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Awsworth

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"Awsworth township and chapelry borders upon Derbyshire, and has a small village on the Nottingham Canal, 2½ miles west of Nuthall. The Earl of Stamford is lord of the manor, and principal owner of the land. The chapel was consecrated about 1760, and is a curact endowed with about £50 a year. The Earl of Stamford is the patron, and the Rev. S.M. Lund is the incumbent, for whom the Rev. Wm. Clementson M.A. officiates, who resides in a neat mansion erected in 1843. It is situated on an eminence, and commands a fine view of the Derbyshire and Leicestershire hills. The chapelry is entitled to send one poor person to Ilkeston almshouses, and to receive £5 yearly from the funds of Smedley's charity, for teaching 18 poor children. The Earl of Stamford is trustee."
[WHITE's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," 1853]

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Archives & Libraries

The Library at Nottingham will prove useful in your research.

Alternatively, the Community Library at Eastwood is a good resource.

 

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Cemeteries

The Awsworth and Cossall History Society has mapped the graves in the cemetery and the names of those interred. You will have to contact them to find out how to obtain a copy of the list.

Robert VINCE has a photograph of St Peter's Churchyard on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2016.

We have a pop-up window of Awsworth burials in a text file for your review. Your additions are welcomed.

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Census

  • The parish was in the Hucknall Torkard sub-district of the Basford Registration District until 1901.
     
  • By 1911, the parish had been reassigned to the Greasly sub-district of the Basford Registration District.
     
  • The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
     
Census
Year
Piece No.
1861R.G. 9 / 2424
1891R.G. 12 / 2675
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Church History

  • The church was built of brick in 1746 (Wikipedia tells us it was in 1760). The church was consecrated in 1760.
     
  • The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter.
     
  • The church was rebuilt in 1902 using much of the original chapel's chancel.
     
  • The church turret was added on the east end in 1910 and a new bell added in 1912. The church tower was never rebuilt.
     
  • The church seats 250.
     
  • Richard VINCE provides a photograph of St. Peter's Church on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2016.
     
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Church Records

  • This place was formerly a chapelry to Nuthall. The chapel was consecrated around 1760.
     
  • The Anglican parish register dates from 1756 for baptisms and marriages and from 1804 for burials.
     
  • Search the Nuthall parish register which dates from 1657.
     
  • The church was in the rural deanery of Mansfield (and in 1912, the rural deanery of Beeston).
     
  • The church is currently in the Nottingham North Deanery.
     
  • The Primitive Methodists had a chapel here built in Shilo in 1834.
     
  • The United Methodists had a chapel here built in 1884. Robert VINCE has a photograph on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2016.
     
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Civil Registration

  • The parish was in the Hucknall Torkard sub-district of the Basford Registration District until 1901.
     
  • By 1911, the parish had been reassigned to the Greasly sub-district of the Basford Registration District.
     
  • Civil Registration began in July, 1837.
     
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Description & Travel

Awsworth is a small village and a parish 3 miles north-east of Ilkeston, 2.5 miles west of Nuthall and 134 miles north of London. Derbyshire lies to the west. The parish covers only 380 acres and includes the hamlet of Shilo on the western side of the Nottingham Canal.

The village is on the Nottingham and Erewash canal. If you are planning a visit:

  • Awsworth is just off the M1 motorway where it intersects with the A610 trunk road west of Nottingham. Go west on the A610 for about a mile, then turn south (left) into Awsworth village.
     
  • Neil THEASBY has a photograph of the Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2020.
     
  • Rail passenger service to the village ceased in September, 1964.
     
  • At the entry to Awsworth there are a couple of old colliery wagons standing in a traffic island.
You can see pictures of Awsworth which are provided by:

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Directories

White's 1853 Directory:

AWSWORTH township and chapelry borders upon Derbyshire, and has a small village on the Nottingham canal, 2 miles W. of Nuthall; the Earl of Stamford is lord of the mamor, and pririncipal owner of the land. The Chapel was consecrated about 1760, and is a curacy endowed with about £50. a year ; the Earl of Stamford is the patron, and the Rev. S. M. Lund is the incumbent, for whom the Rev.. Wm. Clementson, M. A. officiates, who resides in a neat mansion, erected in 1843; it is situated on an eminence, and commands a fine view of the Derbyshire and Leicestershire hills. The chapelry is entitled to send one poor person to Ilkeston almshouses, and to receive £5, yearly from the funds of Smedley's charity, for teaching 18 poor children; the Ear1 of Stamford is trustee,

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Gazetteers

John Marius WILSON's "Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-72" described Awsworth thusly:

AWSWORTH, a chapelry in Nuthall parish, Notts; 3½ miles W of Bulwell r. station, and 6 NW of Nottingham. Post Town, Bulwell under Nottingham. Rated property, £900. Pop., 294. The property is subdivided. Most of the inhabitants are colliers or stocking weavers. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Lincoln. Value, £101. Patron, the rector of Nuthall. The church is modern. There is a P. Methodist chapel.

 

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Genealogy

Elijah A. HARRISON was born here on 12 July 1892. His father was also Elijah HARRISON and his mother was Mary Ann. His siblings were Hannah Elizabeth, Ronald Victor, John Cecil, Sarah and Nellie. In 1911, he was 18 years old, single, a hairdresser living in Ilkeston, DBY.

The father, Elijan HARRISON, was born in Nottingham in 1861. It appears that the mother, Mary Ann (nee HAMES), was born in 1869 and died in 1938.

It appears that Hannah Elizabeth HARRISON was born in Nottingham circa 1891.

We believe the Nellie HARRISON was born in 1888 in Nottinghamshire. She is found with her family in the 1901 census as age 13, a scholar.

Ronald Victor HARRISON (above) was born in Awsworth in 1895. He married Dorothy HEXTALL in May 1916 in Ilkeston, DBY.

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History

  • This is the Saxon village of "Ealdeswyrthe".
     
  • In 1154 the last of the Peverels had their lands (incuding this parish) seized by Henry II.
     
  • According to tradition, Anne AYSCOUGH (or Askew) (1521 - 1546), the martyr, spent part of her early life at Awsworth, and it is said that she was born at Nuthall.
     
  • Most of the parish was prime grazing land before World War I.
     
  • In the 1600s a glassworks was established in the village near the colliery.
     
  • In the 1800s most workers were employed in the collieries, iron works or brick yards.
     
  • The parish has seen a population growth due to its location as an outlying suburb of Nottingham.
     
  • Richard VINCE provides a photograph of the Gardeners Inn on Geo-graph, taken in March, 2016.
     
  • J. THOMAS has a photograph of The Crown Inn on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2019. The Inn is on Croft Crescent.
     
 YearProprietors
1881John RICHARDS
1891John Truman BARKER
1894John BAMFORTH, v.
1904Isaac WHEATLEY
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Maps

  • See our Maps page for additional resources.
     

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK480442 (Lat/Lon: 52.993289, -1.285955), Awsworth which are provided by:

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Military History

  • In 1920, the War Memorial was erected in the churchyard and was unveiled by Lt.-Col. TERRY: the son of Rev. Michael TERRY, former vicar of Awsworth.
     
  • The war memorial was cleaned and restored in 2014.
     
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Military Records

For another photograph of the War Memorial and the list of names on it, see the Nottinghamshire Council site.

You can read more about the War Memorial at the Southwell and Nottingham Church History Project.

The names on the War Memorial are:

  1. pte. Joseph William Ault
  2. pte. Charles Beeby
  3. drvr. John Frederick Beeby
  4. lcprl. Allen Bircumshaw
  5. srgt. Frank Morton Boot
  6. pte. Neville Bell Bradford
  7. pte. Charles George Clarke
  8. lcprl. Herbert Coe
  9. pte. Edgar Dale
  10. pte. Hugh Richard Davies
  11. lcprl. Percy Gamble
  12. pte. Leonard Graves
  13. pte. Clarence (Cyril or Sidney) Harrison
  14. pte. Samuel Austin Horsfield
  15. pte. Thomas Alfred Girlin Hunt
  16. pte. Richard Horace Inger
  17. lcprl. Albert Ledger
  18. pte. Henry Parry
  19. pte. Lewis Parry
  20. bmbdr. Harold Betts Plowright
  21. gunner Horace Poxon
  22. pte. Alfred Sherwood
  23. pte. George Albert Smith
  24. pte. John Robert Watkin
  25. pte. Harry Watson
  26. pte. James William Weedon
  27. pte. Thomas Whittaker
  28. pte. George Winfield

World War II:

  1. pte. Laurence BARLOW
  2. John E. COCKERILL M.N.
  3. gunner Stephen J. W. FOWKES
  4. Herbert GEORGE M.N.
  5. srgt. Kenneth Frank HUTSON R.A.F.
  6. gunner Arthur INCE
  7. driver Cyril KNIGHTON
  8. pte. Eric SIMMS
  9. pte. Thomas H. WILLIS
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Monumental Inscriptions

In the church nave below the west window is a brass tablet to Edward CAMM (1903):


TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF
EDWARD CAMM,
WHO FOR 37 YEARS
FAITHFULLY PERFORMED HIS DUTIES AS
CLERK AND SEXTON OF THIS PARISH
ENTERED INTO REST 10TH APRIL 1903,
AGED 70 YEARS.

THIS TABLET IS ERECTED BY SUBSCRIPTION.

In the church nave above the pulpit is a large brass in memory of the Reverend Vincent HIGGINS (1911):


IN LOVING AND GRATEFUL MEMORY
OF THE HOLY LIFE AND FAITHFUL MINISTRY OF THE
REV. VINCENT JOSEPH HIGGINS.
FOR 14 YEARS VICAR OF ST PETER’S CHURCH AWSWORTH.
ENTERED INTO REST JULY 7TH 1911.

“HE WALKED IN PEACE AND UPRIGHTNESS, AND DID TURN
MANY FROM INIQUITY.” MALACHI II. 6.
“HE BEING DEAD YET SPEAKETH.” HEBREWS XI. 4.

DURING HIS INCUMBENCY THE NAVE OF THIS CHURCH WAS BUILT.
ALSO THE PARISH ROOM; AN ACRE WAS ADDED TO THE CHURCH YARD
AND THE SITE FOR A VICARAGE PROVIDED.
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Names, Geographical

In the 1086 Domesday Book, the name is rendered as "Ealdeswyrthe", or the farm of a person called Eald.

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Politics & Government

  • This place was an ancient Chapelry in Nuthall parish.
     
  • This place became a separate modern Civil Parish carved out of Nuthall Civil Parish on 31 December, 1894.
     
  • The parish was in the southern divison of the ancient Broxtowe Wapentake in the northern division of the county.
     
  • The parish's district governance is the Broxtowe Borough Council.
     
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Poor Houses, Poor Law

  • Bastardy cases would be heard in the Nottingham petty session hearings.
     
  • The parish was entitled to send one poor person to the Ilkeston Almshouses.
     
  • The parish received £5 yearly from Smedley's Charity.
     
  • After the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, this parish became a part of the Basford Poor Law Union.
     
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Population

YearInhabitants
1871555
1881902
18911,247
19011,529
19111,617
19211,601
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Schools

  • The parish formed a School Board of 5 members in 1877.
     
  • A Board School was built in 1878 to accommodate 260 students.
     
  • Garth NEWHAM provides a photograph of the Board School on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2003.
     
  • The school has its own website, but no history or past student information.
     
  • The parish had an Infants School built in 1895 to accommodate 216 students. Average attendance in 1912 was 160.
     
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Societies

The Awsworth and Cossall History Society would enjoy hearing from you. Their website needs a little work to complete it, but they are a valuable resource.