lived at Low Farm during the late 1940's and early 1950's, while John and Elizabeth Massarella (relationship to Andrew unestablished) lived at Almholme Grange.

Low Farm

Almholm Grange (part of)

It was John who owned the champion show-jumper Mister Softee, famously ridden by David Broome in the 1960's. 

Mister Softee was stabled at Almholme where he lived with his best friend, a donkey, and was a magnet for the local children who liked to feed him some grass or a carrot or two.

David Broome competing on Mister Softee at the 1968 Mexico Olympics where they won bronze

For more on Mister Softee go to The Ice Cream Horse.

For more on Massarella's ice cream business go to The Godfathers of Ice Cream on sister site Bentley Village, A History.

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For part one on Shaftholme go to Local Hamlets Part One - Shaftholme.

For part two on Tilts go to Local Hamlets Part Two - Tilts.

For part four on Stockbridge go to Local Hamlets Part Four - Stockbridge.

Alison Vainlo 

Written 2017, updated 2020

Local Hamlets Part Four - Stockbridge

Stockbridge Farm

Stockbridge

There are many hamlets in the north Doncaster area, mostly made up of farming communities. They usually consist of a few farms and maybe a few houses, but usually there are no public amenities and are often without a bus service. 

Arksey has four satellite hamlets, Shaftholme, Tilts, Almholme and Stockbridge. All these places came under the enumeration district of Bentley-with-Arksey, along with some others which satellite Bentley.

This final part in a series of four articles focuses on Stockbridge. The first part being about Shaftholme, the second about Tilts, and the third about Almholme.

Contents

• Locating Stockbridge
• Early History
• Early Inhabitants
• Richard Helm
• The Hall Family
• Plague
• Nineteenth Century Stockbridge
• Arksey Fishing Pond
• Stockbridge Farm
• Later Occupants of Stockbridge Farm
• 'Farmer Jackson' - Boxer
• Hamlet Hopping

Locating Stockbridge

Aerial view of Stockbridge

Stockbridge (not Stocksbridge) lies off Arksey Lane just before reaching the level crossing. Consisting of just one road, Stockbridge Lane, it runs in a northerly direction, parallel with the railway line for about a quarter of a mile, before splitting off to a footpath and a dead-end access road.

There are two farmhouses on Stockbridge Lane, Stockbridge House Farm, which lies at the top of the lane (unmarked on the map, left), and the empty Stockbridge Farm, halfway along the lane. A third farm, called Bridge Farm, which used to stand near the entrance to Stockbridge Lane has been absorbed into the permanent Travellers' site there.

Modern map of Stockbridge

Early History

The name Stockbridge is a habitational name derived from the Old English stocc 'tree trunk', 'log', and brycg 'bridge' i.e. 'bridge made of tree trunks or logs'.

It first appears in the Pipe Rolls (financial records) of 1166 as Stochebrige, and as is the case with many other place-names, there have been a number of variations in how it is spelled over the centuries, as this list shows:

• 1166 - Stochebrige
• 1246 - Stocbrig(g)
• 1342, 1490 - Stokbrig(g) or Stokbryg(g)
• 1590 - Stockbrig(e) or Stockbrigg
• 1602, 1822 - Stockbridge   

For more on the Pipe Rolls go to Pipe Rolls - Wikipedia.

Early Inhabitants

The earliest written evidence of people in Stockbridge comes in a land transference document of 1342, which mentions a 'William, son of Thomas Gamell of Stokbrigg'. The name 'Gamell' is still in the area by the time of the Poll Tax returns in 1379; unfortunately, not many place names are listed alongside the names, so there is no way of determining where these 'Gamells' lived, or for that matter, who else on the list lived in Stockbridge. 

Early entries from the Arksey parish registers give us a few more clues to who lived in Stockbridge. The place name was included in entries from about 1570, and those found to be resident in the latter thirty years of that century were families by the following names:

• Hall
• Helm
• Stringer 
• Huscrofte
• Broughton
• Sheaperde (Shepherd)

Of the above names, Hall is the most notable, and we shall return to them later. However, looking at the entries for 'Helm' turned out to be quite interesting. 

Richard Helm

The first mention of Richard Helm comes in a burial entry for his first wife Margaret, she died in March 1570. Just two days later their son Richard was also buried, so one must suppose that Margaret died in childbirth with her new son following on soon after.

Richard did not remain a widower for long because in December that same year his second wife Alice, was buried. There was no marriage entry in the parish registers, so they must have been married elsewhere. 

In April 1571 Richard married for a third time, this was to Joan Mapplebecke. They had a son, John, who was baptised a year later. Richard's wife Joan died in August 1574.

Richard was to marry for a fourth time, this time to Agnes Barker in October 1574. However, this marriage wasn't to last long either, with Richard himself passing away a year later in October 1575. 

Richard's son John, from his third marriage died two months after his father, in December 1575.

We know nothing more about this much-married resident of Stockbridge, but to put this much together from parish registers alone is quite fascinating.

The Hall Family

Richard Hall of Stockbridge has a number of early entries in the parish registers. His five children were baptised between 1562 and 1573. 

The Hall's took leases of land from Francis le Straunge between 1574 and 1577, making them quite a prosperous family by the Hearth Tax returns of 1672.

Records for the Hearth Tax of 1672 show that 'Mr Samuall Hall had seven hearths'. They lived at Stockbridge Farm, Samuel (Samuall) being the eldest of three siblings living there, all children of John Hall. His younger brother John and sister Mary being the others.

Samuel Hall set up a charity Hall's Woollen Cloth Charity in the 1670's. Their charity applied to the purchasing of 'kersey', a kind of woollen cloth. Four yards of this kersey was to be given to the 'ten poorest and aged persons of the parish on the first day of December annually'. This excluded persons in the 'Hospital' (Almshouses), and any residue of money left over was given in bread to the same poor people. The charity was still active as late as 1842, when eighteen people were receiving the cloth.

Samuel was the only one of the three to marry, his wife was Susanna and she gave birth to a son, John on the 11th of May 1673; tragically, Susanna died and was buried the same day. Things obviously didn't look good for baby John either, as he was also baptised on that day. He actually lived a few months, but was buried on the 28th of September that same year. Samuel himself died four years later and was buried on 23rd of March 1677 at the age of twenty five.

Samuel's younger brother John also died young and was unmarried too; he died on the 31st of January 1681* and  was buried on the 2nd February, he was aged twenty seven, and as it states on his memorial, he was the last male heir of his line.

Their maiden sister Mary lived up to the age of sixty five, she died on the 13th of August 1721 and was buried on the 15th of August.


A memorial for John and Mary Hall lies in the nave of Arksey church (see below).

Memorial to John and Mary Hall in Arksey Church

* John Hall's memorial gives the year of his death as 1680, this is due to the use of the old calendar at the time, which treated the year as starting on Lady Day, 25th of March.

Plague

It is interesting to note from the parish registers that Stockbridge did not go untouched by the plague of 1582/3. When a traveller from Thirsk in North Yorkshire brought plague to Doncaster in August 1582 it resulted in an appalling amount of deaths in the town. While the disease mainly affected Doncaster and some surrounding villages, it never reached Arksey. There were many deaths amongst the population of Bentley, but the nearest cases to Arksey were just two in Stockbridge.

Plague 'victims'

On April the twenty eighth 1583 Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Stringer was buried due to 'pestilence', then just ten days later on the eighth of May 'another boy' (sic) of Thomas Stringer was also buried after suffering the same fate. They were just two out of fifty one plague burials to take place at Arksey church between January and July 1583.  

For more on the plague and other diseases go to How We Died.

Nineteenth Century Stockbridge

Stockbridge and Arksey 1854

The map above shows the newly built Great Northern Railway line between Knottingley and Arksey which would eventually become part of the main East Coast Railway. When this map was drawn the railway had only been there seven years; before it was built Stockbridge was only separated from Arksey by open fields, the railway effectively cut the hamlet off from Arksey, which could only now be reached by crossing the new level crossing on Arksey Lane, or using one of the other foot crossings further along the line. 

Stockbridge and Arksey before the railway, 1772

When it was first built, the railway station was called Stockbridge Station, as appears on the map above, although it was altered to Arksey Station not long after this map was produced. The first foot crossing north of the station was one that started slightly north of and opposite Stockbridge Farm by a lane crossing the fields, it then passed under the railway line, crossed another field and came out on Station Road by the side of where Arksey Old Cemetery would be laid out in 1884. This footpath still exists today, passing under the railway line via an overhead bridge. The bridge has been locally named 'Thunder Bridge' for many years due to the sound the trains make as they pass overhead.

Footpath under 'Thunder Bridge' 1854

Another foot crossing nearer to Arksey could be reached by following Stockbridge Lane in its entirety to a point just north west of Arksey where a foot crossing was created. This lane, known locally as the 'Cinder Track' connects with lanes going west to Bentley, and north to the Marsh Lane crossing, now a foot crossing.

'Cinder Track'

Arksey Fishing Pond

Swans on Arksey fishing pond, 1981

Most fishing ponds in the area were created when clay was extracted for brick making. Once the brick works had abandoned the sites, the pits would fill with water and some were used for recreational angling. Willowgarth pond just north of Arksey is one such clay pit pond. The origins of the Arksey Railway Pond are not so clear though. It could have been created when the railway was being constructed; for instance, earth would have been needed to create the railway embankment, and as a similar, if smaller pond is also to be found at the side of the railway line in Shaftholme, it strengthens the case for it to be man-made rather than natural.

Arksey fishing pond outlined (in red), 1854

For many years there were landing stages all around the pond and it was a popular place for anglers to pursue their hobby. 

All the fish have now been removed from the pond and it has gone out of use.

Arksey Fishing Pond
Photo courtesy of Janice Lowe

Stockbridge Farm

Stockbridge Farm from the opposite side of Arksey fishing pond, photo taken in the 1980's

Stockbridge Farm dates from the early seventeenth century. The farmhouse is comprised of two storeys and an attic over two ranges. The rear range is lower and has an end chimney stack. The building has been altered and is now pebble-dashed. There is a roof of Welsh slate and twentieth century cement tiles.

The interior had some interesting panelling in the front-left room, it was removed to Doncaster Museum in the 1990's.

Despite being Grade II listed, the property has been unoccupied for many years and is now derelict.

Below are two photos of how the farmhouse and outbuildings look today.

© Copyright Jonathan Thacker and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

© Copyright Jonathan Thacker and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Later Occupants of Stockbridge Farm

Although it is not always possible to work out from census returns who lived at a specific property, just occasionally the property will be named and then it is possible to see roughly how long those residents remained there.

Stockbridge Farm 1854

As we saw earlier John Hall was the last male of his line to live at Stockbridge Farm; following his death in 1681, his sister Mary moved to a property in Arksey to see out her remaining years. After this last record there is quite a gap until the next named record for the farm, this came up in the 1851 census, 170 years later.

Lawrence Norcliffe, originally from Wadworth lived and farmed at Stockbridge Farm from at least 1851 when he first appears in the census for Stockbridge. At the age of 37 he and his wife Martha (38) had two children and three servants living at the property. Martha died in 1858, so on the 1861 census Lawrence, now a widower remained at the farm with his two children. Also there were his retired father George, and two servants. Lawrence remarried later that year, to Eliza Lambert. By 1871 they had moved into a property in Arksey. 

Lawrence died in 1894 and Eliza died in 1909, their grave can be seen in Arksey Old Cemetery.

The Norcliffe grave

It is impossible to tell from the census who lived at Stockbridge Farm in the years 1871 and 1881. However, by 1891 a Scottish farmer by the name of James Mitchell had taken on the property.

He and his wife Janet were both aged 44 in 1891 and had six children. They appear on the following two censuses, 1901 and 1911, but the last record of them at Stockbridge Farm is on the 1912 electoral register.

'Farmer Jackson' - Boxer

Following the departure of the Mitchells, the next family to occupy the farm were the Jacksons. Joseph Jackson and his wife Elizabeth moved in around 1913/14. They had three sons, George, Frank and Roland, and possibly a daughter Isabella.

One of the sons made a name for himself in the world of boxing. Nicknamed 'Farmer Jackson', this welterweight fighter was active between 1921 and 1939. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find out which of the sons 'Farmer Jackson' was. 

A news report of February 1933 gives some insight into his abilities, which included 32 career wins out of 55 matches.

News cutting from unknown source, 1933

The Jackson family remained at Stockbridge Farm right into the 1960's, but with online records unavailable after 1962, nothing more could be found.

Hamlet Hopping

Now our little tour of Arksey's hamlets is over I think you will agree that these often overlooked little communities have a more interesting past than you would have imagined?

These sleepy, rural retreats have had their fair share of interesting inhabitants, tragedies, wealth and poverty.

Each place had a different tale to tell; from the enigmatic Drum and Monkey in Shaftholme to the ancient moat at Tilts, and the famous family connections in Almholme, to finally, the charitable people of Stockbridge. All this hidden history on our doorstep and who knew?

It just goes to show that however small the place, however insignificant it seems it is worthy of our respect for the things it has seen.

Maybe next time you are driving through or passing by these tiny communities you might think about all the history that has occurred there and give them more than a passing glance?

__________

For part one on Shaftholme go to Local Hamlets Part One - Shaftholme.

For part two on Tilts go to Local Hamlets Part Two - Tilts.

For part three on Almholme go to Local Hamlets Part Three - Almholme.



Alison Vainlo 

Written 2017, updated 2020