Introduction

This study is going to be an account of Adwick’s very long and enduring history. This introduction will give a brief history of the Parish and Parish Church.

Between the Roman’s Rule and the Norman Conquest of 1066 there is no real documented evidence for local historians to get their teeth into. This is due chiefly to the continuous changing of place names. We do know, however that Doncaster and Conisborough were both Saxon burghs, burgh meaning a fortified settlement. Similarly Burghwallis, Sprotborough and Mexborough, may have been fortified settlements also.

No doubt, within our long history the Danes settled in Adwick and surrounding areas, we know this due to a find of a grave containing the skeletal remains of a Viking female whilst excavation work was being carried out to lay sewerage pipes for a new development in 2001.
some of the finds from the dig

The Danes would have come up the Humber estuary and the river Don, a lot of the older place names are Danish in origin, Hangthwaite, meaning a hanging clearing and Langthwaite, this area stretched from Highfields to Castle Hills.

Following the Norman Conquest the local area was divided up and control was given to the new Lords. The first documented evidence occurs in the doomsday book 1087 and some entries relate to the Adwick area.
Adwick was owned by Roger de Bursti and held by Falk de Lisons of Sprotborough.

Hampole Stubbs and Ea Beck was owned by Ilbert de Laci and held by Ausgot.

Hampole was also owned by Roger de Bursti.

The de Lisons family who held Adwick would have seemed to have had something to do with the founding of the church; however there is no reference to a church either at Adwick or in Hampole.

During the reign of King Stephen – 1135, the manor of Hampole was held by William de Clairfait and his wife Avicia. It was he who decided to found a priory at Hampole . Pope Adrian decreed in 1156 that it should follow the Benedictine rule, it did for a short time, but then came under Cistercian rule, holding lands in many places.

The Foundation of the church probably dates back to 1175 – 1200. The church at this time was probably an aisleless Norman nave with a chancel. The first addition to the church was the North chapel in the thirteenth century, which was probably re-built or re-addressed in the fourteenth century. During the late fifteenth century the North aisle and West tower were added. At the early stages of the church’s history it did not appear to have much of an existence beyond the priory at Hampole. Chaplains were appointed to maintain the religious orders at the church. We do know of one man who took up chaplaincy at Adwick, his name was Thomas Gyll.
In these early days of the parish history, our attention must still be focussed upon Hampole. There is a very close connection between the priory and Richard Rolle. Richard Rolle has been called the “Father of the English Mystics”. He was expecting canonization but he never received it, he was also a very much criticised priest of his day. We do have records of his life in Hampole and Adwick, via books, the internet and the many sermons that he wrote.

Once again I should like to turn our attention back to Adwick. In the church we can see many memorials to the major people that have lived and died in the parish these can give some clue as to the individual’s life. One such memorial lies in the North chapel, it is in the form of a tomb and lies to the right of the alter. The tomb is of the Fitzwilliam family, on it is the inscription, in Latin “…….Hie jacet Joh’es Fitzwilliam, Amigr et Amicia ux or ejus……” which means here lies John Fitzwilliam esquire and his wife Amicia.. There was more than one branch of the Fitzwilliam family at Adwick. One had a license to make an oratory in his house at Adwick from the ArchBishop, 23 August 1459. Another tombstone in the North Chapel is in memory of Leornard Wray and his wife, Ursula. Leonard Wray was the brother of Lord Chief Justice Wray, 1590.
At this point it is important to note a reference regarding the Lady Chapel found in a book in York. The reference is to Athewick (Adwick), it mentions The Chantry of St. Katherine, in the Parish of Athewick by the Street; we can presume from this reference that this is how the lady chapel was so called. The date of this ref. is 1546.

We now approach the reformation period of English history. The reformation hit the priory, it was totally unexpected and very much unwelcome. Although we attribute the reformation to King Henry VIII , it was during the reign of Edward VI that there were even more radical changes. At this time the Priest in charge was Robert Parkyn. His writings give us a picture of the scene at the time. Parkyn spent a long ministry at Adwick. At this particular time in history a lot of priests were illiterate, but Parkyn was a very well cultured man. Many of his writings have been preserved, diaries, letters to friends etc. We read of how old ceremonies were abolished, stone alters removed and the new English prayer books were introduced. Clergy took the advantage of being married. In particular, Bishop Holgate, Archbishop of York, married one of his parishioners, Barbara Wentworth in Adwick church, Robert Parkyn performed the ceremony.

Other items of interest in the church are; next to the cedilla, near the choir stalls is a piscine, where the Eucharistic vessels and hands would be washed during the Eucharistic feast. Nearby on the same south wall is a doorway that is now blocked up this was used for the priest to enter via the chancel on the exterior is the remains of a scratch dial.

Near the Alter is an alabaster slabbed tomb in memorium to the Washington family. James was a Cambridge graduate of St. John’s College, married to Margaret, daughter of John Anlaby of Etton near Beverley. By her he had twelve children. Four of the sons were also sent to Cambridge University. James was at Adwick during the time of Robert Parkyn, who had bequeathed to him a copy of one of John Calvin’s works. James Washington became Justice of the Peace and died at Adwick in 1580, aged 44, his wife was only 35 when she died in 1579.
Their tomb in Adwick church lies under one of the arches between the chancel and the north chapel. The slab is incised with the figures of James and his wife, Margaret, each bearing a coat of arms of the appropriate family on their breast. They are surrounded by their twelve children; Bartholomew , Philip, Richard, Martin, Francis, John, Catherine, Jane, Frances, Lucy and Leonard. There has always been a lot of talk as to the relationship between this Washington family and the one that went on to be the President of the United States of America. This is absolute nonsense. The fact that the stars and stripes appear on the shield on the tomb is an absolutely ludicrous adoption to make as the stars and stripes were nothing to do with family crests whatsoever. James Washington’s family came from the North East of England. Sorry no great USA links here I’m afraid.

We don’t seem to have a lot of data for the early seventeenth century. So I will deal with the latter half starting with Joshua Brooke, 1682. Joshua Brooke was Rector of the parish in the late seventeenth century, it was he who had the original rectory built, now the council offices. It was built in 1682 in memory of a previous incumbent of the parish. This Rectory was probably built upon the foundations of another dwelling. Brooke was Rector for 40 years.
In 1764 there were no public or charity schools in Adwick, although in all there were 53 families to cater for, one family was Roman Catholic and one family were dissenters. Communion at this time was taken four time a year. Catherine Lawrence did penance for a bastard child.

In 1811 the second ever census was taken, the population return for Adwick was 314. By the next Census of 1821, amongst the prominent residents was Miss Ann Simpson, she ran the Ladies’ boarding school at Adwick Hall. Miss Simpson ran into debt, the school was then taken over by Peter Inchbald, an Oxford Graduate, in 1827. When Inchbald died in 1837, the school was taken over by his son, Peter and his assistant Tobey Abbott, until he moved to Storth Hall, Huddersfield in 1849.

What about the other schools in the parish.? Well, in 1835 there was a government inquiry known as the Kerry Report. It gave such information like the populat6ion of Adwick, which by then had reached 382. There were two daily schools, one had nineteen boys and nine girls, which was supported by an endowment of ten pounds per year for the instruction of ten poor children in the parish. The other school had five boys and twenty-one girls, paid for by their parents. Hampole and Stubbs had one infant school – population 154.

One of the daily schools at Adwick was a National School which was established in 1833. It was situated on a plot east of the church and at the far end of the present churchyard.

In the visitation returns of 1868. Canon W.W Ware wrote, “ I have built a new school here which has just been opened”. This is the Old School which was sadly demolished in 1974.
During the incumbency of Canon Ware much work was done to the church and yard. The improvements are listed on the brass plates in the chancel. In 1862 the old box pews were replaced and the west gallery was removed. In 1875 the South Nave wall of the church was encased and the old porch was replaced by the present one. Later further additions have taken place, such as the new alter reredos in 1904. In 1913 the chancel and west end screen. In 1943 the North Chapel served as a vestry for the Choir and Clergy, it was restored as a separate chapel, the lady chapel. Another feature of this restoration was the stained glass windows depicting the life of St. Francis of Assisi. In 1950 the new Rectory was built and in 1962 the chancel roof was repaired..
There are documented references to the bells and the parish register. In a survey of 1552 there were two bells in Adwick’s belfry. Prior to 1897 there were three bells, one with the inscription “soli deo gratia”, dated 1633, this bell remains in the belfry today; the other two were recast and three bell were added in jubilee year of 1897, one was a gift by the Rev. E.S de Courcey Ireland, who was the rector of the parish , another was given by his wife and the final bell was given by public subscription.
During Henry VIII’s reign the Vicar General ordered that all parishes should keep a parish register. Adwick is so fortunate to have its registers dating back to 1547. The entries are brief and factual, there are a number of earlier references to the Washington family. By keeping the register it gives us insight into the laws and rules of the day; such as in 1666 an order was made to bury all dead in wool. An Act of 1678 required a declaration of compliance. In 1783 a stamp Act levied a duty of 3d on each entry in the parish register. So every so often when thumbing through the registers there is “DUTY PAID” sign across the page. The register informs us of the appalling evidence of high infant mortality rate, and in even more recent times epidemics such as the cholera epidemic in Hampole, 1832. There is a memorial stone in the churchyard showing the number of deaths.