Conisbrough
Conisbrough stands high above a narrow point in the River Don valley; it lies
about 6 miles south west of Doncaster and 12 miles north of Sheffield. Its strategic
importance as a point from which movement along the Don valley could be controlled
is witnessed by its name, which is derived from the Anglo-Saxon for ‘king’s
stronghold’. Virtually everything else about the early history of the
place however, is pure legend.
The only early historical facts of which we
can be certain is that Conisbrough is mentioned in the will of Wulfric Sprott,
dated between 1002 to1004, and that it appears again in the Doomsday Book of
1087 as the centre of a very extensive lordship, with lands scattered across
South Yorkshire.
A strategic site implies the presence of a castle, and Conisbrough Castle
is a remarkable Norman structure. The magnificent 90-foot cylindrical keep of
Conisbrough Castle dominates the town and its surrounding countryside. It is
certainly not the first fortification on the site, and Saxon earthworks have
been found within its boundaries.
At the time of the Conquest the manor was
held by King Harold, but William the Conqueror gave Conisbrough to his son in
law William de Warrene as tenant in chief, and it remained in the Warrene family
until the 8th Earl, John, died childless in 1347 and the property reverted to
the crown.
Hameline Plantagenet (half-brother to king Henry II) who inherited the Conisbrough estate by marriage,
in 1163. built the keep,
which dominates the castle. The keep, built in glistening local limestone, which he probably had
built in about 1180, is identical with one he had built at Mortemer, on his
estates in Normandy.
The settlement was mainly an agricultural one, and the Norman’s seem to
have been interested in the Conisbrough estates as a base for military and hunting
purposes.
Conisbrough suffered from being administered by frequently absent landlords,
who held estates in other parts of the country.
The survival of the castle in so good a state is a tribute to its military unimportance.
It had already become ruinous in the Middle Ages, and played no part in the
civil war of the 1640s. Had it done so, its fate would have been sealed, and
Conisbrough would have joined Sheffield, Tickhill and other castles as a victim
of government demolition shortly afterwards to prevent their use in the future.
The church, dedicated to St Peter, is even older than the neighbouring castle
and is, indeed, the oldest building still in use in South Yorkshire. There is
visible evidence that the church has an Anglo-Saxon core, perhaps dating from
the eighth century, although it was enlarged by the Norman’s and then
again several centuries later.
Conisbrough was, like Ecclesfield (now in Sheffield)
and Dewsbury (in West Yorkshire), a mission church. It had at least eight dependent churches, which in the Middle Ages became separate parishes. In the
Doncaster area, these included Armthorpe; Braithwell; Fishlake; Hatfield; Kirk
Sandall and Thorne.
In the 19th century the living was a discharged vicarage worth about £300
pa, and in the patronage of the Archbishop of York.
Whatever its historical importance, Conisbrough remained a relatively small
place until the twentieth century. Numbering 843 at the first census of 1801,
the population had doubled by 1861. Thereafter it grew rapidly because the parish
contained the newly created coal-mining village of Denaby Main within its boundaries.
There was a school built by public subscription in 1812. From ancient times
there had been a ferry on the river Don, known as Kings Ferry, operating from
Kings Wharf just below the castle.
From a mainly farming community, Conisbrough gradually developed into an area
of 'more diverse' manufacturing. an iron works existed there in 1600. The sickle
trade developed here where a water wheel on the Don powered the lathes.
There were two breweries in 1867 – the Hill Top and the Hollywell Brewery.
The South Yorkshire Railway had a repair establishment. An extensive
brick, tile and pipe works existed, A china and earthenware manufacturer
also operated at Conisbrough.
Conisbrough also boasted a magnesium quarry, a glass works built by Kilner Brothers
of Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury, which opened in the early 1870’s. The Denaby
Powder Works opened in 1889 for the manufacture of explosives.
Denaby Main colliery was sunk in 1867, bringing many jobs to the area; Conisbroughs'
second colliery opened in the 1890’s and 90 lives were lost in the explosion
on 1912. None of those killed in the disaster were buried in the churchyard,
but in the cemetery which had opened in 1892. After this date there were few
burials in the churchyard in existing graves, the last being in 1931.
The following records of Conisbrough, St Peter are available at Doncaster Archives
:
Baptisms 1559-1976; marriages 1559-1992; burials 1555-1931; banns 1823-1987:
indexed : 1555-1878; marriages 1588-1836; burials 1555-1871; banns 1823-1896;
Bishop’s transcripts 1600-1844.
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