Tag Archives: Church of Saint Nicholas

Family history weekend

Published: February 20, 2012    Last modified: February 21, 2024

Knaith Hall and the Church of Saint Mary, Knaith, Lincolnshire

This weekend I visited an area of north Lincolnshire associated with my paternal grandmother Ivy JACKLIN (née Ivy DIXON) 1901-1983. Ivy was born at Upton (Upton-cum-Kexby) in 1901, moved to the village of Marton, eventually marrying Wilfred JACKLIN 1896-1967 at the Church of All Saints, Aston-cum-Aughton, Yorkshire. Sometime later they moved to Beighton Street, Darnall, Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Many of my relatives still live in this area of north Lincolnshire, including 3 cousins from the village of Marton.

Primarily this trip was to try and achieve the following:

  1. Participate in the 'Snowdrop Walk' from Knaith Hall, Knaith, Lincolnshire to The Château at Gate Burton, Lincolnshire.
  2. Scan some of the family photographs archived by my cousin GH.
  3. Visit some of the north Nottinghamshire villages associated with my Jacklin line.

Thanks to my cousins and to some very good weather, I was able to achieve virtually all the goals I had set myself.

Saturday afternoon we took the car and visited some of the villages associated with my family's history including Upton-cum-Kexby and Fillingham, Lincolnshire.  On our return I visited one of my cousins and we sorted through a large box of old photographs where I was pleasantly surprised that we were able to identify many of the people and places. I then spent a few hours scanning the selected photographs and will gradually add them to my 'Gallery'.

Sunday I completed an early morning walk along Littleborough Lane, Marton to the banks of the River Trent, returning by way of Trent Port Road.

I then attended the wonderful 'Knaith Snowdrop Walk' at Knaith Hall, Knaith. The hall was not open to the public except for a small refreshments room but visitors were able to explore the grounds and follow a marked route to The Château at Gate Burton. As if on cue, the snowdrops under their canopy of trees, were looking truly resplendent.

The Church of Saint Mary built alongside Knaith Hall and over looking the River Trent was also open. This is the first time I had visited this church and though it was quite crowded with visitors I was able to take a number of photographs of the interior.

After leaving Knaith we headed off towards the north Nottinghamshire villages of Everton and Harwell. Again these are small villages associated with both my paternal grandmother Ivy JACKLIN (née Ivy DIXON) 1901-1983, my paternal great grandmother Ziller JACKLIN (née Ziller ALLEN) 1858-1949 and gg grandfather John ALLEN 1831-Deceased of nearby Little Gringley. I particularly wished to visit the Church of the Holy Trinity at Everton, Nottinghamshire.

Finally and in order to photograph the tiny Church of Saint Nicholas we drove to Littleborough, Nottinghamshire. Although I have yet to find a connection between this church and my family, I have always wanted to make a visit. In the graveyard I did find an headstone for one Olive Mary BARLOW and her husband Reuben BARLOW, a family surname associated with this region.

Altogether a splendid weekend.

Notes:
I will gradually publish, over the next few weeks, both the scanned old photographs together with photographs of the churches and villages we visited.

The Château, a National Trust property at Gate Burton, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire is available for holiday bookings through the Landmark Trust.

Updates:
2015-03-09 To view the photographs of the village of Marton, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, please click here.
To view the photographs of Knaith Hall, the Church of Saint Mary and The Château, please click here.

Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall, Sheffield

Published: November 13, 2010    Last modified: May 22, 2022
Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall

Family and Local History Day, Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield, Sheffield

In this article I mentioned an upcoming event, a Family and Local History Day to be held at Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield near Sheffield. Well I made the time to attend and was not disappointed. I was surprised just how many people turned out, though the fine and sunny weather may have contributed.

Many local history groups and societies were represented including the Hillsborough & Owlerton Local History Group. This stand had numerous photographs of Owlerton Green and Hillsborough. I was born at Hawksley Road on the edge of Owlerton Green and though I moved to Stannington in the mid 1950's, my maternal grandparents continued to live there until the early 1980's. I have witnessed the many changes that have taken place over the years and so seeing these photographs brought back a lot of memories.

While discussing with one of the ladies from this stand some of the photographs of Owlerton Green, she happened to mentioned she lived on one of the nearby streets. I in turn mentioned I was born at Hawksley Road whereupon she remarked that her colleague lived on a street whose houses backed on to where I was born. As soon as she mentioned her colleagues name I immediately realised this was a member of a family whom I had not seen for probably 30 or 40 years.

Needless to say I had a long chat with this lady and since she has lived on this same street all her life she is a mind of information regarding local families and people I had not seen since my childhood. For reasons of privacy I will withhold names, but it is sufficient to say meeting this lady made the day very worthwhile indeed.

I ordered some copies of the photographs of Owlerton Green which a couple of weeks later duly arrived. I am not sure who may own the copyright of these photographs but I may try and obtain permission to publish them on this website.

I chatted with the people from the Friends of Wardsend Cemetery stand and purchased the CD:

Wardsend Cemetery, Monumental Inscriptions

The Friends of Bradfield Archives were very welcoming and I spent some considerable time working my way through the Bradfield Parish Register indices, searching for ASHFORTH and RIDAL. They also had a plan of the graveyard at the Church of Saint Nicholas at nearby High Bradfield. Several years ago I located this headstone:

John Ashforth died 1768 and William Ashforth died 1825 - Headstone

though according to the plans there are several others to be found. I made a rough sketch of their locations and will search for these others at a later date.

From the Sheffield & District Family History Society I purchased the following CDs:

Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Sheffield Cathedral, Baptism Records 1813-1875
Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Sheffield Cathedral, Baptism Index 1752-1812
Sheffield Marriage Indexes

Time passed very quickly and after some 4 hours we finally departed, but not before taking a few photographs of Low Bradfield. All in all a very worthwhile day and one I can thoroughly recommend.

I now need to make some time in order to sort through all this research material.

John Ashforth died 1768 and William Ashforth died 1825: Headstone

Published: October 15, 2007    Last modified: January 12, 2017

John Ashforth died 1768, William Ashforth died 1825

Church of Saint Nicholas, High Bradfield, Sheffield, Yorkshire.
John Ashforth 1768 of Stannington
Also William Son of the above who died (illegible) 1825

Combining a walk around the Bradfield area near Sheffield, South Yorkshire with a little family history, I planned our walking route so we would pass by the graveyard at the Church of Saint Nicholas, High Bradfield.

This is rather a large graveyard given that even today the local population consists mainly of small hamlets and hill farms, though judging by the inscriptions the graveyard served many local villages even though these are several miles away.

With limited time our search was rather random but luckily within a couple of minutes our eyes fell upon a small headstone inscribed with the names John and William ASHFORTH. The inscription reads:

John Ashforth 1768 of Stannington
Also William Son of the above who died (illegible) 1825

The headstone is embedded quite deeply in the ground and not wishing to cause any damage we simply had to make do with what was visible. Below the surface there could be further inscriptions, though judging by the proportions of the headstone, I doubt it.

For any researchers not familiar with this area, Stannington, originally a small hill top village, is now more or less a part of Sheffield. In fact from 1955 to 1959 I lived and went to school at Stannington and it was very much a village though signs of expansion were quite noticeable.

Low Bradfield and High Bradfield are rather remarkable, just 3 miles from the outskirts of Sheffield they have managed to retain their status as small villages. Low Bradfield has a post office that also serves as general store and cafe, together with a magnificent cricket ground. High Bradfield boasts the magnificent Church of Saint Nicholas. Quintessential West Riding of Yorkshire villages, now in the administrative area of South Yorkshire.

So far all my ASHFORTH line originate from Sheffield. I am about to obtain more ASHFORTH birth, marriage and death certificates that may lead me a further afield, though intuition tells me John and William ASHFORTH are not part of my immediate family.

Updates:
2010-11-10 I recently attended a Family History Fair at Bradfield Village Hall, Low Bradfield near Sheffield. A group representing the Friends of Bradfield Archives held a plan of the burials at the Church of St. Nicholas, High Bradfield. This showed at least 2 other Ashforth burial plots. I made a rough sketch of the location of these plots and on my next visit to the churchyard will try and locate the headstones.

Old Comments:

My father John Edward Asforth Sr, died 4/28/1984
Submitted by Susan on Sat, 2010-06-26 21:20

I wish I could track down his family, grew up not knowing any of them. All I ever met was my Grandmother once who loved in Cinn, Ohio. I think I have family in the New England area.