Hide
Fledborough
hide
Hide
hide
Hide
hide
Hide
Hide
"Fledborough us a scattered village and parish, on the Trent bank, 6 miles east by north of Tuxford, at the northern extremity of the hundred of Thurgarton. Its parish includes the hamlet of Woodcote, 1 mile west of Fledborough, in which are three farm houses, and together contains 112 inhabitants and 1,300 acres of land. Earl Manvers is the principal owner, lord of the manor and patron of the church, St Gregory, a rectory valued in the King's books at £9 7s 6d, now £295, and the Rev A.O. Fitzgerald is the incumbent. The tithe was commuted for £340. The church is an ancient structure, near which is a neat rectory house. In the early part of the last century, this place obtained the appellation of the Gretna Green of Nottinghamshire, from the rector (a Mr Sweetapple) who, like the blacksmith of the Scottish border, fettered with the chain of wedlock all who applied to him for that happy purpose. John Angerstein Esq. and Mr George Billyard have estates here, and Earl Brownlow, Mr Henry Clark Hutchinson and Mrs Hannah Bennett are owners in Woodcotes."
[WHITE's "Directory of Nottinghamshire," 1853]
Hide
The Library at East Retford will prove useful in your research.
The Library at Newark would also be a good resource.
- The parish was in the Tuxford sub-district of the East Retford Registration District.
- The table below gives census piece numbers, where known:
| Census Year | Piece No. |
|---|---|
| 1841 | H.O. 107 / 865 |
| 1861 | R.G. 9 / 2417 |
| 1871 | R.G. 10 / 3456 |
| 1881 | R.G. 11 / 3304 |
| 1891 | R.G. 12 / 2642 |
- The Anglican parish church is dedicated to Saint Gregory.
- The church was partially built in the 12th century and completed in the first half of the 14th century.
- The church chancel was rebuilt in 1764 and again in 1890.
- The church seats 100.
- Lady Godiva, wife of Leofric Earl of Mercia, (Yes, THAT Lady Godiva!) made a gift to the church around the time of the Conquest.
- The church earned the label "The Gretna Green of the Midlands" when the Rev. W. SWEETAPPLE granted licenses for marriages for underage runaways.
- The church was declared redundant around 1965 and is presently a Grade I listed building under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.
- Regular church services are no longer held, although special events can be scheduled.
- Richard CROFT has a photograph of St. Gregory's Church on Geo-graph, taken in December, 2005.
- Julian P GUFFOGG has a nice photograph of the church interior on Geo-graph, taken in August, 2015.
- Here is a photograph St. Gregory's Church supplied by Jack BAYES (who retains the copyright):
- The Anglican parish register dates from 1563.
- The church was in the rural deanery of Collingham (formerly the #1 deanery of Newark).
- John MELLORS has an interesting list regarding the Churchyard fence, 1714.
- The parish was in the Tuxford sub-district of the East Retford Registration District.
- Civil Registration started in July, 1837.
Fledborough is a village and a parish about 8 miles south-east of East Retford, 5 north-east of Tuxford, 12 miles north of Newark-on-Trent and 136 miles north of London. The parish covers 1,450 acres and includes the hamlet of Woodcotes.
The village is on the west bank of the River Trent on a slight rise above the flood plane. If you are planning a visit:
- The Fledborough railway station still stands, but rail service was discontinued in 1955. Today the station is the start of a 12-mile long cycle track to Lincoln.
- Richard CROFT has a photograph of Fledborough on Geo-graph, taken in June, 2009. The shot is taken from across the River Trent.
- And Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of the Fledborough Beck on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2016.
- Mat FASCIONE has a photograph of The Village Sign on Geo-graph, taken in May, 2016.
- Graham HOGG also has a photograph of the village sign on Geo-graph, taken in November, 2014. My Goodness! It's the same sign!
- Ask for a calculation of the distance from Fledborough to another place.
- Here is an account of the village of Fledborough and its origins by John H. GILBERT.
- The 50 arches of the Fledborough railway viaduct are often photographed.
- See our Maps page for additional resources.
You can see maps centred on OS grid reference SK811722 (Lat/Lon: 53.240642, -0.786244), Fledborough which are provided by:
- OpenStreetMap
- Google Maps
- StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
- Bing (was Multimap)
- Old Maps Online
- National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
- Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
- English Jurisdictions in 1851 (Unfortunately the LDS have removed the facility to enable us to specify a starting location, you will need to search yourself on their map.)
- Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
- GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)
- All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
- Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.
The Great War Bulletin ('Our Nottinghamshire' site) for December 7, 1914 tells us that two men of Fledborough had been appointed as "Special Constables" to assist the police force in the event of a German invasion. They were both farmers, Henry Herbert HOWARD and Charles TINLEY. Charles TINLEY would enlist in 1915 and serve in the 3rd battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
- This place was an ancient parish in Nottingham county and became a modern Civil Parish when those were established.
- The parish was in the North Clay division of the ancient Thurgaton Wapentake (Hundred) in the southern division of the county.
- This parish is part of a joint Parish Council of Dunham on Trent with Ragnall Fledborough and Darlton.
- District governance is provided by the Bassetlaw District Council.
- Bastardy cases would be heard in the Newark petty session hearings.
- After the Poor Law Amendment Act reforms of 1834, this parish became a part of the East Retford Poor Law Union.